Waldo’s Virginia Political Blogroll

Duncan Hunter just held a teleconference in which one of the questions was why he endorsed the Huckster - when the Huckster’s continuation in the presidential race will likely result in John McCain as the Republican nominee. The questioner also seemed to imply he’d like to see Hunter reconsider.

Hunter explained that Mitt Romney’s refusal to work against his former company’s - Bain Capital’s - involvement with the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, or even to answer questions about the association, made Romney a “non-starter” for him. (Hunter had publicly called on Romney to terminate a deal by which Huawei was to purchase a large stake in the American company 3com.)

Hunter explained that Huawei had installed telecom equipment in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and in Afghanistan for the Taliban, work that eventually would be used against U.S. armed forces.

Though he did not say so, the implication was that Romney and Huckabee were the only two Hunter would have considered endorsing at the time he dropped out.

Of course, Hunter was under no obligation to endorse anyone. So why endorse a guy whose record on illegal immigration was so antithetical to Hunter’s own supposedly strongly- held positions? My guess is Hunter has such strong antipathy to Mitt Romney that he wanted to help ensure he would not get the GOP nomination: Endorsing Huckabee would help ensure the Huckster would continue to leech support from Romney.

Undoubtedly, Hunter would rather see McCain in the White House than Romney. Though I supported Hunter, I think this was short sighted in light of what is going to happen within the Republican party if McCain is the nominee. Hunter in effect is saying he would rather see a Democrat in the White House.

If this were a world with reincarnation, I’d happily return as any (of the three) of these leads:

Maybe this is one of the MANY reasons why.

This Sunday Bearing Drift Radio on Blog Talk Radio returns for fifteen minutes of nonsense at 2 p.m. to test and see if we still can remember what we’re doing. Call in and say “Hi!” However, on Wednesday at 7 p.m., we welcome Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, chairman of Mitt Romney’s campaign in Virginia and [...]

Did you know that less than 2% of electricity in Virginia comes from renewable energy? And what’s more, Virginia currently ranks last in state investment in energy efficiency. Virginia is one the fastest growing polluters in the US. CO2 emissions in Virginia rose a staggering 34% between 1990 and 2004, a rate nearly twice the [...]

Hello, I just wanted to say it was very nice to meet you all and to spend a day trudging around Richmond, up and down steps, and getting lost on the roof of the building (I told my dad we were going the wrong way), and attempting to rip and eat steak on a stick. I may be on later to blog some more, but until then, Good Bye, and it was so very nice to meet you, and we all owe a huge thank you to the Lt. Governer. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
Good Bye all!
Nice to meet you!
-The Blogger Formerly Known As Conservathing Two/Amelia

Every two years the General Assembly sets the budget for the next two years. This is one of those years. Rather than a 45 day session, it goes on for 60, with the understanding that it’ll take an extra couple of weeks to sort out the budget. (Often it has gone substantially longer, not because of extra work, but because House and Senate Republicans have found themselves at an impasse, and had to stare each other down and see who would blink first.)

The tricky thing about the budget is that it’s all in one fat bill. When a senator or a delegate wants $50,000 for a project in their district, she doesn’t file a bill, but a budget amendment. Those end up as amendments to the House budget and the Senate budget. You can’t track those on Richmond Sunlight. But you can keep up with budget amendments on the General Assembly’s website, which lists every budget amendment filed by every legislator. You can even check to see what your own legislators have requested from state coffers. It’s a great little system that they have set up. A whole lot of money gets spent in this process, so it’s well worth taking a peek at the figures.

Republicans introduced a measure that would create a unified system to track the final budget, keeping a ten year history, SB585 in the Senate and HB1360 in the House. But each bill was passed by for the year in their committees yesterday, effectively killing them.

In an effort to drive out the Marines, the Berkeley City Council has given Code Pink a free parking spot in front of the USMC recruiting office. I wonder if the council will give a free parking spot to a pro-life group in front of an abortion clinic?

As part of my general upgrade of baseball reference pages, I have revised the Stadium names page. This was prompted by the news that Jacobs Field will be renamed "Progressive Field." Also, Stephen Poppe recently reminded me that the Texas Rangers renamed their home stadium "Rangers Ballpark in Arlington" last year, so I finally got around to updating (and renaming) that page. The Rangers terminated their naming-rights contract with the (now defunct) Ameriquest Mortgage Company last March. Oddly, the Rangers' Web site makes no mention of the name "Am

This is my analysis of this issue, mostly formulated while sitting on the Beltway going to and from work. Republicans Mike Huckabee: No Reason: He has no momentum. He has no cash. He is probably running for McCain's VP. Not a bad result for him, quite frankly. Mitt Romney: No Reason: Mitt Romney? Be #%@%ing serious. Some have accused him of being a flip-flopper (which is an idiotic and

I’m watching Hillary Clinton debate Barack Obama from the Kodak Theater, where they give out the Academy Awards.

That explains why the program is dragging — they’re only up to Best Supporting Actress.  I’m reminded of Johnny Carson hosting the 1979 Oscars: “Welcome to the Academy Awards, a glittering two hours of entertainment, spread out over four hours.”

I’m just hoping things liven up when Billy Crystal does a song-and-dance routine to explain how delegates are selected.

UPDATE:  Nice touch.  I swear I just heard Hillary Clinton say, “You like me.  You really like me!”

Senator Hillary Clinton said in tonight's debate that the problem with Senator Barack Obama's healthcare proposal is that it would only mandate healthcare for children and allow parents' insurance to cover their children up to the age of twenty-five. Senator Clinton thinks that all you adults out there need Nanny Clinton to tell you how to take care of yourself, before you get yourself sick. For Hillary, it takes a village to raise a grownup, too. © 2005-2008

[Read More]

The February 12th Pundit Primary can’t come quick enough.  You can’t go anywhere in Northern Virginia these days without being swarmed by Tim Kaine for VP talk.

We last checked in with the Tim Kaine for running mate juggernaut when he was on CNN saying nice things about Ronald Reagan.  Today’s evidence came a different way — when we tripped over our pile of junk mail at home and spotted the local Sun Gazette newspaper.

And there was the headline: “Kaine for VP?  Don’t Rule Him Out.”

We “learn” this from the story:

Gov. Kaine says he wouldn’t expect to be chosen and doesn’t think he would be the best choice, but he also hasn’t explicitly ruled out running as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, if asked to join the ticket.

Speaking to state business leaders in Richmond on Jan. 23, the governor said that “there are much better people out there” to be the vice presidential.

Asked about the possibility of joining the ticket during a “Chamber Day at the Capitol” event, Kaine said he plans on serving his full term as governor, and will try “to get things done that need to get done in Virginia.”

Kaine has appeared on lists of prospective vice president picks, should U.S. Sen. Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination. Kaine was the first governor to endorse Obama, and now serves as a national co-chairman of his campaign.

Of course, should an Obama-Kaine ticket win the White House in November, Kaine would turn Virginia over to a Republican governor, current Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.  Now that’s the true spirit of bipartisanship.

Maryland bars and restaurants might as well not bother opening their doors this weekend. No one's coming out anyway.

A statewide smoking ban is taking effect today.

We've all seen how the smoking ban has turned DC into a ghost town on nights and weekends. Young professionals head straight to Metro after work, ride home in listless silence, and sit at home reading the collected works of Henry David Thoreau.

OK, so that's all a big lie. Like every other community in the country, DC's smoking ban has had absolutely no noticeable impact on the city's economy. The same can be said of Maryland's counties that had already banned smoking:

In Howard County - smoke-free for eight months - officials have not received any complaints of lost revenue, said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the county's health officer. Since the Howard ban took effect, the county's smoking hot line has received about three dozen calls, but no fines have been issued, Beilenson said.

"The biggest news is that there is no news," Beilenson said. "It came in with a bang and went out with a whimper."

While Gov. Tim Kaine is pushing a Virginia smoking ban hard this year and the Virginia Senate is likely to approve it, the House vote will once again be close. Considering a full 70% of Northern Virginians support a ban, the eleven Northern Virginian delegates who voted against the ban last year are especially in focus. The nine Republicans and two Democrats are:

• Dave Albo (R-Springfield)
• Chuck Caputo (D-Chantilly)
• Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg)
• Jeff Frederick (R-Woodbridge)
• William J. Howell (R-Fredericksburg)
• Tim Hugo (R-Centreville)
• Bob Hull (D-Falls Church)
• Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge)
• Robert G. Marshall (R-Manassas)
• Joe T. May (R-Leesburg)
• Jackson Miller (R-Manassas)

You can contact your delegate directly, or if you don't know who your delegate is, use the General Assembly's search feature.

In the meantime, one clean air activist isn't counting on the General Assembly to do the right thing. He's going to court:

[James] Bogden is the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against four local restaurants in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The suit seeks to require the restaurants to become smoke-free, arguing that they must accommodate Bogden's disability, coronary artery disease, and eliminate secondhand smoke so he can eat at them. Each of the restaurants allows smoking in designated areas.

While all the legal and legislative shenanigans are sorted out, Arlington residents have a great resource in the Arlington Civic Federation's list of smoke-free bars and restaurants (recently updated).

Virginia Democrats and Republicans today threw their support behind the presidential bids of Illinois Senator Barrack Obama, a Democrat, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, respectively. Seventeen House Democrats endorsed Mr. Obama earlier today at a press conference, joining Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, who endorsed his fellow Harvard Law school grad within eyeshot of the old Confederate Capitol about a year ago. In an afternoon press conference, Republicans from the House and Senate voiced their support for McCain, who already has won the backing of Sen. John Warner and Rep. Tom Davis. Delegate Chris Saxman, Staunton Republican, stood shoulder to shoulder with more than 25 McCain supporters, including Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, POW Paul Galanti and Senator Walter Stosch of Henrico. "He inspires me to serve others," Mr. Saxman said. Asked about criticism that McCain has not always pleased conservatives, Mr. Eagleburger responded that most of those attacks comes from television and radio personalities who he called "reactionaries" and "so-called conservatives." "I'm sick to death of people who says he is or isn't conservative enough," he said."He is not afraid to tell it as he sees it." In today's paper The Washington Times editorial board weighed in on McCain's conservative credentials, saying, "Mr. McCain's positions don't exactly spell c-o-n-s-e-r-v-a-t-i-v-e." The Obama endorsement came the same day it was announced his campaign had raised $32 million in the month of January alone and that it would be airing the following two commercials in The Old Dominion: "Enough" and "President". In Virginia's Feb. 12 primary, Republicans will be fighting for the state's 63 national delegates, while the Democratic will be going for national 101 delegates. The numbers could prove to be of great importance should the race remain tight after Feb. 5, Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states participate. McCain is expected to host an event in Charlottesville on Feb. 10, two days before Virginians vote in the presidential primary. And, if the race remains too close to call, Democrats expect New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama to speak at the Democratic Party of Virginia's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and Celebration Feb. 9, 2008 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond. Obama was the keynote speaker last year, drawing the biggest crowd ever to attend the event. Today, Democratic Delegates Bob Brink of Arlington, Dwight C. Jones of Richmond Democrat, Kenneth Alexander of Norfolk, Kristen Amundson of Mount Vernon and House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong of Martinsville repeated Obama's campaign theme of change. "Take a look at the Virginians who are standing before you today to support Barack Obama for president," Brink said. "We are men and women, black and white. We represent cities and suburbs and rural areas from Arlington to Norfolk to Henry County." "We are united in our conviction that Barrack Obama can bring real change to a broken political system," he also said. Borrowing Obama's words from his South Carolina victory speech, Brink said the choice in this "is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future." House Minority Leader Delegate Ward Armstrong, Martinsville Democrat, became one of Obama's newest supporters. "Most of you know that until yesterday I was supporting John Edwards for president," Armstrong said. "I supported him in 2004 and I supported him until his withdrawal yesterday." He also reminded reporters that the areas he represents has the highest unemployment rate in the state. "If there is ever a district that needs Barack Obama's message of change, it is my district," Armstrong said.

It's Obama vs. Clinton tonight -- the death match.  Over at The Fix, Chris Cillizza is calling the debate the "mano a womano...confrontation that many within the party have been craving."  It starts at 8 PM and airs on CNN. Will you be watching?

Today’s Virginian-Pilot editorial is too good to miss, nor to simply link to. Here’s it is in all it’s glory… —— Ever the loyalist, Second District Rep. Thelma Drake has come up with a remarkably generous assessment of President Bush’s tenure. In an interview with the Daily Press of Newport News on the eve of the State [...]