RK ARCHIVE - Virginia's Fab Five

Rick Boucher - The rep from the fighitng ninth is a natural Webb ally. Boucher has always embraced party figures even when he knew they had little chance of doing anything more than cutting their margins in the 9th (see Kaine 2005). With Webb at the top of the ticket, the two of them should just go out dancing in the street for votes. How much harder does Allen's electoral math become when he can't count on padding up his margin in the 9th? A LOT HARDER.
Bobby Scott - It was well documented that Webb lost in African-American areas huge. I strongly beleive that this had more to do with Miller reaching these voters through mailers and TV ads than these voters rejecting Webb. If you listened to the Bearing Drift Podcast, you know that Jim Moran said Bobby Scott was very happy about having Jim Webb on the ticket. Scott could do a lot to soother over any tensions some leaders in the Black community may have over Webb.

Tim Kaine - A lot of Kaine staffers went to work for Miller. I'm guessing some of them are fine with Webb as the nominee, some of them are excited to have a good challenger to George Allen, and some of them well, aren't. Kaine could do the party a huge service my smoothing over rough tensions and getting everyone on the same page. Plus he's very popular in Metro Richmond, and he could help Webb cut his margins there (I don't like a defeatist attitude, but the Richmond suburbs are too conservative to vote for a Democrat on the federal level. If they did, Webb would get 60%. I'm optimistic, but I'm not crazy.)

Mark Warner - MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MONEY! Warner needs to bring in large donors, small donors, pac donors, urban donors, rural donors, intellectual donors, federal donors, elitist donors, redneck donors, blood donors, wood donors...etc

And as the Wildcard, the Wild Thing himself:

Doug Wilder - I like Doug Wilder a lot. He's an inspiration. But I thinbk the man is crazy. Not crazy in a bad way but at any given moment you have no idea what he's going to do. He'd rather be feared than loved, and it shows. I get the feeling he's just as likely to steal a girl's ice cream cone at a rally as he is to shake her hand. There is just no telling what he's going to do.

But the thing about it is, it works for him. No one likes him, but everyone respects him. When he brought Kilgore in like a trained dog to roll over and agree to do his 10 point checklist for Richmond, it confirmed to me that the man loves power. And no matter how they'd spin it, a forceful endorsement by Wilder for Webb would hurt Allen. Hell, Wilder sided with Allen on the budget agreement in 2004, and I bet a pretty penny he voted for Allen over Robb in 2000. So in spite of the crazy (or maybe because of it) Wilder is a face to watch. A Wilder endorsement would be big. Or maybe he'll just steal ice cream cones. Who knows.

Comments

Webb should be kissing Wilder's ass weekly (DanG - 6/15/2006 7:26:31 AM)

After the pimary, my Dad and I looked at the results and notied that Miller had crushed Webb in every place with a strong African-American Majority. We both looked up and said, "Time to see what Doug Wants." Webb will NOT win this thig without strong support from the African-American community, and Doug Wilder is incredibly influential there.

Also, it would be nice to have Sen. Marsh publicly support Webb. I think that Marsh and all of the others who endorsed Miller need to go with the guy who doesn't hang nooses outside his law office.

Webb doesn't kiss anybody's ass (Lowell - 6/15/2006 7:48:35 AM)

But he DID have a very good meeting with Doug Wilder, from what I've heard. I think those two guys respect each other greatly - Wilder the Korean War hero and Webb the Vietnam War hero, both independent voices in the Democratic Party, both fiercely proud and independent, both "born fighters."

All in all, my guess is that lack of African American support for Webb was largely a result of the Miller campaign's untrue-but-effective attacks on Webb as opposing Affirmative Action for African Americans. It was also a result of the Webb campaign's inability to get its own message out to the African American community. That was, in turn, largely about money - Miller had it, Webb didn't. Having said that, we've got to do a LOT better with African Americans starting ASAP, and my understanding is that the effort is already underway. I sure hope so!

Anyway, the primary is over and it's time for everyone who isn't happy with George Allen Bush to pull together. Jim Webb's our nominee, and after he recovers from his hand surgery, he's going to start taking it to the Republicans. Already, he's challenged George Allen to a series of debates on the issues. The response so far? Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Big surprise, huH?

Same reaction (brimur - 6/15/2006 10:41:00 AM)

As I was watching the results coming in I too couldn't help but be seriously concerned about the lopsided results in the heavily African American parts of the state. Besides fund-raising Webb needs to spend all his time over the next two months on assuring black voters that he would represent them well. Whether or not that ultimately includes getting Wilder's blessing is only for Wilder to know.

I can think of others who are important (teacherken - 6/15/2006 10:42:59 AM)

it would be nice to see forceful endorsements of Jim Webb by all of our previous state-wide office holders. How about a joint endorsement by Terry, Baliles, and Beyer? (I put Doug in a category by himself, and he would never share the stage anyhow).

Besides people like Marsh and Scott, there are a fair number of Black business figures. What if Sheila Johnson (her husband Bill Newman is a judge and cannot endorse), Jim Dyke (who was the Commonwealth's Secretary of Education)...

are there major black athletic figures we could get to endorse Webb?

Think outside the box.

Are there any high profile African American Veterans who can campaign for Webb? (Loudoun County Dem - 6/15/2006 11:13:08 AM)

They could really drive home the message of Jim's tireless support of Veterans rights and the story of Webb's championing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Statue...

I agree with your assessment (summercat - 6/15/2006 2:15:30 PM)

of the need to get the African-American community behind Webb--and soon!! I noticed that Del. McEachin ran a nice ad in the Voice, an African-American newspaper. I would suggest that , in addition to all those listed above, Jim contact some of the hi-profile ministers--such as Rev. Ivan Harris in Newport News; and the NAACP, which can't endorse, but can get the word out; and the SCLC (which should be a good thing since their former chair has endorsed him); and the entire Black Caucus in the VA and US Legislatures; and the Tuskeege airmen, who do so much fine work around here with needy kids; and, yes, the Big Dog--Bill Clinton's endorsement would carry huge weight in the African-American community. Also--don't forget the African American entertainers and athletes.
Along with this, he needs to work a whole lot with Independents and Vets. Now, if all these folks would support him, and if the flaky Dems would get out and vote for him as well, we'd get some serious winning going on!

Good Fab 5 (Chris from ASL - 6/15/2006 9:32:03 PM)

That is a strong list. The biggest one on that list is definitely Wilder. He sure is a wildcard (no pun intended) and he makes people work for his vote.

I would give an honorable mention to Creigh Deeds and a "keep your eyes out for" mention to Paul Fraim, mayor of Norfolk. Creigh is more northerly version of Boucher (as he is outside the ninth) and Fraim could become a rising star in the party.