Russ Potts: This Year's Marshall Coleman?
By: Lowell
Published On: 2/10/2005 2:00:00 AM
Today's Washington Times reports that moderate Republican State Senator H. Russell Potts, Jr. has opened an exploratory committee and is seriously considering a run for Virginia governor. According to the Times, Potts may run either as a Republican against Jerry Kill-more (aka Kilgore) and George "Cool Runnings" Fitch in the June primary, and/or as an Independent candidate in November. Either way, this could badly hurt Kill-more.
Why do we say this? First, Potts is from the sane, fiscally responsible wing of the Republican Party. (Yes, the Republicans still have such a wing here in Virginia; the problem is that the other wing -- the RIGHT wing -- is nearly as strong as the left and it's flapping away frantically). As evidence, Potts voted for last year's state budget package, including a tax increase on cigarettes, sales and real-estate. In other words, it's going to be hard for Kilgore to train his rhetorical firepower solely on Tim Kaine with Russell Potts, fiscal moderate (translation: willing to vote for tax increases to balance the budget) in the race.
Second, Potts is from the small, sickly, but not-quite-dead-yet, socially moderate part of the Republican Party. Listen to Potts on abortion, for instance:"The reason that we are so divided is because you have these attempts to infringe upon the personal privacy of women," he said after denouncing several bills that restrict abortion. "It's madness; this is absolute madness."
Yes, Russell Potts is pro-choice. In other words, what we have here is a traditional, fiscally responsible, personally libertarian Republican. You know, the sane kind we used to have before the radical right took over the party and drove people like me out of it (yes, Virginia, I was a Teenage Republican!). You know, like a lot of Republicans in heavily populated Northern Virginia.
Oh, and Potts is also a moderate on other social issues. For example, Potts opposes legislation to prevent illegal immigrants from attending Virginia state colleges and universities. And, according to the gun nuts, Potts is a for such radical concepts as closing gun show loopholes, limiting gun purchases to one-per-month, and banning certain assault weapons. Horror of horrors!
So what effect could Potts have on Kill-more, an extreme right-winger on all these issues? Possibly a fatal one in November (or earlier), according to UVA political science professor Larry Sabato: "It would greatly damage Kilgore," Mr. Sabato said. "There are a lot of moderate Republicans in Virginia who are unhappy with the drift of the party in the last 10 or 15 years, and they will probably vote for [Mr. Potts]. It won't be nearly enough to win, but it would be mainly bad news for Jerry Kilgore."
Sabato also comments in the Washington Times article that Potts could be the Ross Perot of 2005, siphoning far more votes away from Kilgore than from Kaine, splitting the Republican Party, and allowing Kaine to win easily.
Actually, come to think of it, maybe the analogy isn't to Ross Perot, but to Independent/moderate Republican Marshall Coleman (backed by popular Republican Senator John -- not Mark! -- Warner) in the 1994 US Senate race here in Virginia. That race, of course, pitted the (in)famous Oliver "Iran-Contra Scandal" North (far-right "R") against incumbent Democratic Senator Chuck Robb. Final results? Robb 46%, North 43%, Coleman 11%.
The bottom line from RaisingKaine's perspective? Run Russ Run! And please, PLEASE be this year's Marshall Coleman!
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