Warner Launches Senate Bid,Vows 'Virginia Thinking'

Analysts say Warner needs to run the same way he did in 2001, when he cast himself as a moderate Democrat who would bring a common-sense business approach to the state while staying above the partisan fray.

"He needs to convince them he hasn't changed," said Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University, which has polled Virginians on the Senate race.

Monday morning, about 20 members of Young Democrats, wearing matching blue T-shirts, took time off from school to attend the Roanoke rally.

Winston West, 17, said he supports Warner, even though he can't vote, partly because his Republican grandparents told him Warner was a good governor.

"I just think that the former governor is a good fit for the Senate," West said.

Warner, introduced to the Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up," stood behind a firetruck. He gave roughly the same speech as he made in Abingdon, touting his record in Richmond. He asserted that the United States needs to stop its "addiction to foreign oil" and "start withdrawing troops" from Iraq, but offered no timetable.

"There is more to be done," Warner said. "We all know that our nation is at a crossroads. For a lot of Virginians, these are tough times."

Alease Fracier, who works at a veterans' hospital in nearby Salem, said she hopes the Democratic presidential nominee picks Warner as a vice presidential running mate. Fracier said she supports Warner because he is "ready for a change" and has "innovative ideas."