Slate has an interesting snapshot, as of July 2006, on Mark Warner's developing campaign for the White House. Here's author John Dickerson on Warner:
...[Warner]'s putting in the time. He hasn't declared that he's running for president, and as I ride in his minivan toward Dubuque on one leg of his two-day trip, he keeps saying "if I take this journey." But he already looks like a guy who is well into the march...His Forward Together PAC includes veterans from his gubernatorial staff and the Gore campaign. It's deeply engaged with blogger outreach, fund raising and courting influential party activists. Last week the PAC hired Jim Jordan, John Kerry's first 2004 presidential campaign manager.On the stump, Warner is energetic but not jumpy, and those teeth the New York Times magazine made look like a homeland security threat are just fine in real life....
Unlike Hillary Clinton, or any of his other likely primary challengers+óGé¼GÇ¥almost all of whom are from the senatorial class+óGé¼GÇ¥Warner can talk about specific recent accomplishments: improving test scores, balancing the budget, and reforming the tax code. His central theme, "ensuring a fair shot for everyone," lifts from being a mere standard progressive platitude when he talks about how he wants to guarantee that others have a chance to fail and succeed as he did. Since he made his fortune recognizing before others did that cell phones would be popular, he's also smart to frame his campaign as "not so much about red versus blue but the future versus the past."
Sounds great so far. The main challenges? First and foremost, it's national security experience. According to Dickerson, "the biggest question about Warner is his lack of national-security experience." However, Dickerson notes Warner's argument that "his training as an executive gives him the tools to make the tough decisions required from the commander in chief."
The second big challenge? Becoming "so familiar [with Iowa voters] that the [ka ching, ka ching] joke makes Iowans roll their eyes." Don't know what I'm talking about? Read the article.
Overall, it looks to me like Mark Warner is well on his way, just 6 months or so before he could be announcing his bid for the White House. Or not. Ka ching!
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Nice.