Kaine Creates A New Dominion For His Party

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Va. Democrats Rally Around Warner

Mark Warner and fellow Democrats celebrated his Senate seat win and Obama's victory in the presidential election Tuesday night in Tysons Corner, Va.

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After he took office, Kaine vowed he would restructure the party as if preparing to run for reelection in four years, which is not allowed under Virginia's constitution.

"I wanted to run a year-round campaign," Kaine said in an interview between campaign events for Obama last week. "My thought was, let's take advantage of the fact we have a race every year. So let's run a perennial operation."

Kaine persuaded veterans of his campaign to remain in Virginia instead of accepting new jobs. His efforts produced a pool of Democratic staffers experienced in finding Democratic voters in the traditionally conservative state.

"Governor Kaine made personal appeals to people to stay in Virginia and work toward victories in '06 and '07," said Levar Stoney, who was a Democratic field organizer and now is executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party.

In 2006, that talent pool helped. James Webb, who struggled to raise money until late in the U.S. Senate campaign, establish a get-out-the vote effort that vaulted him to victory. In 2007, Kaine redefined the standard for state legislative races. He raised more than $4 million, and his political staff oversaw the campaigns of several candidates, helping Democrats pick up four seats in the House of Delegates and four in the state Senate. All of them were in the same suburban communities that Kaine carried in his race.

"You plant a flag in some of these more challenging areas, and you build on that year after year," said Charlie Kelly, who was a field organizer for Kaine in 2005 and now heads up his political action committee. "We keep good people on the ground, and we trust them to hire others."

Kaine and Virginia Democratic leaders then set out to help Obama, Warner and congressional candidates. Led by Mike Henry, campaign manager for Kaine in 2005 and Warner this year, Democrats set a goal to expand their reach even deeper into the fast-growing parts of the state.

In his drive to turn Virginia blue in the presidential race, Kaine found a natural ally in the Obama campaign. Democratic volunteers knocked on thousands of doors in historically Republican areas: Stafford and Spotsylvania counties in Northern Virginia's outer suburbs as well as Chesterfield and Henrico counties outside Richmond. The coordinated effort raised more than $15 million.

Obama surpassed Kaine's winning margin in Loudoun and Prince William. Obama also outperformed Kaine in Chesterfield, which Sen. John McCain (R) narrowly won, and Henrico, which Obama carried with 55 percent of the vote. Obama also made gains in Hampton Roads, where Democrat Glenn C. Nye III unseated Rep. Thelma Drake.

Nye said, "They have been working very hard to build that infrastructure, and having a Democratic-coordinated campaign working with the Obama and Warner campaigns was very useful in getting out our message."

Democrats are now gearing up for 2009, when they hope to keep the governor's mansion and take control of the House of Delegates.

"The gains this year were not a fluke," Kaine said. "Everything we did this year prepares for next year."