Kaine Says Top Priority This Year Is Va. Budget

"I sometimes think moral indignation is jealousy with a halo, and they are just jealous that they lost the presidential election and they don't have someone who is governor about to be the chair of a major party," Armstrong said.

Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) noted that Republicans did not object when James S. Gilmore III served as governor and as chairman of the Republican National Committee during his final year in office in 2001.

"I didn't hear a peep out of the Republicans when Gilmore was chairman of the RNC," Saslaw said.

But Gilmore's tenure as governor and party chairman illustrates the challenges that await Kaine.

Like Kaine, Gilmore was struggling to balance the budget in 2001 during an economic downturn. That November, Gilmore suffered a stinging political defeat when Democrat Mark R. Warner won Virginia's governor's race and Republicans also lost the governor's race in New Jersey. Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states that hold the governor's race the year after a presidential contest.

The GOP losses, along with growing tension between Gilmore and President Bush's political team, contributed to his resignation as party chairman in 2002.

In an interview, Gilmore said he learned from the experience that it's very hard to do both jobs at the same time.

"Unless he is just going to be a figurehead, you can't do it when you are the chief executive of a major state like Virginia with a budget mess," Gilmore said.

Kaine declined to respond to Gilmore, but he disputed suggestions that he will be under added pressure to defeat the GOP this fall.

"I would have already been under pressure . . . to have a good result for my party," Kaine said.

With Virginia's governors constitutionally limited to one term, the election of a successor can be a crucial validation for departing chief executives.

Going back until at least the 1970s, Virginia governors who are succeeded by a member of the same party have generally been viewed as having been successful in office. Those who are not, such as Gilmore, have more difficulty in crafting a positive narrative about their legacy.