Tim Kaine Runs for Mark Warner's Second Term (Herndon, VA)
By: Lowell
Published On: 3/17/2005 2:00:00 AM
Tim Kaine's campaign kickoff event in northern Virginia was held at the Herndon Municipal Center yesterday. A large crowd, including Ironworkers Local #5, packed the room to welcome and support our next governor.
One thing was abundantly clear from the remarks of everyone who spoke yesterday: Tim Kaine is running to continue the great progress made the past four years under the leadership of Governor Mark Warner. As Linwood Holton, the first Republican governor of Virginia in nearly a century when he was elected in 1969 (and Tim Kaine's father in law) stated, "Tim Kaine will be just like the governor we have now!" And as that very governor, a guy named Mark Warner, said yesterday in Herndon, "Tim Kaine is a good friend and a good person" - the right man for the job. In short, given that governors are constitutionally barred in Virginia from serving consecutive terms in office, Tim Kaine effectively is running for Mark Warner's second term.
What does that mean, exactly? First, that Kaine's campaign is not -- like his Republican rival's for instance -- all about bitter partisanship and dividing people. Instead, it's about bringing Virginians together and continuing to move the state forward in a positive direction, just as Mark Warner did the past four years. Second, that Tim Kaine will work with anybody in order to benefit Virginia, but that -- in Mark Warner's words -- he is NOT a "finger in the wind politician." Third, that - again quoting Mark Warner - "we're going to prove the press and the pundits wrong, just like four years ago," when they said a Democrat couldn't win in Virginia. Tim Kaine's going to win. Fourth, as Mark Warner said, that Tim Kaine is a "good man" with the "wisdom, experience, courage, committment, and toughness" to be a great leader for all Virginians. Fifth, that Governor Tim Kaine will work to bring prosperity to all parts of Virginia, not just one particular region, and to make sure people can afford to live here by cutting rapidly rising homeowner's taxes. And finally, that Governor Kaine will carry on the Warner/Kaine record of excellence, the one that has made Virginia the "best managed state in the country." In contrast, Jerry Kilgore would return the state to the fiscal recklessness it suffered through before Warner/Kaine were elected in 2001.
So what were all those iron workers doing there yesterday? Most importantly, they were there to help elect a governor who will work for people like them. In addition, they reminded us of where Tim Kaine comes from: the son of an iron worker himself; a man who has managed a business; a real human being who worked as a Christian missionary in Honduras as a young man; a leader who, as Mayor of Richmond, helped cut the city's homicide rate in half partly through his award winning "Project Exile" crime-fighting program.
In short, Tim Kaine is a pragmatist who will get things done for Virginia, unite us, and keep us moving forward as a state. If you like what you saw the last four years under Mark Warner's leadership, it's real simple: vote for Tim Kaine in November.
PS Thanks to Dominic Gabello for the photos!
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