No one worries me more than Davis.  By far.

The critical component for Virginia's Dems has been healthy, if not huge, margins in Northern Virginia.  Davis potentially takes away our greatest strength, because his base is exactly our base.  I find it hard to envision winning a state-wide election if we can't pull in that significant edge in Fairfax County, and I think Davis takes that away.  If Davis runs for Senate in 2008, just about the only person who I think could take him out would be Mark Warner.  I know Warner is likely torn between VP and Senate ambitions, I'm hoping he'll make up his mind so that Virginia Dems can begin recruiting a Senate candidate if needed, or so that we can begin laying the groundwork for Warner to return to office throughout the state, to help pull off some votes in other regions of the state.  I know Warner was tremendously popular, but I think that given the way we've seen increased polarization between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state, he might not capture as much support (now branded as a Dem) in other parts of the state as he did when he ran for Gov.

Of course, all of that is dependent on John Warner retiring in 2008.  I'm not convinced that's a sure thing.

Yeah, he will be tough but he has to get by the fanatical wing of the Republican party first.  His greatest strength in NOVA, his precievied moderation stance, will be a great burden when dealing with the very conservative types throughout the rest of the state.  They'd have to realize that he is their best shot at winning and vote accordingly - but that demographic usually isn't very good at thinking like that.

Plus Davis didn't win by much in NOVA.  Yes, 11 (or was it 12) points is normally a very good win, but compared to his past results and the fact that he is supposedly a moderate, he didn't do that well this time around.

If he ran for senate, I'd expect him to lose (not by much) in NOVA given that he's ditching the region for a statewide post.  But to your point, a slight loss in NOVA could still lead to a win overall.  The Dem needs to clean up in NOVA.

I truly hope that Jim Gilmore runs for Governor next time . . . so we can beat him like a rented mule!  In my several decades of political and governmental involvement, there has never been a more despicable individual, a worse Governor of Virginia than Jim Gilmore.

As you may recall, the whole "Gilmore Gang" of Republicans came into office together a number of years ago primarily on the "No Car Tax" pledge/promise/lie and then ruined the Commonwealth's finances by trying to operate our state government with severely reduced revenues and nearly losing our long-standing triple A bond rating in the process.

Under Mark Warner and then Tim Kaine, Virginia is just now returning to sounder fiscal management, but our transportation budget is still dismally underfunded.  Yes, Tim Kaine's been trying to fix that recently, but to no avail, so far . . .

After Warner's gubernatorial victory five years ago, Jim Gilmore was even fired by "W" as the head of the national Republican party.  Now, as we all know so well, if you can't keep a job with "W" then you must be really, really bad.

Please; let's all promote Jim Gilmore's potential run for Governor, specifically for the reasons stated above.

Steve

Please, GOP.  PLEASE pick Gilmore again.  We all saw what a trevesty he left behind as Governor, and reminding people won't be that hard.  PLEASE!!!

If they did pick him to run again, I think WE would be spending a lot of money on "no car tax" signs this time.  :)

I agree.  He has no where else to go but down. 

I just flat haven't paid enough attention to these men; I know their names, never to vote for any of them.

It would be a favor to your readers; thanks.

Jim Gilmore, Tom Davis, Bill Bolling, Bob McDonnell

I voted for Tom Davis as their next big star, because that's who they should support--but they won't.  Assuming Warner retires, Davis will likely run for his Senate seat.  But that doesn't settle their biggest problem: who's running for governor--Allen, Bolling, or McDonnell?  Methinks they'll waste a lot of money to find out.

Allen won't be satisfied to just work on K Street; he loves to campaign.  I think he still fancies himself as a future ('12 or '16) GOP presidential candidate, and he can't get back there without being elected to something.

Bolling's gotta feel like he's paid his dues--it's natural for the Lt. Gov. to want to move up.  McDonnell's gonna have the religious contingent pushing him, and most likely not for Lt. Governorship.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gilmore jump into the relatively wide open GOP presidential contest, so I wouldn't look for him to take another try at being Governor.

Ultimately, if the Va. Republican party can recognize the new reality of Northern Virginia's electoral prowess, they'd make Davis the face of the "new and improved" state party, but really, there's too many egos getting in the way of that.  I wouldn't even be surprised to see a primary challenge to Davis from the right in the person of either Bolling or McDonnell, should one of them decide the gubernatorial field is too crowded.

P.S. First post...I've been lurking for about a year, I've been posting on kos for a while:

http://www.dailykos....

Thanks for coming out of the lurking shadows. 

I look forward to reading your future comments, diaries, etc.

Attorney General is a very good stepping stone position for Republicans -- it allows them to play the whole tough on criminals, protect the embryos act to a tee.  And McDonnell plays it well. 

He also has the fresh, young look of having come right off the production line at whatever factory it is that manufactures all those white-bread Republican clones.

I won't repeat all the whys, but everyone knows Tom Davis neutalizes NOVA. We'd need a major candidate to take him out. If the GOP are smart they'd nominate Davis for candidate for the Senate.I think the GOP realizes they need NOVA now. Of course with Andy's pretty darn good performance we got some good dirt on Davis this time around--and I have a hunch there's more to come.

As far as Felix Allen goes, he's actually in hog heaven denial. With Rudolf and Flip Flop McCain going after it--maybe, just maybe he could slip into the race as the right wing alternative.....ahhh...maybe not, possibly 2012 like previous writer said, anyway Allen will attempt a comeback at some point.

Allen's finished. His oversized ego aside, he's been tarnished by this loss and any future campaign he runs will be tainted by macacas and deer heads. He knows it and he's settling into quiet life as a behind the scenes power broker.