...at least quote the entire thing. Instead, the latest email I just got from them, gloating and chortling over the fact that - as they put it - "Tim Kaine fails the audition" for Barack Obama's running mate - only quotes the first paragraph of Sabato's analysis of Kaine's governorship:
Few nonpartisan observers in Virginia regard Kaine's tenure in the Governor's Office as particularly successful. Having known every governor since Albertis Harrison (1962-1966) and having studied the records of the dozen most recent governors, I would characterize Kaine's term to this point as belonging to the bottom quartile. To be fair, he has a year and a half to go, and sometimes a Virginia governor can make a final push that raises his grade considerably.
But what about the next two paragraphs?
So far, Kaine has had one shining moment after the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007, when he handled the tragedy with aplomb--easily on a par with Gov. Frank Keating's management of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 or Gov. Haley Barbour's skill in bringing Mississippi back from the brink of chaos after Hurricane Katrina. But otherwise, his executive tenure has recorded few significant successes and one giant, overriding failure in the transportation field where Kaine hoped to make his mark. Is Kaine solely responsible? Absolutely not.The Republican House of Delegates, controlled by social conservatives and anti-tax partisans, has been determined not to give Kaine a major achievement. "No more Mark Warners" has been their slogan, believing that the GOP's willingness to work with Kaine's Democratic predecessor to pass a large tax hike created a political juggernaut in Warner, and deeply alienated the right-wing Republican base. Still, even Democratic legislators friendly to Kaine say privately that he is often a distant governor, certainly compared to Warner, inclined to give orders without thorough follow-up and flexibility. Whether Kaine's record as Governor would matter much to a national audience is doubtful, so this may not be much of a threat to Obama.
Sure, it's easier for the likes of Jeff Frederick to blame Tim Kaine for all of Virginia's problems, but how about the role of his merry band of right-wing, flat-earth extremists in the House of Delegates in creating Virginia's budget and transportation problems? What, they had nothing to do with that? It was all Tim Kaine's fault, and these problems all just started in January 2006 when Kaine took office? Somehow I don't think that's the case.
By the way, what's with accusing Kaine of "profligate spending?" I'd love to hear ONE example of that, because off the top of my head I can't think of any major new spending in Tim Kaine's administration. And I'm talking as someone who would LIKE to see some major new investments in childhood education, clean energy, the environment, health care, and smart-growth-friendly transportation. Of course, all those would take money, which means T-A-X-E-S. But, as we know, the Jeff Fredericks (and Dave Albos) hatehatehate (did I mention "hate") taxes. Instead, they offer us the wonders of taxes disguised as "abuser fees" or (unconstitutional) "regional authorities." They also cost the state $140 million per year by cutting the estate tax (in fairness, Tim Kaine signed that into law - terrible mistake, and this blog said so forcefully at the time) in order to help a couple hundred super-rich Virginians. And they wonder why we have a budget deficit?