Decision Virginia

The scuttle over Rep. Bobby Scott jumping into the Democratic primary for Senate is as real as it gets. While conventional wisdom has indicated that the Democratic field is waiting for former Gov. Tim Kaine to make up his mind, Scott’s decision process seems to not have anything to do with Kaine. And unlike most politicos and journalists who believe it is likely that Kaine will run, Scott has an ambivalence to the former governor’s plans.

“We don’t know who’s in and who’s out,” Scott told me during a pre-game party for the VCU basketball team in Houston, TX. “So we are going to make a decision in July.”

In classic Scott style, the veteran congressman seems to be taking his time, reviewing the potential positives and negatives and is unwilling to be rushed by the political cross winds. The same winds that pushed Sen. Jim Webb to reveal his decision to announce his future plans and the ones putting the pressure on Kaine to declare his intentions.

“You have people running for president, probably a dozen or a half dozen on the Republican side, their primary process starts in January, ours doesn’t even happen until June and none of them have announced yet,” Scott pointed out.

The dwindling timeline that is making Virginia Democrats nervous does not appear to be phasing Scott a bit.

“We have plenty of time,” he said. “I am going to decide in July.”

It is becoming more and more apparent that we may not know just how crowded this Senate field could get until late this summer.

You can see an extended clip from my interview below: