crossposted from Blue Commonwealth, your first stop for blogging on Virginia Democratic politics
Robert Holsworth of VCU is an ofted quoted figure on Virginia politics and government. He also runs a website called Virginia Tomorrow which serves as a clearing house for news on Virginia politics and government. Below the fold I want to give a sense of some of what you might find at his site, by looking both at some stories at which he points today, and then some analysis he made on the status of the gubernatorial primary viewed through the lens of opposing Bob McDonnell.
Or if you want, you can just bookmark his site, and check in everyday. I usually do.
Today's piece is entitled Virginia in a Hurry, 4-06-09. It consists of a series of links on relevant stories.
The first is to Tim Craig's Washington Post piece entitled McAuliffe Takes A Chapter From Obama Playbook In Governor Bid.
That is followed with another McAuliffe piece, from the Lynchburg News Advance, McAuliffe says ‘honest discussion’ needed", which is focused on transportation funding.
The final piece on a gubernatorial candidate is from the Daily News Record of Harrisonburg, which has Deeds: Transportation No. 1 Issue
Apparently Holsworth found no news articles with a focus on Moran?
I would also like to call everyone's attention to a piece from Friday entitled
The McDonnell Question in the Democratic Primary. Holsworth offers the arguments for and against each of the three contenders for Governor as an opponent for Bob McDonnell. Let me offer a sampling:
DEEDS
FOR:
Creigh Deeds’ supporters contend that he has had the experience of running statewide and that he lost to McDonnell by only a few hundred votes. He’s already demonstrated, they say, that he is a competitive candidate while the other Democrats have not.
AGAINST:
Finally, supporters of Moran and McAuliffe say that Deeds does not possess the smooth candidate skills that Democrats such as Tim Kaine and Mark Warner clearly exhibited.
MORAN
FOR:
Moran’s supporters argue that he is the candidate who is best positioned to repeat the electoral victories of Tim Kaine and Jim Webb in 2005 and 2006. He has a strong base in northern Virginia, the most populous part of the state. He’s worked closely with local Democratic officials around the state. And the activist groups will work very hard for him in the campaign.
AGAINST:
Moran’s detractors don’t buy the argument that he’s the natural heir of Warner and Kaine. They say that he’s never been able to develop the support of the Virginia business community that Kaine and Warner did. They also wonder whether he has a genuine statewide profile.
McAuliffe
FOR:
They say that his early emphasis on jobs and more aggressive economic development efforts were pitch perfect for the times. They maintain that he has the media savvy and love of campaigning that will be necessary to win a race that will be under a national microscope.
AGAINST:
Others talk about the baggage that McAuliffe brings to the campaign. They wonder why Virginia Democrats would want to run a candidate who has spent so much time laboring on behalf of the Clintons, who’ve never been overwhelmingly popular in the state.
There is more, for and against, each of the candidates. One will have the full array of arguments available in this one piece. As an observer who is uncommitted, I note that I have heard all of these arguments, often from officials within the campaigns as well as from the more passionate supporters - and opponents - pf each of the three men.
What is of real interest is how Holsworth concludes the piece. He says that the Dems are still grappling with the question of who would be the most effective candidate against McAuliffe, which may be why no one has developed a significant lead in the polls. He expects electability may become a key issue. But then note the final two short paragraphs:
he ferocity of the GOP attacks on McAuliffe suggest that Republicans are most worried about him.
We’ll have to see whether the Democrats actually agree with the GOP’s assessment of their field.
Whether you agree or not with Holsworth's assessments, he is always worth taking the time to read and ponder.