With Friends Like These...

1) He probably won't run for reelection unless he concludes it is a path to the Senate in 2012, say his associates.

[In other words, he won't run for reelection.]

2) "He saw a lifelong goal disappear," said Republican Gary H. Baise of McLean, a friend of the Davises. "He saw very methodically how he could get there; he would be the natural heir to John Warner. But all of a sudden, events spun out of control. He could no longer control them. So he devoted everything to helping his wife. And so there was just an enormous amount of prestige, power, perception, and his future tied up in his wife's race."

[Baise wasn't much of a candidate.  Why should we expect him to be much of a pundit?  I also dispute that Tom ever lacked control.  He chose to ally himself with the ultra-right leadership of his party in order to gain access to that leadership for himself.  He chose his own short-term ambition over the long-term evolution of his constituents.]
3) "Jeannemarie was part of the Tom Davis team," recalled David B. Albo, a Republican delegate from Springfield and a personal friend of the Davises. "There were a number of us for whom Tom Davis is our mentor. . . . He got us into politics. He introduced us to people who knew how to run campaigns. He taught us how to door-knock."

[First big-time loser Baise and now Albo who would have lost to just about anyone if the Dems had bothered to try.  I know what he meant, but it's a funny thing to say that he needed to be taught how to "door knock."]

4) "Jeannemarie is Tom's perfect soul mate," said Baise. "Peggy was not."

[It's possible that Baise has been this close to Tom for that long, but this is just a tacky thing to say.]

5) "They seem infatuated with each other," said Del. Thomas Davis Rust (R-Fairfax), also a Davis recruit to state politics. "He is the congressman, he is the more influential, powerful person. But" -- and Rust chuckled here -- "she treats him as her husband, if you know what I mean. It's an equal partnership."

[No, Del. Rust, I don't know what you mean.]

6) "This is one thing people forget: Tom Davis is one of the biggest reasons why we got the Republican majority eight years ago," said Albo. "He helped devise the strategy. He also raised a ton of money."

[Albo again.  VA politics mavens, is this true that Tom Davis was a big reason for the success of the GOP in Richmond in 1999?]

7) Even Thompson conceded: "If he had won it, there would have been all sorts of celebrations." But he added: "Jeannemarie's race was the equivalent of winning the lottery. It was a long shot. Just because she lost it doesn't mean he's a eunuch."

[This is the quote that really pissed me off.  A long shot?!  Does anyone doubt that we were well into 2007 before the Davises realized that Chap was a formidable candidate?]

8) "If he truly believes that he cannot achieve his ultimate goal of being U.S. senator, then my money would be on him taking one of these jobs and hanging it up."

[And what a fitting conclusion. Baise and the WaPo admitting that Tom Davis' ultimate goal is "being" a Senator.  Perhaps if he tried being a representative (in both senses of the word) of his constituents a little more, he'd be more than the pathetic pol portrayed by the Post.]

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