Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

There is an incredible political tightrope that National Republicans are forced to deal with as they convene in St. Paul for their convention this week. As I am sure you’ve heard (and if I am the first to tell you, that would be pretty flattering) Hurricane Gustav is about to nail the Gulf Coast nearly three years after the Katrina disaster.

Republicans just sent word that they plan to suspend their convention activity for tomorrow, while they assess the situation in the storm zone and then determine how festive they want their convention to be. This of course puts many of our local delegates in a tight bind. Most of them are already on the ground in St. Paul, expecting to begin their work at the convention tomorrow. However there are some that have yet to leave yet and the situation with the storm puts them in a difficult situation.

Coming up tonight in our 11pm news, Tara Morgan will talk with Janet Polarek who works for Attorney General Bob McDonnell. She has yet to leave for the convention, but knows fellow staff and delegates that are already there. In addition, Janet took a trip to New Orleans last October, and is conflicted about going to St. Paul to celebrate, when there could be suffering elsewhere in the Country.

It should be an interesting preview of what is ahead for the GOP.

Much has been made of Senator Obama’s historic acceptance speech in Denver from Thursday night. We have shown you some reaction on our air and on the web from Virginians and Richmonders that were there to witness it all. Obviously it was an incredible TV spectacle, but it seems that those who experienced it had even greater things to say. Below is a first hand account from Greg Scanlon of the Democratic Party of Virginia, who was there in Denver. 

And kudos to Greg on his work in front of the camera! He may have a future.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

The McCain camp has put out a dispatch featuring Virginians singing the praises of the Sarah Palin pick.  One name not on the list is Rep. Eric Cantor. I’ve reached out to his office to see if he has any opinion. His staff told the Times-Dispatch today that he is spending the day with constituents.

I also reached out to the McCain folks today to see if and when there will be a visit in the near future from either member of the newly formed ticket. All they would tell me is that they “can’t confirm anything right now.”

After the jump you can read the comments from the McCain “Virginia Leadership Team” Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

There would not have been too many running mates that Sen. John McCain could have picked that would have been a bigger surprise on the national scene than local Congressman Eric Cantor, but he did it. From my reading, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, especially leading up to today’s announcement, was getting less buzz than Cantor. 

It just shows that when you think have figured things out, politics can surprise you. The fact that the pick was Palin, shows no matter what the rumors are, you cannot take anything for granted. We could have easily woke up this morning to learn that it was Cantor.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will have on Virginia. There are two groups of voters that Palin could help McCain with 1-disaffected female voters who were rooting for Hillary Clinton and 2- social conservatives who, up until this point, have only had a lukewarm feeling about McCain’s maverick ways.  In Virginia, my feeling is that it will be the second area that will help McCain. Barack Obama destroyed Hillary Clinton in the Commonwealth. McCain beat Mike Huckabee by around 9 points, when he was expected to win by a large margin. McCain lost in conservative areas of the state and with voters who described themselves as concerned with social issues.

Regardless, it is a risky, game changing pick.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tim Kaine went on the attack in his short, 6 minute, speech from Denver. He spoke about his faith and even mixed in a little Spanish, but it was clear he was up there to go after Republicans. It is interesting that he was used in that fashion when you consider that pundits claimed one of his weaknesses as a potential VP Pick, was that he wouldn’t be able to criticize John McCain.

Two of his big attacks are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Richmond Delegate Dwight Jones (who also happens to be a candidate for Mayor), just called me, moments after Governor Kaine’s speech concluded. He was almost overwhelmed by the experience. Del. Jones is the pastor of a fairly large church in Richmond and has been in politics for some time. It is safe to say he has been around a while and witnessed quite a bit. He called tonight “The most incredible experience of his public service career.” This before Barack Obama even comes to the stage.

More later…

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight expects to be a big night for Barack Obama, but John McCain is not just surrendering the day’s media coverage to the Democratic Nominee. McCain is rumored to have picked his running mate and word is that it could leak at some point tonight. (No matter what we are expected to hear first thing tomorrow in advance of a major announcement on Friday.)

The potential for McCain’s pick to come down today, sent our newsroom into a bit of a frenzy, primarily because NBC put out a warning saying that the news could come at any moment and if it did they were going to just break in to report it. This was during our 6 p-m news so we were just going to report it ourselves if it did happen. Of course the news has not come and we are still waiting. There is still that very real possibility that local Congressman Eric Cantor could be the pick, but it seems that much of the bluster from yesterday has subsided a bit and it looks like it will come down to Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty.

In other McCain news, the nominee put out an ad tonight that will air in battleground states (Virginia included) during convention coverage. The ad is certainly something different. Take a look at it here, before you see it tonight.

I’ll check back in later after Gov. Kaine’s speech.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight is Barack Obama’s big moment as he delivers his acceptance speech to a crowd of over 70,000 people at Invesco field in Denver. You may recall that prior to the start of the Democratic National Convention, The McCain camp warned of a bump of as much as 15 points in the polls from the convention. So far the Gallup Daily Tracking poll has stayed about where it was before the DNC.

Here is a look at what we are working on for tonight on NBC 12 and DecisionVirginia.com.

Local Delegates Prepare for Obama- We have a number of people from Richmond and Central Virginia in attendance in Denver, getting ready for tonight’s history making speech. We will get their impressions of the big night and what it could mean for the very tight race back here. 

Local Republicans React- The spin machine back here in Richmond has been working overtime, to mute as much of the Obama message as possible. We have an interview scheduled with LG Bill Bolling to get his take on the DNC and a preview of the Republican event next week. 

Mayor Doug Wilder- You may recall our lively chat with the Mayor from Denver on Tuesday. We have another interview scheduled with him this afternoon (His entire comments on the Clinton family are available on our video player on the main page). We will see if he was happy with Sen. Clinton’s speech on Tuesday night and ask him what he anticipates from the Obama show tonight.  

Check back often today as we keep an eye on the McCain VP watch and some other Central Virginia political developments that are still emerging. And don’t forget to catch our coverage on TV beginning at 5:30.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Tonight on 12 News at 11 we explored where Barack Obama stands on missile defense programs. There is a pretty heavily viewed YouTube clip that comes from a pre-produced video statement the senator delivered to a group called Caucus 4 Priorities, an activist group that aims to reduce the size of the U.S. defense budget.

In his statement, Obama talks about cutting spending to what he called “unproven” missile defense systems. This has been fodder for conservative bloggers and others who are attempting to show Obama as weak when it comes to national security. I got the chance to talk to Obama about this very topic last week and tonight on “Securing America’s Future” night at the DNC, we showed you what he had to say. I also was able to talk one on one with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a McCain supporter, about how he views Obama’s stance on missile defense. The video clip of the story is below. You can see the entire interview uncut in the video player on the main page.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

As we settle in to watch Bill Clinton’s speech in Denver, this is worth noting. The influential conservative blog RedState today named local Congressman Eric Cantor as their choice for John McCain’s running mate. Generally Conservative bloggers have had little sway with the McCain camp, but there has been as much talk about Cantor and McCain at this point as there was about Kaine and Obama.

Our newsroom hasn’t officially developed Cantorastaria yet, but if this continues who knows? According to Drudge Report, McCain has already picked his running mate, so things could only get worse.  After the jump, I’ve posted some of RedState’s case for Cantor. Read the rest of this entry »