The Republican Party of Virginia, at least its House and Senate Caucus, appears to have rejected two of four campaign focal points proposed by its Executive Director, Charlie Judd (possibly crafted by former state chairman Ed Gillespie). During a presentation Saturday morning in Virginia Beach, Attorney General Bob McDonnell offered the first two points Judd mentioned just a week ago: "immigration" and "spending." But in a surprising move, he replaced Judd's focal points "education" and "abusive driver fees" with "mental health reform" and "health care." Though, the mention of health care came at almost a whisper.
Yes, health care. And in remarks that followed, Delegate Bob Purkey (82nd - Va Beach) sketched a plan to bail out hospitals left holding the bills for uninsured patients. The proposal is for an uninsured health care fund. In essence, employers who do not offer health coverage for their employees would be taxed two to two and a half percent of the uninsured employees' salaries to provide relief to the burdened hospitals.
Delegate Purkey appeared anxious about immigration as a key issue. Purkey emphasized that immigration is only one issue and that if Republicans run on it, they may lose the Virginia House and Senate. He indicated that if the Republican Party does not reach out to immigrants, its candidates will suffer at the polls. Specifically pointing to Northern Virginia, he brought up Chap Petersen's support from the Korean community.
Despite Delegate Purkey's call to focus on other issues, the audience did not let the subject rest. All but one question for the Attorney General concerned immigration. Even following Purkey's appeal, Brigitte Gabriel (founder of the American Congress for Truth) asked for the floor and used the opportunity to stress that "those terrorists are coming here, they are getting jobs at our airports and our military installations and Norfolk Naval Base."
Cross posted at VBDems.org - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach! Go RK!