Conservative Va. Hopeful Talks Tough

The hardball campaign message was delivered to a relaxed Saturday afternoon crowd under a hot sun as children played and hamburgers sizzled in a Loudoun County back yard.

"I want you to know that I am an unapologetic fiscal conservative," the Republican from Hanover County told the people in Ashburn who had gathered for an informal political event involving a local delegate's campaign. "I believe in keeping government small."

State Sen. Bill Bolling wants to be Virginia's lieutenant governor, and, like Sean T. Connaughton, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors chairman who is running against him in the June 14 Republican primary, he is striving to convince GOP loyalists that he is the authentic tax-hating, pro-family option.

"And I want you to know I am a social conservative," he said as he stood on the back porch of a home. "I believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Period."

Each chance he gets, whether he's at a small gathering in the Washington suburbs or a forum in South Boston, Bolling wants Republican voters to be clear on one thing: He is the true "consistent conservative" in the race for state's No. 2 job.

"I think I've been to every . . . barbecue, fish fry, shrimp feast, clam bake, ham dinner, chili cook-off in Virginia at least three times," he is fond of saying in his easy-going country accent.

Bolling, 47, a 10-year veteran of the Senate, has been preparing for this moment for years. His record shows many votes strongly supported by conservative Republicans. In last year's session, he opposed the tax increase legislation. He supported bills that would require fetuses to be anesthetized during an abortion performed in the first trimester.

Bolling touts his support from the Family Foundation, a group that backs many conservative causes, including a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, even if recognized in other states. And he helped found the Virginia Conservative Action PAC, an organization that hopes to unseat Republican delegates who voted for the tax increases.

"Government cannot be all things to all people," said Bolling, whose district extends north and east of the Richmond suburbs to the Rappahannock River. "We have to focus on core responsibilities, exert fiscal discipline and allow our economy to grow. That's how it should be done."

He said he differs with former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore, the likely Republican nominee for governor, on Kilgore's plan to allow localities to raise taxes for transportation. Rather than raise taxes, Bolling said, budget surpluses should be applied to road and rail projects. And he wants to encourage private industry to build toll roads.

Bolling's critics in the Senate have said that this fiscal vision is irresponsible.

"He's a poster boy for the extremist wing of the Republican Party," said Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-Winchester), who is running as an independent in this year's gubernatorial race and has clashed with Bolling on fiscal and social legislation. Potts called relying on surpluses to fund services "bunk."