Kaine Left Wanting as Va. Budget Approved

Kaine "was unable to get it done. But he's not the czar," said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who opposed Kaine's tax increases for roads. "He can't just command everyone to put more money to transportation."

But even some of Kaine's closest allies said the governor seemed unwilling to confront that challenge with the tenacity that was needed.

"Tim sees this as one battle in many," Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) said this week. "There's only so much throat-cutting that can be done. Was he really willing to go to the mat, so to speak, on this one issue? Clearly the decision was he was not."

'A Better Way'

In his first State of the Commonwealth speech to lawmakers, two days after his inauguration, Kaine exuded the confidence that has quickly become his hallmark.

"I am filled with optimism and resolve, with respect for your service and sacrifice, and with high expectations that we will work together," he told assembly members Jan. 16. Later, in his nationally televised response to President Bush's State of the Union address, Kaine bragged about Virginia's bipartisan tradition.

"There's a better way," he said several times.

But that better way has eluded him. Wednesday's clash over 36 budget amendments -- during which House leaders excoriated Kaine for proposing $29 million in new spending -- was the latest in a series with conservative Republicans.

The worst came in February, after Kaine nominated the state's top labor leader, and a close friend, to his Cabinet. In a historic move, the House GOP rejected Daniel G. LeBlanc, prompting an angry Kaine to vow that "they are going to regret it."

Lawmakers say Kaine never followed through on that threat, giving adversaries the idea that he was all bluff and bluster. In the end, conservatives forced Kaine and his Senate allies to abandon tax increases for roads.

"Those tax hikes did not survive," a triumphant House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said after a budget deal was reached.

But others say the fights over LeBlanc and transportation were evidence of what they called the intransigence of Howell and his House Republicans, who, they said, had decided early on that they wanted to make Kaine's first year a difficult one. Several said House Republicans saw Kaine's response to Bush as the beginning of a Democratic star in the making.

"It would have been very difficult for a new governor to come in and have transcended the division in a way that could have brought about a compromise," said Robert D. Holsworth, a professor of government at Virginia Commonwealth University.