Kaine Sounds Slow-Growth Note in Exurbs

Kaine's proposal is the ultimate goal for the region's slow-growth activists, who have been contending for years that local governments need more authority to say no to the tracts of townhouses and so-called McMansions that are replacing wooded lots at a brisk pace.

"That's the big ticket. It sounds exactly like what we've been asking for," said former Loudoun supervisor William Bogard, who was swept into office in 1999 on a slow-growth platform.

Bogard and several other slow-growth supervisors were ousted by voters four years later and got a taste of how fickle the constituency is, Bogard said.

But Andrea McGimsey, spokeswoman for the Campaign for Loudoun's Future, a coalition of civic and slow-growth groups, said finding ways to limit growth and relieve congestion is the "number one thing" in Loudoun.

"This is not a trivial issue. It's our everyday reality," McGimsey said. "I think Tim Kaine has keyed into what a huge issue it is in Loudoun."

But those votes could come at a high price. Kaine has accepted almost $2.5 million from the real estate and construction industries, far more than from any other industry. The proposal to clamp down on development took many of them by surprise.

Groups representing Realtors and homebuilders fired off angry e-mails last week to their vast membership rolls. The Virginia Association of Realtors wrote to its 30,000 members that it is "strongly opposed to giving localities such authority. In the end, proposals such as these will only make development less affordable."

The Homebuilders Association of Virginia urged the Kaine campaign to end the ads. The group said Kaine's proposal would "have a devastating impact on the economy of the Commonwealth."

John Foote, a land-use lawyer in Prince William, said the idea is "a death knell for economic development in Northern Virginia" because construction would halt until road capacity is dramatically increased -- a prospect that he said is unlikely anytime soon.

"He believes that will resonate," Foote said of Kaine. "Who among us is not frustrated with traffic?"

Mo Elleithee, Kaine's communications director, said the Democrat hopes to gain ground by addressing that frustration.

"When it comes to runaway development and its impact on their commutes, Tim Kaine has shown that he gets it," Elleithee said.

Rozell said Kaine still has an uphill fight in the outer suburbs. Those areas are among the Republican Party's most reliable. Warner came up short by about 3,500 votes in Loudoun and Prince William in 2001. Kaine, who ran for lieutenant governor that year, also lost both jurisdictions.

"I'd be hugely surprised if after Election Day we saw Tim Kaine doing very well in the exurban communities," Rozell said. "This may be more about holding down his losses in those areas."

Staff researcher Derek Willis and staff writer Timothy Dwyer contributed to this report.