Governor Jumping Into Races In N.Va.
Assembly Strategy Drives Today's Visit

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

RICHMOND -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is planning to visit Northern Virginia today to launch a final push to help his fellow Democrats make substantial gains in the Republican-controlled General Assembly in next Tuesday's elections.

Kaine, who will campaign in Fairfax and Prince William counties, is orchestrating an ambitious effort to influence the outcome of the election, including bankrolling dozens of candidates and dispatching operatives to take over campaigns he views as faltering.

"It's like U-Va. versus Virginia Tech -- you root for your team on game day," Kaine said during an interview between campaign stops in Northern Virginia last week. "I don't know if I am going to get the majorities, but I am confident I am going to pick up seats in both houses."

His name won't be on the ballot, but Kaine said he will be sprinting across the state between today and Tuesday as if it is literally his last political campaign. Barred by law from seeking a second consecutive term, the popular governor said he will focus on building a legacy before he leaves office in 2010 instead of positioning himself for another run for office.

Kaine's political reputation could rest on Tuesday's outcome. He is frustrated by what he sees as an obstructionist House of Delegates and state Senate, but GOP leaders accuse him of introducing an aggressive partisan style into legislative races, which they say will poison his relationship with the General Assembly.

"We are going to remember this. It is just basic human instinct," said Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott). "He has gone out of his way to go against members who have helped him, so I am sure when he comes up short, he is going to find the road less traveled."

Kaine's efforts reveal a side of the governor that few residents know about. Although Kaine often preaches bipartisanship, the Harvard University-educated lawyer can be a tenacious partisan, spending hours strategizing over how to bolster the state's Democratic Party, according to his staff and friends.

"Tim's commitment to party-building has been exceeded by no governor in recent memory," said C. Richard Cranwell, chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party.

Kaine will be visiting every corner of the state as he tries to help Democrats pick up the four seats needed to retake the Senate and some of the 11 seats needed to win control of the House.

A Democratic takeover of the Senate would help cement Kaine's legacy and bring praise to former governor Mark R. Warner (D). The two have been working together to reverse the gains the GOP made in the state during the 1980s and 1990s.

Kaine "would be an architect of a party comeback," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University and an expert on Southern politics. "A lot of Democrats in other Southern states will be interested in talking to him to figure out how he did it."

But the stakes go beyond political gratification for Kaine, who says he is committed to building a legacy centered around investing more in education, health, the environment and transportation.

"The challenge I have in the legislature is there are an awful lot of folks who are known for what they are against instead of what they are for," said Kaine, who believes that the quality of life in Virginia has improved because of policies he and Warner implemented.

Kaine's push to defeat Republicans in the General Assembly began last year, his first as governor, when he was trying to enact a statewide tax increase to pay for transportation improvements.

Although he found GOP allies in the Senate, the House leadership balked, which prompted a budget impasse that almost forced a government shutdown. During the battle, top Senate leaders tried to get assurances from Kaine that he would not target them in 2007 if they continued to work with him to enact his transportation proposal.

"I said, 'Tim, what you are asking us to do makes us politically vulnerable, and before we would be willing to do something like that, we would want a commitment that you are not going to come after GOP senators next year,' " recounted Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach). "He came back and said, 'I can't give that commitment.' "

Kaine's signals that he would go after Republicans this year helped persuade House and Senate GOP leaders to put aside years of bickering and enact a plan to boost funding for transportation without a statewide tax increase. Kaine reluctantly signed the GOP bill after he amended it earlier this year.

As he prepares for the 2008 legislative session, Kaine will likely face fresh battles with the GOP over one of his top priorities: extending state-funded pre-kindergarten to an additional 17,000 4-year-olds from low-income families.

Taking control of one or both houses of the legislature could help Kaine achieve his goals.

"Every additional seat I gain is going to make my job easier," said Kaine, who had a 63 percent approval rating in a Washington Post poll conducted this month.

Kaine and House and Senate Democratic leaders have spent dozens of hours recruiting candidates to take on GOP incumbents.

Since last summer, Kaine has raised more than $3 million for his political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward. He is transferring the bulk of the money to state legislative candidates and the Virginia Democratic Party, which is investing heavily in negative mail pieces against Republicans.

Since the start of the year, Kaine has made close to 75 appearances with candidates at parades, fundraisers and other events. He has gone the extra mile to ensure that the candidates are taken care of.

Paul Nichols, a Democrat running against Republican Faisal M. Gill for an open House seat in Prince William County, said that Kaine "calls me every other week just to check on me and see how I am doing and if I need anything."

At a campaign stop Thursday in Springfield for Democratic Senate candidate George L. Barker, Kaine waited 45 minutes for a local reporter, who was lost, to show so Barker could get local coverage for his race against incumbent Sen. James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr. (R-Fairfax).

Republicans predict that Kaine will fall short of making big gains in the legislature. They point to a similar, highly visible million-dollar effort by former governor George Allen to win a Republican majority in 1995. The GOP failed to capture the House and reached a 20-20 tie in the Senate.

Former governor James S. Gilmore III, who helped orchestrate the GOP takeover of both chambers in 1999, said that Kaine is running an impressive political operation. "I am not at all surprised Governor Kaine is doing this, but obviously we don't want him to prevail," Gilmore said.

Even if Democrats don't gain seats this year, Warner said that Kaine will have sent a signal that he is seeking legislators willing to "meet him halfway." Incumbents who lose narrowly might be more bipartisan when they come back to Richmond, said Warner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

But House and Senate GOP leaders, who say they are more unified than they have been in a decade, said they won't soon forget Kaine's effort to unseat them this year. They plan to focus on their own agenda, including cracking down on illegal immigrants and increasing funding for education and health care.

"One will be foolish to assume the governor one day can try to unseat the majority and the next day, when he is not successful, the Senate will say, 'Oh, that was just politics, and we are not going to pay attention to that,' " Stolle said.

Kaine, who stresses that he is still interested in reaching across party lines to work with GOP legislators, responded: "We are big boys. Competition isn't something to be afraid of."