Kaine Sees Transportation Package as a Win-Win

"I've served with five governors, and Kaine is the least political of the five," Armstrong said. "He believes there is a way to make this happen, so it is incumbent on him to try."

Kaine clearly relishes the political game, as evidenced by his active role in Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and his efforts last year to flip the Senate into Democratic control.

Unless Republicans agree to a transportation fix this year, Kaine said, "the voters are going to come after them." Democrats are six seats shy of a majority in the House.

Greg Werkheiser, a Democrat who is considering challenging Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax) next year, said his neighbors in southern Fairfax want legislators to "be mature and negotiate a viable solution" that doesn't involve "transportation gimmicks that waste our time."

But Werkheiser said he's still not convinced that Kaine has sold the public on his proposed tax increases.

"I think the governor has to make the debate real for people. Otherwise it makes it easy for Republicans like Albo to say, 'Oh, he just wants to raise your taxes,' " Werkheiser said. "You have to reveal to them what the world looks like once you made use of their hard-earned tax dollars."

Staff writer Jennifer Buske contributed to this report.