It is a rare day when a Democratic governor leaves office in a state that voted Republican for president since 19 68 with accolades from both sides of the political aisle.Not only was Virginia's Mark Warner a highly successful governor, but his popularity also resulted in Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine winning more votes in 2005 than Warner received in 2001.
More excerpts after the flip...
Great backgroup on his rural-based appeal:
[W]hen Warner helped engineer back-to-back Democratic gubernatorial wins in a state that had not voted for a Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, political gurus of all stripes took immediate notice.Mark Warner immediately jumped onto the list of the top five Democratic presidential contenders for 2008.
Although Virginia has its blue counties, situated mostly around the northern suburbs of Washington, the Hampton Roads area of the southern Chesapeake Bay and the cities of Richmond and Charlottesville, the state's elections have favored Republicans.
The tilt to the Republicans has been due to the political weight of rural conservatives and evangelicals who have tended to vote Republican with not-so-gentle prodding from two powerful and wealthy leaders of the Religious Right, Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach and Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg.
Warner won his 2001 election and helped ensure his lieutenant governor's victory in 2005 by cutting into the Republican rural base--by balancing the state budget and catering to such conservative agendas as gun rights and the death penalty.
That, and Warner's background as a telecommunications tycoon, a NASCAR fan, and a frugal spender of government money, make him a natural nationwide contender for the White House.
Warner's victories in solidly Republican rural southern Virginia counties could easily equate to primary and general election victories in nearby states with similar demographics like North Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
Also, some great points on his alleged lack of foriegn policy experience being an issue:
[S]imilar charges also were leveled against Mrs. Clinton's husband in 1992. Clinton's opponents pointed out that being governor of Arkansas was insufficient experience to be commander in chief.It should be noted that Virginia, unlike Arkansas, is home to a number of military bases, CIA headquarters, and foreign companies in the high-tech Dulles Airport corridor.
As a co-founder of Nextel, the cell phone company, Warner is no stranger to the military and intelligence agencies and federal contractors that are based in his home territory of Northern Virginia.
And, of course, his A+ in governing:
And he won high marks nationally by overhauling the state's once creaky information infrastructure over the last four years, by installing cutting-edge technology. As a result, Virginia was named the best-managed state in 2005 by Governing magazine.
And a great ending:
As a campaign manager for Doug Wilder, Virginia's first black governor, and aide to Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, Warner will be able to brandish progressive credentials in addition to his centrist virtues.As governor of Virginia, Warner, unlike other Southern governors, has an additional asset. Richmond is practically a suburb of media-heavy Washington, and Warner is well-known to the national media in the nation's capital. In Warner's case, that is far from a liability.