John Warner May Vote for Mark Warner

By: Lowell
Published On: 10/4/2008 3:41:00 PM

Hahahahahahahaha.

Retiring Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) beat his Democratic opponent, Mark R. Warner, by 6 percentage points in the Old Dominion's "Warner vs. Warner" race of 1996.

Now, he might cross party lines and vote for him.

Mark Warner, who went on to become a popular governor, is running to succeed John Warner in the Senate. Mark Warner's opponent is another former governor, James S. Gilmore III, a Republican who has received little support from the state's power structure and lags by 26 points in a new poll.

"I'm watching that race, following the positions of the two candidates," John Warner told reporters on a conference call Saturday. "There have been occasions when I have supported Democratic candidates. ... But I'm not there yet."

Can Jim Gilmore sink any lower?  On the flip side, can Mark Warner rise any higher? :)

Comments



The facts of life (Dan - 10/4/2008 4:00:29 PM)
This is one of the safest races for Senate Democrats in the country, never mind the fact that it is an open seat in a Purple State like Virginia.

Here are the facts:
Mark Warner is polling better in his Senate race in Virginia than Incumbent Senate Democrats Dick Durbin in Illinois, Tom Harkin in Iowa, Carl Levin in Michigan, and Frank Lautenberg in New Jersey.  All blue states.  I have seen some polls, where Mark Warner is polling as well as John Kerry is in Massachusetts!  

What is going on with the Republicans in Virginia?  If Jim Gilmore is such a poor candidate, why didn't they pick somebody else?  Did nobody else want to run?  I think that if Tom Davis ran, although Mark Warner would still be leading, Davis would probably be well over 40% in the polls.  I would think Eric Cantor would be over 40% in the polls.  So could Randy Forbes or Bob Goodlatte.  However, they run Jim Gilmore, who has the appeal of Statler and Waldorf; the two old guys on the balcony in the Muppets.  

How did Jim Gilmore ever end up as our Governor in the first place?  As a candidate, he makes George Allen look like Ronald Reagan!

I suppose the problem is that voters in Virginia seem to think of Mark Warner more like an advocate for the State of Virginia than a Democrat.  That's because when he was Governor he seemed to be more focused on the needs of the State of Virginia than ideology or party.  Jim Gilmore, as Governor, was more an advocate for Republicans than for Virginia.  Virginian's don't want a Republican or a Democrat, they want an advocate for them.  I don't think it is possible for Gilmore to defend against that.  Still, a decent Republican challenger could probably convince at least 75% of his own Party to vote for him...including John Warner!  



Gilmore or less (NP - 10/4/2008 7:53:35 PM)
Gilmore won by promising to get rid of the car tax.  I saw people fall for that.  I kept telling my story that even with the car tax I paid less tax in Virginia than when I lived in Maryland.  I think it is a fair tax because if you are rich enough to own a bunch of new cars you are rich enough to pay for that luxury.  


I used to be a non-thinker (Pain - 10/4/2008 8:30:34 PM)

I used to vote republican.  Never really thought about it.  I loved the idea of no car tax, but even at the time I had no illusions that the money wouldn't have to come from somewhere else, but it sounded soooo good.

Then I grew up.



I think Eric Cantor would've made this race MUCH tighter. (hallcr3 - 10/4/2008 5:45:09 PM)
Cantor is getting all sorts of national media attention and free publicity. He probably would've been enough to keep some of the Republican voters from voting for Mark.

I wish he'd stump more for Barack in Virginia, though. It upsets me that displaying your support for another candidate in the same party is seen as a political liability.  



Isn't he mentioning Obama in his stump speeches? (Dan - 10/4/2008 6:16:51 PM)
I suppose since he is campaigning for Senate as a Democrat, he mentions Obama, doesn't he?  I don't know if Mark Warner needs to do many joint rallies.  So, I am not sure what you mean by "stumping".  Can you elaborate?  

I don't imagine that Obama is a liability for Warner in Virginia.  I would figure that with Obama's poll numbers in Virginia, Obama is probably is doing nearly as well as Kaine or Webb were doing in conservative parts of Virginia.