that's mark Warner, needs to step up to the plate and run for John Warner's seat if he retires. For the party and for Virginia. We need all the senators we can get. Mark Warner would crush any candidate that the repugs put up. It would be a landslide. Can you imagine Webb AND Warner in the senate? From red state conservative Virginia?

I agree.  Mark Warner is 95% likely to run for something.  duh.  news?

1. I'd give high odds that John Warner will announce his retirement in Sept. and immediately endorse Tom Davis; then the "eat their own" fun (for us) will begin in earnest. John Warner would be 82 if he were re-elected and if he served the full 6 years would be 86 at the end of his term. If the GOP has has any interest at all in the future of their party in Va. - and that looks like a big if - next year will probably be the last time for decades for them to run a candidate immediately following the retirement of a long-time popular GOP senator.

2. Even if John Warner decides to run one more time he is already pretty vulnerable. And he may have already lost what remains of his popularity by his opposition to the Dem. initiatives to start brining U.S. troops home. Don't forget that a larger number of new Va. voters (by 2008 that number will have grown to at least a half million) have never seen John Warner's name on a ballot and his past popularity among long-time Va. voters means nothing to them. John would have to win their votes on his most current record (bad) and what he says he can/will do for the next 6 years (not much).

For these reasons, I believe Mark Warner could beat John Warner or Tom Davis by a large margin, and in the process deliver Va. to whichever Dem. Pres. candidate is nominated. I can't imagine that Mark won't be under a lot of pressure from the top of the Dem. party structure to run for John Warner's seat even if John doesn't retire. Mark certainly understands how vitally important this seat is and that we cannot give the GOP another 6 years to come up with a viable candidate. Mark is a young man and he knows that if he serves in the Senate the incumbent Pres. would want him as a VP running mate for his/her second term.

Shorter version: Mark knows he is his duty to the Dem. party and the country to run for the senate next year and I truly believe he will answer the call to duty just as Jim Webb did last year. We need to start re-organizing our volunteers to support Mark ASAP after the November elections. Mark probably won't announce before Nov., which gives the GOP more time to build on their fractious in-fighting and further split their party.

  T.C.

It would be much much better for the country and the party if he would run for Senate.

Yeah, why wouldn't he run against John Warner?  He's EXTREMEMLY vulnerable this year.  Why not take him out?  When I hear stuff like that, it makes me think the politician is more interested in personal gain than the good of the people.

to run against John Warner because when he was Governor, JW was a huge help to him and sided with him when many republicans didn't and they became great friends during that time. 

"He's my boy"?  That's why MW wouldn't run against him?  That's why he'd let JW stay in the Senate voting to keep troops in Iraq?

Look no further than the Davis-Connolly connection

mark warner needs to run for that senate seat, REGARDLESS of what john warner does. I don't see the logic in letting republicans hold on to that senate seat, no matter who they put up for it.