Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles – bio | email

The House of Delegates reversed an earlier vote on a watered down version of Governor Tim Kaine’s smoking ban and today passed a much tougher bill that is closer to the Kaine’s original deal with House Speaker William Howell.

Governor Kaine has already indicated he will sign the bill. (He is scheduled to brief the press at 3pm) I am headed to the briefing right now. I will have updates here and on my twitter page.

Here is the AP story on the bill’s passage:

RollCall-Smoking Ban
By BOB LEWIS
AP Political Writer

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Lawmakers in tobacco-friendly Virginia have passed a partial ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. The measure restricts smoking to separately ventilated rooms in restaurants and private clubs in a state that has grown tobacco for 400 years.

The decisive 60-39 vote on Thursday was in the House of Delegates, dominated by Republicans who have battled against tobacco restrictions for years.

The Senate earlier voted 27-13 for the bill, which now heads to Gov. Tim Kaine, who supports it. The historic measure was a compromise between Kaine and Republican House Speaker Bill Howell. It was substantially diluted last week by House Republicans.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-02-19-09 1418EST

Sen. Creigh Deeds, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor, held a press conference today to advocate for his plan to change the way Virginia draws its legislative districts. He criticized his fellow legislators in the House of Delegates who prevented his bill to create a non-partisan commission to draw districts from getting to the floor for a full vote. He also vowed to use his executive power to push non-partisan redistricting, if elected Governor. 

Sen. Deeds is hoping to eliminate the time honored political tradition of Gerrymandering (named after former Vice President Elbridge Gerry, who my tiny hometown is named after). Gerrymandering refers to politicians engineering the size and shape of districts to benefit their political parties. It is a common occurrence in almost every state and gives tremendous benefits to incumbent politicians.

Often, Republicans and Democrats work together to carve their districts to strengthen their power base. It creates odd looking funky districts that cross various municipalities and tend to separate Republican voters from Democratic voters. Across the country, good government groups have advocated for a non-partisan way to draw legislative districts to prevent this from happening.

More on the Deeds’ plan including the full release the jump..

Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

Outgoing Attorney General Bob McDonnell will be formally nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor at the party’s state convention, set to be held at the Richmond Convention Center on May 29th. Today McDonnell’s new General Chairman Ed Gillespie announced that popular radio/tv host Sean Hannity will be the featured speaker at the event. Hannity is a beloved mouthpiece for the Republican right and a frequent target for many on the left. (Including the President of the United States himself.) 

The GOP, which lacks major star power in its elected ranks, was forced to compete with the Democratic Jefferson-Jackson dinner which featured former President Bill Clinton and raised $700,000.

It is hard to argue with Hannity’s popularity. His program on Fox News Channel regularly ranks among the top 5 shows on cable news and his radio show is heard by 13.25 million listeners over 500 stations nationwide. (WRVA in Richmond is among them.) He also has written two best selling books. 

While Hannity will bring in the Republican faithful, his appeal won’t extend to moderate voters that McDonnell will need come November.

It is often the habit of political candidates to produce TV ads (which unto itself is not a cheap venture) and then only release them on the Internet.  It is a less expensive way to get getting your message out. Releasing an ad usually leads to a few news stories which can then turn into some viral play in support of their candidates. Sometimes in an effort to make the ad seem more credible campaign ad teams will make ceremonial buys at odd times during low rated shows. This makes the ad seem like it has an impact, but truthfully it will be seen more on the web than on TV.

Such is not the case with the unprecedented early ad buy from Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the race for Governor of Virginia. Here is a picture of his ad, which ran during FOX Richmond’s broadcast of the Daytona 500.

More on the Macker’s TV buy after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

In a lengthy spread in today’s NY Times, local Congressman Eric Cantor is singled out as the person who may be best positioned to lead a Republican resurgence. Comparing Cantor to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the Times’ Adam Nagourney makes the case that Cantor has become the person most turned to when in search of opposition to the Obama administration and the issue that has become synonymous with the President’s first few weeks in office: the economic stimulus plan.

Cantor has, on two different occasions, used his position as minority whip to organize 100% Republican opposition to the stimulus bill. Along the way he has been front and center at meetings with the president and holding a hearing to demonstrate the merits of G.O.P. alternatives to the Obama plan.  A plan he and his colleagues believe is filled with needless government spending and doesn’t contain enough tax cuts.

Here is an expert from the article:
As Republicans confronted President Obama in another budget battle last week, their leadership included another new face: Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, who as the party’s chief vote wrangler is as responsible as anyone for the tough line the party has taken in this first legislative standoff with Mr. Obama. This battle has vaulted Mr. Cantor to the front lines of his party as it tries to recover from the losses of November.

The article got big play in the paper and its’ web site and even got a link off the Drudge Report.

Of course leading the opposition makes for great headlines and plenty of face time for the Congressman, but it also comes with some baggage. Cantor has now become a regular punching bag for those on the left and has already been subject to radio ads criticizing his opposition to the stimulus plan. This could be just the beginning for the Richmond native who is now right in the middle of Washington’s most contentious battle.

Del. Jeff Frederick, the relatively new chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia is following through on his promise to step down from his seat in the House of Delegates to concentrate on running the party full time. In an e-mail to supporters last night Frederick announced his plans to resign from his seat and at the same time asked for help to convince his wife, Amy to run for the post. 

In the hopes of recruiting his wife for the job, Frederick  sent out that blast e-mail, set up a web site, and a Facebook group telling people to rally Mrs. Frederick to take on the challenge. 

Frederick’s tenure at the helm of the RPV has been a little rocky. In addition to a decisive loss on election day (something that can’t really be left at his feet, because he took over just a few weeks before the vote), he has ruffled some feathers with party big wigs and got himself into a bit of a social networking controversy. However, despite a few missteps, Frederick has helped Bob McDonnell’s campaign for Governor get off to a fast start and he oversaw near upsets in two local elections in Northern Virginia Democratic strongholds.

There is no doubt that 2009 will be a decisive year for the young chairman. If he can’t help Republicans recapture the Governor’s Mansion and hold on to at least one of the two other statewide posts, his tenure could be short.

The British Ambassador to the United States of America came to Richmond today as part of a two day tour of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sir Nigel Elton Sheinwald is the UK’s chief diplomat to the U.S. and serves a very important role in the two country’s relationship. 

The Ambassador came to Richmond primarily to meet with Governor Tim Kaine about a new environmental partnership between Britain and Virginia. I actually missed the press event, but if you are interested in that the Times-Dispatch has a nice recap here. 

I talked to Ambassador Sheinwald about a number of topics, including Great Britain’s take on the transition of President Barack Obama. Sheinwald made some news during the campaign after a memo he had prepared for the British Foregin Office was leaked to the press. The memo, which was his candid view of the Presidential race, was not intended for the public eye. It contained a frank assessment of then Senator Obama, who was still locked in a tight primary for the Democratic nomination. 

More on the Her Majesty’s Ambassador’s visit after the jump. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday was a very fruitful day for Democratic candidate for Governor Brian Moran. Moran picked up more endorsements from Democratic officials in both Richmond and Petersburg.

Moran has already won the support of Richmond’s Mayor Dwight Jones and earlier this week announced that he is also being endorsed by the popular city Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring. Herring was at one time rumored to be a candidate for Richmond Mayor, but never got into the race. In a release from the Moran campaign Herring says that Moran “Has been fighting for Virginia for over 20 years, and I know he’ll fight for us as Governor. His experience as a prosecutor and his work to strengthen local law enforcement make it clear that he will lead this Commonwealth forward.”

In addition to the nod from Herring, the former Democratic leader of the House of Delegates earned the support of a bevy of Petersburg elected officials, including the City’s Mayor, Annie Mickens.

You can see the full press releases from both announcements after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Nobles – bio | email

Governor Tim Kaine chose to not address the rumors that a Democratic member of the Virginia Senate was poised to vote with the Republicans, and as a result tipping the balance of power into GOP hands.

In case you missed it, here is a recap of what almost happened.  (It involves twitter, if that excites you)

Today the Governor was asked about it and decided to avoid the topic. Here is the transcript of the exchange.

REPORTER:  “Can you tell us anything about your conversations with Sen. Northum yesterday?”

KAINE: “I think that is a Senate matter and I am going to leave that for the Senate.

ANITA KUMAR (Washington Post): “If it was a Senate matter than why did you get involved?”

KAINE:  (with a smile on his face) “Because you know, I think people think of me as just a little old nobody who is trying to help everybody.”

At that point another question was asked on a different topic. I am working to get video of the exchange up.

**UPDATE** SEE THE VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP: Read the rest of this entry »

“We are sort of in limbo right now, as to what we are doing, we are sort of seat of the pants.”

That is what Del. Robert Tata told me this morning. Tata is the chair of the House education committee and said that this legislative session has been particularly frustrating not just because there is no money, but because they don’t know how much they don’t have.

Tata said at this point, it is difficult to come to a budget agreement when they don’t know how much revenue is available.  He said much of it is contingent on what is available in the federal stimulus plan. Depending on when that gets passed, could force the legislature to extend its session or possibly come back again later in the year.

I just spoke to both Gov. Tim Kaine and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling on this issue. They have very different opinions as to how the federal stimulus money should be spent. Hear what they have to say coming up tonight on NBC12 at 6.