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Democrats Banking on a Bush vs. Kaine Turnout

(Washington Post)

By Tim Craig

RICHMOND

Virginia Democrats are hoping two men will become the face of the party's efforts to make substantial inroads in the General Assembly this year.

The first is a popular Democratic governor who has just completed a remarkable series of high-profile events.

The second is a Republican president who Democrats think is so unpopular he could help drive voters to the polls Nov. 6, although no federal candidates are on the ballot.

Let's just say, in a matchup between President Bush and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), Democrats like their odds.

On Friday, Bush traveled to heavily Republican Goochland County, outside Richmond, to raise several hundred thousand dollars for the Virginia Republican Party.

Republicans needed Bush's help. In the first quarter of 2007, the state Republican Party raised $766,000, compared with the $1.75 million raised by the Virginia Democratic Party.

Even before Air Force One landed in Richmond, Democrats were trying to tie Republican candidates in this year's legislative races to Bush. All 140 General Assembly seats are up for election.

The state Democratic Party sent out a flurry of news releases asking Republican delegates and candidates "to stand with Virginia, not President Bush."

One was targeted at Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax), who is expecting an aggressive Democratic challenge this fall.

"The question must be asked, will Delegate Hugo stand by President Bush and his failed policies on education, on health care and on the war in Iraq?" the statement says.

"Or will he reject the Bush money and stand up for the Virginia tradition of sound management that has led our Commonwealth to be named the best managed state in the nation?"

Mark Bergman, spokesman for the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, said, "Virginians deserve to know whether Tim Hugo is just another Washington yes-man."

Hugo responded that Democrats are stretching.

"We all run our own individual races," he said. "We are running on the bipartisan transportation deal. We are not running on the war in Iraq."

In another political stunt, the Democratic Party sent a questionnaire to all Republican candidates asking whether they plan to accept money from Bush. As of Tuesday, no one had responded.

Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William) said the Democrats' efforts last week to link him to Bush show they have "no solutions to the problems people care about."

"For Democrats to try to make Bush a litmus test in a state election is a little silly," Lingamfelter said. "They ought to be articulating a vision of reform, but they don't have one."

Kaine this week renewed his effort to help Democrats pick up the four Virginia Senate seats needed to regain control. Kaine and House Democrats are also hoping to pick up some of the 11 seats they need to take back that chamber.

"We are proud of the team that we are fielding this year. They are strong, common-sense people that are dedicated to serving for the right reasons," Kaine says in a video message this week on new Web site promoting his political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward.

Kaine goes on to say he and former governor Mark R. Warner (D) should be commended for keeping unemployment low, boosting the state's business climate and improving education.

"These things don't happen by accident," Kaine says on http://www.movingvirginiaforward.com/. "They happened because we had great Democratic leadership that has left the divisive ideological issues aside and instead focused on getting results for all Virginians."

Kaine is hitting the campaign trail amid signs his popularity has been enhanced after his response to the Virginia Tech massacre and Queen Elizabeth II's well-publicized visit.

As he travels the state, Kaine is being warmly greeted by people wanting to shake his hand or snap his picture, as was the case two weeks ago at a NASCAR race at Richmond International Speedway.

Historically, Virginia governors have found it can be hard to translate their popularity into votes for candidates for the General Assembly.

With the fight over transportation funding no longer an issue, Democrats are trying to figure out how they will galvanize voters to the polls. Will Bush be that issue?

It does seem to be a stretch to tie Republican candidates running in local races to Iraq. And, as Lingamfelter noted, immigration reform -- not the war in Iraq -- could just as easily become the national issue that bleeds into state races this year. On that issue, Virginia Republicans think they have the upper hand because many GOP legislators have been pushing for tough state laws to deal with illegal immigration.

Even so, given the current political climate, Republicans might want to try to avoid having this fall's campaign turn into a referendum between Bush and Kaine.

You might hear a lot of Republicans embracing former U.S. House speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill's "all politics is local" maxim this year.