Just a little while ago, Chris Matthews said on Hardball that Terry McAuliffe WILL be running for governor of Virginia in 2009. According to Tim Craig:
Matthews, without citing sources, then said, "the fact is Terry McAuliffe is running for governor of Virginia next year." Matthews added, "he's running hard" and will have a huge warchest.
Matthews asked Tim Kaine, who was on the show, about this possibility and whether Kaine had encouraged McAuliffe to run. Kaine didn't really answer the latter question, but here's what he had to say:
I'll tell you, I'm very intrigued. I didn't realize that Terry was interested 'til I heard him speak out in Denver and he indicated he was. We've got two legislators in Virginia who have lined up to potentially run, and Terry now is coming in and saying he's thinking about it. They're all great. You know, it used to be, Chris, you know this in Virginia, to get somebody to run statewide as a Democrat, it was like "let's let Mikey eat the cereal." Nobody wanted to do it because it was so hard. We are in a competitive state.
Matthews: "I guess you've encouraged Terry to run."
I could understand him running for Congress or Senate. But Governor? Does Terry McAuliffe even know how to draft legislation in our state? Could he find Lebanon, VA on a map? Could he name the leaders of our General Assembly?
I'd be great if he'd like to get behind and support our statewide candidates, but to jump in like this is ridiculous.
My proflem with McAuliffe is that I'd be hard pressed to believe he knows anything about VA state government beyond the fact that Tim Kaine is our Gov.
Also, there is a lot to be said about the way he handled the party as our chairman.
I have no idea what the entry of a guy like McAuliffe, with his outsized personality, fundraising ability and national profile would mean for the race, but it wont be boring.
Terry, do the world a favor and put your fundraising skills to good use -- raise money for renewable energy, AIDs prevention, literacy training...anything but packing your carpet bag to bring your circus show to our fine Commonwealth.
Folks in Lebanon, Wachapreague, Franklin and White Stone ain't gonna vote for a silk-stocking Dee Cee lawyer, no way, no how.
Terry McAuliffe has zero qualifications for the job and could never win in a general election.
No way, no how, no Terry McAuliffe.
Anyways, here is my take on it.
For Moran he will now have to compete for the NOVA voters. His biggest advantage is that he helped to change a number of swing seats blue in the past few years. His record on crime in particular is impressive and should be one of the issues he focuses on. Brian will also have the support of the majority of the state delegates.
For Deeds, his biggest problem is that he won't be able to compete financially with Brian or Terry. A number of folks across the state are questioning his strategy at Denver right now. Another issue for him is that most of his voters and supporters are Clintonites. These folks will vote in high numbers in the primary. Creigh has the support of the State Senate but will that and the NOVA vote splitting be enough for him to overcome the loss of some of his SW vote?
If Terry wins the primary it will hurt Shannon in the general. Shannon's likely opponent is Cooch, whose folks will be motivated to come out and vote against Clinton's best friend in troves, especially in areas where we have no Democrats running. Also could Brian or Creigh move down to challenge Shannon? I doubt it but something to think about it.
The one candidate this helps statewide is McDonnell- how much money do you think he will be able to raise with even the hint of Terry running? The right wing will pour money into his coffers and the coffers of VA GOP. Who knows what we will see from the other side with Frederick in charge of that type of budget.
Terry's biggest issue is that he has no record to run. He has no experience in state government, all of his experience is at the national level. He will labeled has a partisan hack by the other side and not as a bi-partisan leader that helped Warner and Kaine out. I am not sure voters in Virginia will be able to look past that or be motivated to vote for someone with no record in a non-federal year election.
His record has a DNC chair is very impressive and his work is the reason why the Democratic party is a strong national party this year. When he took over the DNC has a massive debt, had no voter files, and an email list that had 1 email address for every 800 Gore voters I believe. Their IT infrastructure was non-existent and the website was static much like the DPVA's was for most of this decade. He changed all of that and laid the groundwork for the operation we have now across the nation. He truly made us a national party and I expect that is what he will highlight if he runs. He will also highlight his ties with Bill Clinton and the Clinton record. Clinton is still very popular across VA especially in swing areas and that could be very beneficial to Terry's candidancy.
After looking at all of this objectively, I personally do not think Terry will enter the race and look forward to Brian and Creigh's primary next June.
I will vote for the Democrat, of course, but McAuliffe as candidate and Governor would be terrible for the Democratic Party.
Both Moran and Deeds have spent their careers working for the state while I can't think of a single thing McAuliffe has done locally. McAuliffe and his gang are a bunch of arrogant, s.o.b.s who place themselves and politics above all else.
In any event, his selfish actions divert our attention from the matters at hand - namely getting Obama elected. Intra-party disputes have no place in the next two months.
By the way, I watched the Kaine interview on Hardball, and he gave an odd (odder than normal) smirk when asked if he supports McAuliffe. Kaine needs to show some guts and support either Moran or Deeds (unless he's pandering for a higher position).