With the Special Session Stalled, Democrats Are Stuck

Kaine defended his approach, saying that he was elected to lead and that the only way to a compromise is through having all 140 legislators in town at the same time.

"These guys don't talk unless they are together," Kaine said. House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) probably are not going out of their way to sit down about transportation unless they are forced.

Kaine's bill is now dead, although he could decide to introduce another bill anytime before the General Assembly adjourns. Saslaw's gas tax proposal will be voted on next week on the House floor, but almost everyone expects it to fail.

If the legislature leaves town without doing anything, Democrats remain optimistic that the electorate in vote-rich Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads will punish the GOP in 2009.

But as it stands, the session will be known as one in which House and Senate Democrats -- not Republicans -- have had to cast tough votes.

With all 19 Senate Republicans unified in opposition to a statewide tax increase -- confident they have political cover because of the economic slowdown and the high price of gas -- Saslaw had to struggle to get the support of the Senate Democrats.

At least two Democrats, Ralph S. Northam of Virginia Beach and John C. Miller of Newport News, are freshmen who run the risk of being portrayed as supporters of higher taxes in generally conservative districts.

"Unless their districts change dramatically in redistricting . . . there are going to be some one-term senators from Hampton Roads," Stolle said.

( Steve Pazmino, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, counters that Stolle has voted for numerous tax increases during his career but still has managed to win reelection.)

In the House, the transportation issue has put only one or two Northern Virginia Republicans in a political bind, most notably Del. David B. Albo (Fairfax), who has tried to broker a compromise.

Most House Republicans have little incentive to support a statewide tax increase, especially because Kaine and Democrats have not persuaded many rural Virginians that the deficit in the road maintenance budget might affect the highways they use.

With gas prices already more than $4 a gallon, House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Bath) has come out against Saslaw's plan to raise the gas tax by 6 cents over six years, which would cost the average family less than $50 a year.

Democrats in Northern Virginia should be more comfortable voting for Saslaw's proposal, which is aimed at hitting out-of-state motorists for the cost of using the state's roads. But they would still be voting for higher taxes, even though they know the bill has almost no chance of passing, a difficult political decision regardless of how liberal the district is.