Interpret this as you will. On Thursday, Steve Shannon is having a fundraiser in Tyson's Corner at which he will be endorsed by Maryland Attorney General, Doug Gansler and Arkansas Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel. Well, actually the announcement says that they will be "special guests." Somehow I think that qualifies as at least a tacit endorsement, don't you?
This is perhaps not the normal way one runs for office in the Commonwealth, but one can say that there is a certain amount of validity to this - after all, Attorneys General do share some common interests. Although I remember Creigh Deeds once telling me, when he was running last cycle, that in Virginia the job of Attorney General is only 20% criminal law, but 80% of the campaigning has to focus on that issue. Virginia's office is structured somewhat differently than that of many other states.
Still, it represents a validation of Steve's qualifications, by background of temperament, from two men who now hold equivalent jobs. And Gansler, the AG in our northern neighbor, certainly has some idea about the nature of the Virginia job. UPDATE: and who are two of the three co-chairs of the Democratic Attorney Generals Association, as you can see here (end of update)
Of course, it might be far meaningful to have the endorsement of Gerald Baliles, who served as both AG and Governor. The most recent Democratic AG ws Mary Sue Terry, who served two terms. But then again, Baliles left the AG's office in 1985, and the Executive Mansion in 1990. Terry left in 1993. So I wonder to how many voters in the Old Dominion their names would be relevant? Among older Dem activists, perhaps.
And to add some heft to this, how about the duties of the office, as listed in Wikipedia:
>The Attorney General heads the Office of the Attorney General, also known as the Department of Law. The Attorney General and their Office have several duties and powers granted by state law. These include:* Providing legal advice and representation in court for the Governor and the state government in general
* Providing legal advice, official opinions, to members of the Virginia General Assembly and local government officials
* Defending the state in cases of criminal appeals and suits against the state
* Defending the constitutionality of state laws
* Collecting money owed to various state institutionsIn order to fulfill these responsibilities, the Attorney General oversees one of the largest law firms in Virginia. The full time staff includes a chief deputy attorney general, five deputy attorneys general and about 150 assistant attorneys general, 40 additional full time lawyers appointed as special counsel to particular agencies, and 140 legal assistants, legal secretaries and other professional support staff. The Office of the Attorney General is structured very much like a private law firm, with sections devoted to legal specialties.
The Attorney General is second in the line of gubernatorial succession. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Governor of Virginia, the Governor is replaced by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. However, if there is also a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor, then the Attorney General becomes Governor.