Va Governor's Race Just Got Interesting

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OUT: 

Virginia state politics just got interesting.
Actually, the commonwealth's governor race was already pretty interesting. (Read why here.) But this week Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling dropped out of the 2013 Republican race, giving  current Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli a wide open path to securing that nomination.
Bolling announced his decision via email on Wednesday morning. Not surprisingly he cited the switch from a statewide primary to an “exclusive” party convention as one of the reasons. Ever since the switch in June, state party members have openly discussed how the switch favored Cuccinelli and would hurt Bolling.

Mitt Romney in Roanoke, VA TODAY!

Roanoke County
Republican Party

Facebook.com/RoanokeRepublicans

 

You're invited to an event with

 our next President, 

Mitt Romney 

This Tuesday, June 26

Event begins at Noon 

Doors open at 10:00 a.m.

Carter Machinery 

1330 Lynchburg Turnpike

Salem, VA 

 

RSVP to the event by calling 757-279-8253   

 

Authorized and Paid for by the Roanoke County Republican Committee

Luncheon with Senator Ralph Smith and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

  

 Drs. Kevin and Nancy Dye,

Mr. Tom Brock, and Mr. John Rocovich

Cordially invite you to a

Luncheon with

Senator Ralph Smith

 and special guest

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Noon - June 28, 2012

The Shenandoah Club

24 Franklin Road, SW

Roanoke, Virginia

Hosts - $2,500

Patrons - $1,000

Sponsors - $500

Friends - $250

Individual Tickets - $50

Please  RSVP by responding to this email

or calling Cathy at 540-632-6587

Authorized and Paid for by Ralph Smith Senate Committee

All Politics are Local- the VA Governor Race and the Race for the White House Collide

Gov Mitt Romney and Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia (linked to source: Deseret News)

Meet Governor Bob McDonnell. He's on the imaginary short list for Gov. Romney's vice presidential sidekick.
He is a former state attorney general, head of the Republican Governors Association, and all around well-liked governor of a Swing State.  His record includes a budget surplus, a drop in unemployment, and conservative support for signing a bill that requires women to have an ultrasound before an abortion.
A recent CNN/ORC International poll showed 1% of registered voters would pick McDonnell for the position, a figure largely based on name recognition. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nabbed the top spot, followed by former presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (picture courtesy Atty Gen website)

Meet Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Republican candidate for governor of Virginia. He won't endorse Mitt Romney.
Endorsements run both ways. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. You endorse the top dog, you often get to have your picture taken with the top dog to run in your campaign materials. So why won't he endorse the top dog?

Lt Governor of Virginia Bill Bolling (picture courtesy of Lt Gov official website)

Meet Lt. Governor Bill Bolling of VA. A man who wanted to run for governor last time around, but instead, politely stepped aside to allow his friend McDonnell to take that place. He politely settled for second-in-command. Within the party it has long been known that it is Bolling's turn to ascend to the governor's mansion. And all looked promising for that to happen, until Cuccinelli stepped in.
So what does this have to do with Cuccinelli not endorsing Romney?
Virginia does third year elections. The governor's spot isn't up for grabs until 2013. If McDonnell were to get tapped for the VP spot, and Romney/McDonnell were to win, Bolling would assume the governorship for one full year before the 2013 elections. And assuming people liked him, (and people probably would, since they like him quite well already), he would have an easy "re-"election ahead of him. And Cuccinelli would not have party support to run against him. (VA is a term limits state. McDonnell will not seek  re-election.)
Even if McDonnell does not get tapped for VP, considering his standing within the party, and the work he has put into Romney's race, he is likely on a short-list for a large number of appointments. In other words, Cuccinelli does not want to see Romney win because it could potentially hurt his chances to become the next governor.
In two weeks, on May 14, the VA State Legislature will meet in a special session to review Governor McDonnell's budget, and elect some judges. And when that happens, the second and third most influential conservative legislators in the state will be in a quiet, (yet very polite- too polite really) war with each other.
Bolling, by the way, is the chair of Romney's Virginia campaign.
In other words, all politics are local.

Mitt vs Newt, Pragmatic vs Epic

There is an excellent article running in the Washington Post today entitled "Romney's and Gingrich's ideas mirror their personalities: Pragmatic vs. epic."
While I am at the point in time, 100% in the Romney camp, I was very vocal about supporting Gingrich for most of the fall. I was determined to stay open-minded, and to not be another Mormon choosing Romney without considering all of the candidates first. I was torn between Romney and Gingrich for a very long time, finally landing on Romney for much of the reasons stated in this article- he makes more sense. Gingrich makes radical, huge, even epic statements, and they can be attractive. But once I stopped and thought about it, I just couldn't follow his lead anymore. Whereas, it is easy to believe, even reassuring to believe, that Romney is capable of fulfilling his ideas and promises.
When Gingrich says, "I'm more of a conservative than Mitt Romney," he really isn't. He's really just more of an extremist. Their ideas and promises (minus moon colonies) are side-by-side similar. But Gingrich just takes everything beyond capable and believable, and moves it into radical extremism.


From the article-

If he were elected president, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney says, he would cut companies’ tax bills. But former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) would cut them more than twice as much.
Romney would eliminate some people’s capital-gains taxes. But Gingrich would eliminate everybody’s.

And Romney would build more Navy ships to project American influence into the Middle East. Gingrich would build a moon colony, projecting it into outer space.

Gingrich has vowed to  overthrow the communist government in Cuba and ban embryonic stem-cell research. Romney? Merely wants Castro to go to Hell (and to try to negotiate with Cuba).


Both candidates (actually all four candidates) want to repeal Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank financial regulations. They all want to repeal the estate tax, tougher dealings with Iran, and they are all in favor of a same-sex marriage ban.

But back to the epic vs the pragmatic-

Romney’s plan would lower a corporation’s tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. For individual taxpayers making less than $200,000 per couple, he would end taxes on capital gains and interest. The cost? Probably about $180 billion less in government revenue per year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
But Gingrich would do far more. He would cut the corporate rate to 12.5 percent. He would eliminate all taxes on capital gains and interest. And he would allow individuals to opt out of the current tax code, giving them the option of a 15 percent “flat tax” with limited deductions.
On Social Security, the two men exhibit a similar pattern. Romney would raise the age at which future retirees could collect benefits, adding “a year or two,” he said in a debate. And he would tinker with formulas so that wealthier retirees would see their benefits grow less over time.
Gingrich, by contrast, wants to create a new kind of Social Security. He would keep the old system but allow people to opt into a separate system, in which they could keep their money in private, personal accounts. The same private-account plan has worked in Chile, Gingrich is fond of saying.
But it was installed while Chile was run by a military dictator.

 And that last line, says it all.

Bachmann, Huntsman, and Santorum will not be on the Virginia Primary Ballot

Looks like Newt Gingrich will be on the ballot in Virginia after all. But the ballot will be missing a few other names, specifically Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Jr., and Rick Santorum. The three campaigns failed to make the 5 pm filing deadline Thursday with the Virginia State Board of Elections, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Can I say what we are all thinking anyway? Did anyone really expect those 3 campaigns to still be in the race come March? 
Mitt Romney was the first GOP candidate to turn in his names. On Tuesday, none other than the Virginia Lt Governover Bill Boling himself, filed the necessary paperwork. Romney submitted 16,026 signatures, (hey, I got about 100 of those signatures for him!), Ron Paul 14,361; Rick Perry 11,911 and Newt Gingrich 11,050. Each candidate had to turn in at least 10,000 signatures, with at least 400 from each of the 11 Congressional districts.
Next, all of the signatures must get quickly vetted over the weekend. For reasons not explained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the VA GOP decided that candidates who submit at least 15,000 signatures of registered voters with at least 600 signatures from each of the 11 districts will be deemed to have met the qualifications. Why this is more than the requirements laid out by the State Board is what I don't understand.
The parties have until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to tell the State Board of Elections which candidates qualify for the March 6 primary ballot. The order of names will be decided by lottery on Wednesday.
Sidenote- when I went to the VA GOP homepage to try and find some info on why the change in numbers, I discovered that today Newt Gingrich was their guest speaker for a brunch. That probably does make it a little easier to get the signatures of registered voters turned in on time!