A Wistful Warner Bids Farewell -- for Now

Del. John S. "Jack" Reid (R-Henrico) said after the speech that "I didn't know if I was in New Hampshire or Ohio or Virginia."

Once Warner leaves the local scene, however, attention will shift back to Kaine, who campaigned as the heir to Warner's legacy and now has the daunting task of maintaining the bipartisanship that allowed Warner to succeed.

Feelings of goodwill between the political parties appeared scarce as Virginia's lawmakers returned to Richmond on Wednesday morning and immediately began squabbling.

Democrats in the House of Delegates, who picked up their 40th seat in a special election in Lynchburg on Tuesday, reacted angrily to proposed changes in procedure announced by the House Republicans, who hold 56 of the 100 seats in the chamber.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the House and Senate clashed over procedural rules, and Republicans in the Senate argued about whether to punish Sen. H. Russell Potts (R-Winchester) for his decision to run as an independent in the gubernatorial election last year.

The Senate voted narrowly to keep Potts as the chairman of its Education and Health Committee, where much of the session's social legislation is likely to be reviewed.

Once past their bickering, lawmakers convened a legislative session that will usher in the Kaine era and feature a clash of ideas about how to relieve traffic congestion.

The gavels fell in the House of Delegates and the Senate precisely at noon, but for the first time in more than 100 years, they did not echo in the Capitol. Because of the renovation, the delegates and senators crammed into temporary quarters in the nearby Patrick Henry Building.

On Saturday, Kaine will be sworn in as Warner's successor and will immediately face an intractable problem: how to pay for and build a 21st-century transportation network that allows traffic to flow freely in the urban areas and brings the promise of jobs to the state's far-flung rural communities.

In town hall meetings across the state, Kaine has vowed to tackle what he calls the "most urgent" issue facing the commonwealth. But that generality now comes face to face with the reality of hammering out detailed legislation with lawmakers who often have dramatically differing political philosophies.

In the Senate, leading Republicans are said to favor tax increases to pay for new road and transit construction. In the House, senior Republicans oppose tax increases and are looking to find money for transportation by trimming other state programs.

The trick for Kaine will be to find a middle path acceptable to both sides.