Kaine has begun airing two advertisements on radio stations in Virginia's African American neighborhoods that mention the hurricane. In one, the announcer says: "If Hurricane Katrina has taught us anything, it is that we need leaders who care about all people, black and white, rich and poor, young and old."
And in his talk to high-dollar donors Wednesday night, Kaine predicted that, because of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, voters no longer believe management is "kind of boring, kind of technical, about details, about budgets."
Kaine frequently mentions a Governing magazine study that last year declared Virginia the best-managed state in the nation under Warner.
"Americans know today, and Virginians know today, how very, very important 'best-managed state' is," Kaine said Wednesday.
Kilgore mentions the storm less frequently, although he sometimes reminds listeners that, as public safety secretary in the mid-1990s, he helped manage the state's response to floods, fires and other natural disasters.
"I can tell you from experience that when times are the worst, when hurricanes, floods and blizzards threaten life and property, the law enforcement members of Virginia are at their best," Kilgore told police officers at an event Friday morning.
Kilgore's aides scoff at Kaine's repeated references to the storm, and they predict that the Democrat would use disaster planning as an excuse for getting more money from taxpayers. "We've seen him use every facet of life in Virginia, including the potential for natural disasters, as a call for higher taxes," Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
At a debate with Kaine on Friday, Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-Winchester), who is running as an independent, used the prospect of a potential emergency to highlight Kilgore's refusal to debate him, a sign he wouldn't perform well under pressure.
"Imagine Mr. Kilgore in an emergency situation, in which he had to address the citizens of Virginia after a catastrophe or after a terrorist attack," Potts said. "This is a lack of leadership."
Barbara Kellerman, research director for the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said it is easier for voters to imagine a governor dealing with a disaster in Virginia because of the many images of Louisiana's Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and the other Gulf state governors during the past month.
"The efficacy of all executives at all levels of government was so miserable," Kellerman said. "That matters."
She said that even before the hurricane, the voting public was beginning to demand leaders who also are good managers. President Bush, for example, was elected in 2000, in part because of his credentials as the first MBA president, she said.
