You were the best Governor in Virginia history and you inspired an entire generation of Virginians (including me) about how Government can work when people work with each other. I cetainly don't see you as a Washington politician... Please Run for Governor again!!!

Andrew Hurst. He's proven that he has what it takes to put together a campaign with energy. He's got political savy and some name recognition here to. If not him how about Dick Saslaw. Hell if you can't find someone, which I know you can, I'll run......watch out....I got nothing to loose.

I'm grinning ear-to-ear with pride and delight just thinking about a 2008 ballot with Hillary Clinton and Leslie Bryne on it. Every last vestige of Republican ineptitude would go crawling for the holes in the walls from whence they came!

Don Beyer.

Meanwhile in terms of VP potential, the difference between Mark Warner and Dick Cheney is like the difference between cookies and ass.

I still say if Mark Warner is interested in a presidential run, he should serve a term in the Senate.  That is unless he gets the VP nomination.  Then he would be perfectly positioned for a successful presidential race

The old conventional wisdom that senators don't win the presidency but governors do may be passe.  In a post 9/11 world, foreign relations, national security and military credentials all count as much as administrative ability and a grasp of the economy.

If Mark Warner wants to be governor again - great. He did a fantastic job.  But I think he could aspire to higher office.

On the other hand, if John Warner doesn't run again for Senate, and Tom Davis moves up to run for that seat, that leaves a vacant congressional seat.  I think both Gerry Conolly and Leslie Byrne will compete for that seat in the 11th CD.  The question is does Andy Hurst also get into that race?  And what about Doug Denneny?  How crowded does the field get?

Or do either Leslie or Gerry (or both) decide they could run statewide for Senate?  I am not sure Gerry has the name recognition but Leslie already has.  She didn't do badly in a statewide race.  She might take it on.  I don't know who else would run for Senate.  But then I don't know too much about the downstate people.  Is there anybody promising not from NoVa who would be interested?

I really like this guy and he darn near won the state with much less money than his opponant. 

Yes Deeds and Webb would make a good pair.

If Mark Warner chooses not to run, a bold choice would be John Grisham. He's a smart, articulate, compassionate and committed Democrat. He's served in the Mississippi state legislature. He's well-known. He's wealthy.

The real challenge would be convincing him to run. But, it seems to me that there's nobody better than the Raising Kaine leadership at recruiting attractive candidates to run for Senate from Virginia. Whaddya say guys?

But, sadly, he seems to have absolutely ZERO interest in running.  Have you heard anything different recently?

I don't think John Grisham is itching to run and suspect that he's perfectly happy doing what he's doing. But, that doesn't mean he couldn't be convinced, with some active recruitment. What if Mark Warner asked him to run? What if Tim Kaine asked him to run? What if Jim Webb asked him to run?

If Kaine didn't have a Cro-Magnon conservative lieutenant governor, he might be an option.  The ridiculous one-term limit on our governors certainly doesn't give them any incentive to stick around.

Is there anybody who could trounce Davis?  Assuming that the Republicans aren't so enamored with defeat that they deny Representative Davis the honor, I think he would be quite formidable.  In order to be viable in the rest of the state, merely having the (R) behind your name seems to work (of course, I am over simplifying for effect).  With that in the bag, he only needs to keep things close in NoVA.  And since he won without much of a problem in 2006, the year of the Democrats, I think he would have the election in the bag.

Plus, there is the issue of presidential nominees.  I suspect that if Hillary wins; no matter how down in the dumps Republicans are, they will be highly motivated to turn out to the polls.  That will boost Republicans lot in the election.

for many reasons, not the least of which is for the benefit of the national Democratic Party and assured control of the  U. S. Senate. Mark Warner has been there, done that in the Governorship, there is no way it will be the same for him a second time around, different times, different issues.  And his being Governor again would in my opinion be like a glass ceiling for our rising bench of young Democratic state politicians who should be being groomed to move up.

I was at a fund raiser tonight and Mark was there; a dozen voices were raised urging him to run for Senate.

...if Hillary is nominated. I'll take it one step further. Hillary can not win the General Election for president. So Dems better pray she doesn't get it, especially those watching the Supreme Court--of course she would be a better president than Bush.

Does Lawrence Wilkerson live in Virginia? I think he might be a Republican though. If so he might consider switching.

and he is anti=Bush, seems to have opinions similar to Wes Clarke and Jim Webb. I wonder....

He's a Republican, voted for Bush but now seriously regrets his mistake and thinks this administration is a travesty.  He was Colin Powell's Chief of Staff and recently met with the Hanover Dem Committee to speak at their meeting.  He gave a captivating talk.

Mark Warner was at a fund raiser for George Barker earlier tonight.  He dropped several hints that he is leaning toward a senate run in '08.

MARK WARNER IN '08

He dropped hints that he was considering a Senate run in '08 and a run for Governor in '09. 

I was at that fundraiser too, and I'm not sure which way he was leaning, but it was definite that the crowd wanted him to go for the Senate.  I hope he was listening. 

Whatever Mark Warner decides to run for we will be behing him 100%.  Wouldn't it be fabulous to have our Senators be Webb and Warner.  How cool would that be?  I also think he'd be a great Vice President.  We're ready for another trek to Buena Vista in September whatever he decides.  One more time for the Democrats. I got the feeling at the Barker fundraiser we'll know his decision soon.

ML