Kaine Carries Vow to Fix Traffic Into His 2nd Year

RICHMOND -- Ask many Virginia voters why they cast a ballot for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) a year ago, and they won't hesitate to answer: because he promised to do something about traffic.

By that one measure, at least, Kaine has failed to deliver during his first year in office.

There are numerous explanations and excuses, but Kaine was not always at fault. By his own description, the 70th governor of Virginia wants to "make things happen," but so far, in terms of finding more money for transportation, he has not.

"I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated," he said in an interview last week in his office next to the Capitol. "Now, I'm a realist. I learned very early that harder things don't get solved the first time you say, 'Boy, we ought to solve this.' I believe we will get to a solution on this. I really do. I'm an optimist on this."

On other issues, Kaine has had more immediate success. A year into his four-year term -- Virginia law prevents governors from succeeding themselves -- he presides over a state with low unemployment, a government with high business-friendly rankings and a top-notch education system.

He successfully fought for legislation for tough teacher evaluations this year, pushed for a novel land-use law and is on his way to preserving a record amount of open space.

For all of those reasons, the public appears happy with him. A recent poll put his job approval rating at 76 percent -- almost matching that of his popular predecessor, Mark R. Warner (D), when he left office at the beginning of the year.

But as Warner and others in the Executive Mansion before him have discovered, the governor's legacy will be defined by how well he responds to big challenges and promises. After pledging a bipartisan approach, Kaine and his counterparts in the legislature pushed Virginia closer than ever in its modern history to the brink of a government shutdown.

He followed that by demanding a special session on transportation that lasted a week but produced nothing but another week of partisan rancor.

In less than two weeks, the governor will try again as the battle with Republican lawmakers will begin anew. Kaine's natural optimism will probably be tested once more by the political reality that little has changed since a failed special session on transportation in September: Senators still favor tax increases, and delegates do not.

It appears Kaine will offer the same plan for higher taxes and fees, forcing the sides into the same corners again. Allies and adversaries alike wonder whether a Democratic governor with a decidedly partisan style is the right guy to massage a compromise between the warring wings of the state's Republican Party, as Warner was able to do.

"Mark Warner wanted to get a job done, and he appreciated those who were willing to work with him regardless of party," said state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Fairfax). "Gov. Kaine is more focused on building a Democratic majority and the party."