Kaine Puts Roads at Top of Agenda, Says Virginia GOP's Ads 'Backfired'

In the House of Delegates, Democrats picked up one seat, bringing their total to 39 of 100 members. Democratic leaders called several victories historic. "We have won races in all areas of the commonwealth, areas that were once believed to be solid Republican strongholds," said Minority Leader Franklin P. Hall (D-Richmond).

Howell, who had campaigned tirelessly for GOP candidates, said the results could have been much worse. "Given the perfect storm that happened at the statewide level, we did well to hold our losses to two seats," Howell said, including what appears to be a narrow loss to an independent candidate.

Howell said he still has 58 GOP delegates and two independents who often cooperate with Republicans. "We're still going to drive the agenda in the House," he said

At his news conference, Kaine repeated a pledge to veto tax increases for transportation projects unless steps are taken to make sure that the money is not diverted to other uses. But he made clear that finding a better way to plan and finance the transportation network will be his first priority.

Kaine said he would hold at least five town hall meetings beginning next week. Besides Manassas, the meetings will be in Roanoke, Bristol, Newport News and Henrico County.

He also said that he supported plans to widen outbound Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway and that he would appoint professionals to advise officials on how best to extend public transit to the Dulles International Airport area.

A state Senate commission is developing a wide-ranging proposal that could include raising billions of dollars for transportation. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House of Delegates have reiterated opposition to increased taxes, saying the state's budget surplus and privatization should provide enough financing.

The transportation debate, which leaders in both chambers predict will dominate the 2006 General Assembly session, could be the first test of Kaine's campaign pledge to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans.

"I don't think the sources of revenue are there to do a long-range plan of solving transportation needs effectively," said Sen. John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland), who chairs the Finance Committee. But he said of the commission, "I don't know what they are going to do."

Howell said Kaine called him yesterday morning to begin a dialogue. "I thought it was very gracious," Howell said. "I'm looking forward to working with Tim Kaine and the agenda he talked about during the campaign."

But Howell said Kaine should not expect the House to accept tax increases next year.

"If Tim Kaine continues to oppose the gas tax increase, as he said during the campaign, I'm sure we'll find a lot of common ground," Howell said. "If Tim Kaine repudiates what he ran for . . . we're not going to be with him on that."