Will the anti-death penalty postion of Tim Kaine cost the Democrats the VA Governorship? Will Tim Kaine be the next Michael Dukakis?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27885-2004Dec26.html
Death Penalty A Key Strategy For Kilgore
Rival Kaine's Opposition Stressed in Bid for Governor
Lem Tuggle and Richard Lee Whitley are long dead, executed by Virginia years ago. But Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, the likely Republican nominee for governor, is planning to resurrect them next year as symbols of his rival's opposition to the death penalty
Tuggle raped, sodomized and shot a woman while on parole after killing a 17-year-old girl. Whitley cut the throat of his Fairfax County neighbor and then brutally sexually assaulted her.
The death row lawyer for both men was a young Timothy M. Kaine, now the state's Democratic lieutenant governor and his party's likely nominee next year to succeed Gov. Mark R. Warner (D
The death row lawyer for both men was a young Timothy M. Kaine, now the state's Democratic lieutenant governor and his party's likely nominee next year to succeed Gov. Mark R. Warner (D).
Kilgore has begun invoking Tuggle's and Whitley's names in speeches as part of what his campaign says will be an effort to make the death penalty a defining issue in the 2005 race.
Carrie Cantrell, Kilgore's campaign spokeswoman, said Kaine "stands alone" among Virginia candidates for governor in opposing capital punishment.
"Tim Kaine is the only person to run for the governor's office since 1976 who has been opposed to the death penalty," she said
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So will Kaine become the "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal" candidate now? Will TV ads showing scared white Fairfax County women talking abou this oppostion to the death penalty be the end of his candidate?
I like Kaine and want him to win, but his opposition to the death penalty is something I don't agree with. But will Kaine be the next Michael Dukakis?
Will this issue cost Kaine precious votes in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Prince William, Mannassas, and Loudoun counties? Will this add hurt Kaine in Northern Virginia, among suburban women who want their children to be protected from criminals?
Will Kaine be able to get away from this issue. I really don't think he can. This race could be over already since Kaine supports what many people perceive as the "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (a bad evil cop killer)" position?