Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

President- elect Barack Obama is in the process of introducing his national security team. The headline of course, is the nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton to lead the State Department. However, an equally shocking nomination is the decision of Mr. Obama to ask Robert Gates to stay on at the Pentagon. If there was one issue that Mr. Obama chose to separate himself from the Bush Administration on it was their foreign policy. Mr. Gates has had some very different views on the situation in Iraq than the President-elect. It is clear, though, that Gates’ administration of the Department of Defense has played some sort of a role in the progress made in Iraq. Mr. Obama feels that Gates’ stewardship of the situation must remain consistent, at least for the time being.

Which leads one to ask, what happens after the “time being”? Many pundits have speculated that Gates tenure in the Obama Administration will be short. That his job will be to maintain status quo until the new president can get his bearings and begin to implement his vision. (This is, of course has something to do with Obama’s focus on the economy, which he views as his top priority).

Tonight, coming up after the game, I will take a look at Hillary Clinton supporters and their slow wait to finally get on board with Barack Obama. It didn’t take me long to find Hillary supporters in this crowd that came to see her husband. The first two people I talked to told me they voted Hillary in the primary. I’ll go into it more tomorrow, but until then I will leave you with this picture from my view of the event.

Ryan Nobles – bio | email

John McCain’s campaign just announced that it has been forced to switch venues for tomorrow’s event with McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin because of an “overwhelming response” from people hoping to attend. Supporters have been invited to go to local offices to pick up tickets or RSVP on the McCain web site.

Instead of the event being held at Fairfax High School it will now be held next door at Van Dyke Dyck Park. The McCain campaign claims that the response has been double what the field house at Fairfax High School can hold and moving it to the park will ensure that everyone who wants to go will be let in.

***Update***

The Washington Post is reporting that the McCain campaign was forced to change the venue because of complaints by school board members and parents of the Fairfax County School System. The McCain Campaign is holding to their statement that it was because of the “overwhelming response” not because of the protest. A Fairfax County School official told the Post that it was the campaign’s decision to move venues.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the event itself. The field house hold 6,500 people and the McCain camp has said that their RSVP’s were far beyond that number. We shall see if the crowd is more than the 6,500 number.

**Update ends***

This development follows a trend for McCain, since his pick of Palin as his running mate. Yesterday in stops in other swing states, lines of people waiting to attend the events, wrapped around buildings.

To be fair, this is a new problem for McCain and one that the Obama campaign has been dealing with almost since he began running. I covered his first visit to Virginia after Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race in Prince William County, which was held at the Nissan Pavilion. That venue normally holds rock concerts. Here is a photo from that event, which brought in somewhere near 5,000 people.

However, this is the sign of a trend that shows McCain is closing the enthusiasim gap. It is something that has long been one of his biggest problems, and a variable that the Obama campaign is hoping could help them steal a reliably red state like Virginia.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

It was about this time last week that Virginians were getting set to watch Governor Warner’s speech from Denver. Say what you want about his performance, but there is no doubt that it did not have the national appeal that previous speakers in that slot have received (namely Barack Obama and Bill Clinton).

Warner, however is still bantied about as a national candidate and I even read a story that said Obama’s pick of Joe Biden, makes him the frontrunner to run for President on the Democratic side in 2012 or 2016 depending on what happens this year. (I did not write it, Hillary supporters).

But before all of that happens, Warner has to win his race for Senate here in Virginia. Even though every measure you can take at this point shows that he is cruising to an easy victory, his fiesty opponent Jim Gilmore remains positive and hopeful that he has a legitimate shot to win in November.

Tonight at 11 we will take a closer look at Gilmore’s plan to break in to Warner’s lead.

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

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

i just finished an interview with Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder who is in Denver for the Convention. He expressed his real concern that the Clinton camp is not doing enough to get on board the Obama Express. Wilder has already expressed those frustration during a public forum yesterday, but he went even further during our wide ranging interview today.

Here is a sample of what he said:

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