Election season may be over nationally but in Virginia it is just starting to heat up again as the 2009 statewide elections are nine months away. The most important office up for grabs will be the governorship, which Tim Kaine will yield after four years due to Virginia’s one-term limit as he takes over the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. On the Republican side of the equation, current Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell is the presumptive nominee. Meanwhile, the Democrats have an absolutely loaded primary with three strong candidates who would each be competitive in a statewide election. Deciding who among state Sen. Creigh Deeds, former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, and former Del. Brian Moran is the party’s best candidate will not be an easy choice for Democrats to make around the state when the June primary comes around. Considering his fundraising prowess, force of personality, and ideas, Terry McAuliffe offers the most for Virginia Democrats, though it will not be simple for him to win the nomination.
McAuliffe was the last of the candidates to announce his candidacy, having only done so officially in January, though he formed an exploratory committee in November 2008. His entrance into the race raises the bar considerably in terms of fundraising as he brought in more money than his two opponents between July 1 and December 31, 2008 while they were both already official candidates. In effect, McAuliffe’s prolific fundraising ability, as exemplified by his work with Bill and Hillary Clinton and as the DNC chair before Howard Dean, is likely the most compelling reason Democrats should vote for him in June. Not only will he raise beaucoup amounts of money for the governor’s race, countering McDonnell’s own record of solid fundraising, but as McAuliffe has stated he wants to raise money for Democratic candidates statewide which would significantly aid the hopes of retaining a Democratic majority in the state Senate and regaining one in the House of Delegates. A December 29 Washington Post article suggested that McAuliffe could hit the $80 million mark in fundraising if nominated, three times more than Tim Kaine in 2005. He has wisely taken the Obama strategy of receiving relatively small donations from massive numbers of people by sending out emails asking for five dollars, a maneuver that not only brings in money but also makes more people feel like they are part of something important like a gubernatorial election.
Of course, one doesn’t win an election purely because of fundraising. Jim Webb was outspent four to one by Harris Miller for the 2006 Democratic Senate nomination but managed to win, going on to upset George Allen in the general election. Ideas and personality are also very important in elections. In person, McAuliffe almost makes the very personable Mark Warner look boring. On the campaign trail, having an endless supply of energy is a vital resource for meeting people and fundraising, and McAuliffe has a hurricane for a personality that is already impressing voters statewide. On the ideas front, he backs renewable energy as a two-way road of growing the economy through green collar jobs while lowering pollution from oil and coal by investing heavily in renewable energy and encouraging farmers and entrepreneurs to get into the business. McAuliffe wants to move more freight off of the roads and onto railroads to lower the pressures on Virginia’s battered interstates. He desires more investment in education, particularly in bringing research at universities like ours to fruition so the schools can gain more monetary opportunities to keep tuition down.
The other candidates in this race have similar goals in a lot of these areas but are not nearly as impressive campaigners and fundraisers as McAuliffe has shown himself to be throughout his history in politics. Moreover, both Deeds and Moran have specific negatives to be considered. For Deeds, he already lost to McDonnell once in 2005. Though it was a loss by a minute margin, he still has that stigma to deal with on the campaign trail. But at least Deeds has kept up his hard work in the state Senate, whereas Moran resigned his seat in the House haphazardly in December to run for Governor full-time which resulted in a poorly-run primary and election that nearly cost the Democrats one of the bluest seats in the Assembly. That blunder should be kept in mind by Democrats when voting in June as Moran showed how he was willing to create disorder for his party so he could compete with McAuliffe for fundraising.
While Terry McAuliffe brings the most to the table for Virginia Democrats, it remains to be seen if he can win the primary. Deeds may have the advantage from his support outside of Northern Virginia which may be enough to overcome the high totals Moran and McAuliffe will split there. Hopefully, Virginia Democrats will realize that McAuliffe can not only win the governorship with his ideas, energy, and fundraising but also can bring the money and support needed for blue candidates statewide to hold onto the State Senate and win back the House.
Geoff Skelley’s column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at g.skelley@cavalierdaily.com.
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