Decision Virginia

By:  Ryan Nobles – bio | email

Much has been discussed about Sarah Palin’s return to the media spotlight. The former candidate for Vice-President’s new book comes out tomorrow and she is going to be embarking on a book tour that will bring her to Roanoke later this month. The former Governor of Alaska kicked off the media blitz with a highly publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Palin’s first big moment in the spotlight will be scrutinized in many different places, but I was struck by a question that Winfrey asked about her relationship with Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Lieberman, who famously broke party ranks to endorse his friend John McCain, was at one point considered to be a contender to be the GOP nominee for Vice President. Of course, just four years earlier, Lieberman had been the Democratic nominee for the same job.

Insider reports claim that McCain really wanted to run with Lieberman, but that his advisors told him that his lukewarm support from social conservatives would turn into an outright revolt, if he went with the Democrat. Instead he picked Palin. The fact that Lieberman was passed over, especially after he had gone out on such a limb would make one believe that he probably wouldn’t be a huge fan of Sarah Palin. Especially when they two sit on opposite ends of the political spectrum on a number of key social issues.

However in her chat with Winfrey, Palin specifically mentioned how kind Lieberman was during her preparations for her debate with Joe Biden. While the McCain debate prep team seemed to be overwhelming her with a deluge of information, Lieberman told her just to “relax’. You can see what Palin had to say about Lieberman on the Oprah website, in a web extra clip that Winfrey calls “The best advice she got on the campaign trail.”

“He gave me the best advice that anybody had on the campaign.” said Palin. “Be yourself, put your faith in God, he is going to see you through this.  Have fun. They were things that seemed so simplistic, but were absolutely real and helpful at the time.”

Interestingly, I spoke to Sen. Lieberman in the moments after that very debate.  The Senator, who was offered by the McCain campaign as a surrogate from the “spin room”, had nothing but high praise for Palin’s performance. A performance that we now know, was in part because of Lieberman’s contribution to the effort.

Here is the entire uncut interview from October 2, 2008:

Lieberman once again finds himself under attack from liberal Democrats who are unhappy with his role in the health care fight. If he was hoping to repair relationships that have been badly damaged since he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President, praise from Palin, probably won’t be very helpful.

Tonight Democratic consultant Adam Sharp tweeted that he received an automated call at home from someone claiming to be Sarah Palin asking him to vote for Bob McDonnell.  Sharp asked his fellow Democrats to spread the word about Palin’s 11th hour support for the Republican.

Sharp spoke to the liberal blog Blue Virginia about the call, but then stopped taking phone calls on the topic.

Sharp, wasn’t the only voter to get a similar call tonight. NBC12 producer Michelle Jackson talked a Republican voter in Fauquier County who received call from someone who claimed to be Sarah Palin, but this voter told us, that it “Didn’t really sound like her.”  She hung up when she realized that the call was a series of many automated calls that she had received during the campaign, so she didn’t learn who paid for the call, or for that matter who “Palin” was asking her to vote for.

What she did do was notice was that the number that the phone call came from was saved in her caller id. The number came from a phone registered to Paul Rohrer, from Chesterfield. A search of the number, finds people complaining about similar calls coming to their phones. I tried to call the number tonight, there was no answer and the voice mail said the inbox was full.

Both the Republican Party of Virginia and the Bob McDonnell campaign said they had nothing to do with the call. I have also put a press inquiry in to SarahPAC, Governor Palin’s current political arm for a comment.

There are any number of scenarios, that could’ve led to these calls going out, very few of which could be connected to Sarah Palin or Bob McDonnell. Aside from the fact that the McDonnell campaign has worked very hard to distance himself from the controversial former Governor, Palin herself has been a vocal critic of Robo-Call politics. At one point during the presidential election Palin called on her own campaign to stop the practice. Lending her voice to this type of effort, would be a direct about-face from her prior statements.

I am continuing to look into this situation and am hoping to learn more in the morning. If you received the call, and happened to record it, please e-mail me at rnobles@nbc12.com

***UPDATE***

I have now received a full recording of the phone call that is going out across the Commonwealth tonight from someone claiming to be Sarah Palin. Now that I have heard the full call, some of the questions surrounding it have been answered.

First- The call is not in support of Bob McDonnell or any of the Republican candidates for statewide office. The voice on the phone just asks you to “Vote for Sarah Principles” on Tuesday. No specific candidate is mentioned.

Second- The call is paid for by the “Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition”, which may be is connected to this group that has a website that espouses Conservative beliefs and features pictures of the organization’s members with Bob McDonnell.

What we still don’t know for sure is if the person on the phone is actually Sarah Palin. The caller displays a distinct accent, which Palin and/or Tina Fey have made famous, but to say the individual is unequivocally Sarah Palin is impossible.

Judge for yourself:

Here is the transcript:

Woman’s voice: “Virginia! Hello, this is Sarah Palin, calling to urge you to go to the polls Tuesday to vote for Sarah principles. The eyes of America will be on Virginia and make no mistake about it, every vote counts. Don’t take anything for granted, Vote your values on Tuesday and urge your friends and family to vote too. (inaudible)

Man’s voice: “Paid for by the Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition”

The call was provided to me by Gary Reinhardt, an independent candidate for Delegate in the 65th District. He told me that when he first heard the call, he had no doubt that it was Palin, but after listening back a few times, he was now starting to question the call’s validity.

In the morning, I plan to reach out to the Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition and I hope to learn something definitive from the Palin camp as well.

**UPDATE #2**

It is indeed Sarah Palin. Her spokesperson, Meg Stapelton confirmed as much to the Washington Post and CNN.

Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell welcomed yet another potential candidate for president to the commonwealth on behalf of his campaign. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is on many GOP short lists as a potential opponent to Barack Obama in 2012.

Pawlenty is spending quite a bit of time in swing states like Virginia and raised the suspicion of presidential candidate handicappers when he decided to pass on the opportunity to run for re-election.

Today in Richmond, Pawlenty raised some money for McDonnell and then was part of a press event that was intended to showcase the republican’s pro-business background. After a few brief remarks by both the candidate and his guest, the press event became dominated by a few reporters on very specific topics and Pawlenty basically became a wallflower.

Fortunately, we were able to catch up with the Governor as he was leaving, to get his take on Wednesday night’s address by President Obama to a joint session of Congress and whether or not he thinks that Obama’s early performance in office could make him vulnerable to a challenge.

For the record on the question of if he plans to run for president:

“I’m focused on finishing out my term as governor, helping out  the Republican Governor’s Association, and also doing things that I think will help my party improve, both in Minnesota and around the country.”

And if you are keeping track of McDonnell’s potential POTUS candidate visitors they are as follows: Jindal, Romney, Huckabee, Guliani and Barbour. And don’t forget, Sarah Palin is still on the table.

Republican candidate for Governor Bob McDonnell spent 30 minutes today answering questions submitted by readers of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. NBC12 was granted access to the exclusive conversation that was streamed live on their web site.

You can watch a replay of the livechat by clicking here.

After the lively discussion, Times-Dispatch reporter Tyler Whitley who moderated the discussion joined me for a recap on NBC12 First at Four. (Our conversation is posted after the jump)

The Times-Dispatch readers forced McDonnell to face a number of issues in the race for Governor head on. The first, and perhaps most controversial, is the ongoing fight over the place of President Barack Obama’s birth. While the White House, the State of Hawaii and several independent fact checking agencies have confirmed that the President was indeed a natural born citizen, the lack of some specific documentation has allowed rumors and doubt about Mr. Obama’s place of birth to flood the media.

The controversy is one that is being chiefly spread, not surprisingly, among the President’s harshest opponents. Most of them Republican. Of course if it was conclusively discovered that the President was not born in the United States, than he would not be eligible to hold the office. The Constitution specifically states that the President must be a natural born U.S. Citizen.

This has led to some problems for Bob McDonnell because of new polling information that shows that as much as 36% of Virginia voters who are supporting the Republican, do not believe that the President was born in the United States. But while Bob McDonnell may have a significant number of supporters who hold that belief, the candidate himself does not. Here is the exchange with Whitley:

((read more after the jump...)) Read the rest of this entry »

We are streaming the Sarah Palin event at Deep Run High School live right now on our main page www.nbc12.com. She is expected to come to the stage in the next half hour.

Here is a picture of what the atmosphere is like at the event right now:

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

We are now down to 6 days left in the race for the White House and the Virginia battleground is well established. Here is a look at some big time visitors heading to town over the next few days. 

The visits are from politicians, governors, mothers and an academy award winning actress.

THURSDAY-

Democrats:  
2:45pm- Google CEO Eric Schmidt will speak on the economy at VCU

4:30pm- Delegate Brian Moran (and candidate for Governor) will appear on MSNBC

The candidate himself, Barack Obama will headline a rally in Norfolk at 5:45 tonight. 

Republicans:
2:00pm- Senator John Warner and Attorney General Bob McDonnell hold Veteran’s Victory Rally at Parham Road Headquarters 

7:45pm- Sen. McCain’s mother Mrs. Roberta McCain will meet with volunteers at an appreciation rally at Parham Road Headquarters. 

FRIDAY-

Republicans:
11am- Roberta McCain headlines volunteer appreciation rally at Hanover Headquarters on Chamberlayne Road.

Democrats:
11am- Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow (yes that Gwyneth Paltrow) headlines a get out the vote rally at Marshall Street Headquarters.

1pm- Gov. Bill Richardson headlines at get out the vote rally at Marshall Street Obama Headquarters.

The McCain/Palin campaign also released the final details for Saturday’s event featuring Gov. Sarah Palin at Deep Run High School. The Palin event will begin at 8pm. Doors to the event open at 6. Tickets are available at all campaign offices or at www.virginia.johnmccain.com. 

Check back all day long for updates. Who knows who could be in Richmond next!

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

7 Days to go and Virginia will have more high profile visitors coming to the state as the hours left to convince voters continue to slip away.

Barack Obama will make his tenth trip to the commonwealth by holding a rally in Virginia Beach on Thursday. The event will be held at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater at 5:45pm.

Obama is also sending some high profile surrogates to town again. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google will be in Charlottesville and Richmond on Thursday. He will discuss Obama’s plan for the economy. In case your wondering Schmidt is reportedly worth a cool $6.6 billion.

Meanwhile John McCain and Sarah Palin return to Virginia on Saturday. McCain will hold a rally in Fairfax Saturday afternoon at 11am. Palin will appear in Richmond that evening. The details of that event has not been released.

**UPDATE**

Some details from the Palin event have been released:

Deep Run High School
4801 Twin Hickory Rd
Glen Allen, VA 23059
Event will be in evening
Exact time TBD

**UPDATE ENDS**

McCain is sending a unique surrogate of his own to Virginia. His mother, Roberta McCain is making 10 stops throughout Virginia over the next three days. She will stop here in Richmond on Thursday at 7:45pm. In case your wondering Mrs. McCain is 96 years old.

The details for the McCain and Obama events are after the jump. I will post the Palin event details when I get them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

As you might imagine it is a busy day on the campaign trail as we are now only one week away from voters heading to the polls to cast their ballots. 

Barack Obama spends the majority of his day in the Commonwealth, with the headwind of a new group of polls signaling his position in Virginia improving. Obama will be at James Madison University this afternoon before heading to a nighttime rally at Norfolk’s waterfront ballpark tonight. 

The democratic presidential nominee is also asking his supporters to take election day off from work, to help get people to the polls. He also got his buddy Gov. Tim Kaine, to record a radio spot in support of him. 

While Obama jets around other parts of the state, he brings a big name here to Richmond. Sheryl Crow will drop by his campaign office on Marshall Street to urge his supporters to get out on the street in support the candidate. She will appear at 2pm this afternoon, although don’t expect a performance. According to the release Crow is “expected to lay out the choice in this election: John McCain and four more years of the same failed policies of the last eight versus Obama and tax relief for the middle class, access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Virginians and a plan to bring a responsible end to the Iraq War.” It doesn’t say anything about her guitar. 
***UPDATE***
Crow performed with The Beastie Boys at Monroe Park for Free.

Meanwhile Republicans are still basking in the glow of a decent public relations day for them. Governor Sarah Palin played to big crowds in three different parts of the state and got quite a bit of coverage after an unplanned stop at an Ashland eatery. I was there and was among the many who stood in the rain. The main difference between the supporters and me, is that most of them had appropriate rain protection. My crack photographer Jamie Rife got inside, here was my view of the event.:

In the race for U.S. Senate, Mark Warner continues to show wide leads in every poll taken. Today his campaign sent out an email to supporters with a list of all of their newspaper endorsements. They even pointed out their non-endorsement by the Times-Dispatch, calling the paper’s nod to Jim Gilmore was “lukewarm.”

There is a lot of stuff happening, as you might imagine, so check back often!

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

I am sure that this post will lead to quite a few comments accusing the Richmond Times-Dispatch of being a “right-wing” mouthpiece and others that express the brilliance of the local publication. But I do feel that it is significant that the local newspaper did weigh in on the race for President today and decided that the choice for Virginia and for America is Sen. John McCain.

In a rather lengthy piece, the editorial board expresses many reasons why as the title of the endorsement says it is “Time for McCain”. The crux of their argument is that the state of the world is too unstable for an inexperienced person to ascend to the White House. They say that McCain is “the right man for our perilous times”.

It is a bit interesting that the McCain endorsement comes out today, in light of a few other endorsements that were probably a bit of a problem for the Republican ticket, including the Sarah Palin’s paper the Anchorage Daily News. It is interesting, specifically because of what the T-D had to say while sizing up the two candidates for Vice President:

The addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the ticket has been a mixed blessing. She has electrified the Republican base and demonstrated an exceptional talent for retail politics. She boasts a strong record so far as governor. But it is a short record. At times, Palin’s limited experience has shown, raising questions about her mastery of some complex issues. Her treatment by the press has been deplorable. But that does not mean all of the doubts about her readiness are misplaced. Still, we suspect she has a bright future in national politics, particularly after she has broadened her experience, perhaps as vice president. She seems to be a quick study.

Democrat Joe Biden has made himself into a laughingstock. In his interview with The Times-Dispatch, McCain clearly enjoyed recounting Biden’s recent guarantee that a President Obama would face a major international crisis within six months of taking office. “It’s one of the most remarkable statements I’ve heard in American politics . . . .It’s about Joe Biden riding to the rescue,” McCain said. Obama has publicly dismissed his running mate’s comments as “rhetorical flourishes.” McCain’s response: “He didn’t know Joe Biden was capable of rhetorical flourishes? I could have told him that!”

They also stop short of any glowing comments about Barack Obama, aside from saying his candidacy “reflects well America’s remarkable progress over the past half century.”

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

12 days to go and the race only seems to heating up. While it seemed that Barack Obama seemed poised to runaway with the election, a new set of polls shows the race tightening up. That trend is not only apparent nationally, but here in Virginia as well. While Obama, certainly has the edge, John McCain has not given up quite yet. 

Evidence of McCain’s final push here in Virginia is a series of campaign events across the commonwealth over the next couple of days. The highest profile event features the GOP VP nominee, Sarah Palin who will headline three different rallies in Virginia on Monday. She will be in Leesburg (where Barack Obama was yesterday) Fredericksburg and  Roanoke. 

But McCain isn’t just sending out his running mate to Virginia, he also is bringing perhaps, his highest profile surrogate, Rudy Giuliani to Richmond. Giuliani will join another former presidential candidate, Steve Forbes at a local businesses Dominion Insulation. Their goal is show why McCain’s plans for business is better for American people.

This event is part of their latest effort that began right after the last presidential debate where they are using Obama’s chance encounter with the now famous “Joe the Plumber”. McCain has now produced an ad featuring people connecting themselves to Joe the Plumber and has hosted a series of events showing local people who consider themselves versions of Joe the Plumber. In fact, in response to Obama’s event in Richmond yesterday, a group of such people held a press conference with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. 

While the Republicans are doing their best to stay competitive, Sen. Obama continues to use vast resources to continue to push. Obama will be off the campaign trial for a few days to visit his grandmother in Hawaii, but his running mate will continue to campaign. Joe Biden will be in Danville and Martinsville on Friday.

In addition, the Obama campaign will reach out specifically to Jewish voters in Richmond, by bringing in the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk to the Weinstein JCC tonight at 7:30pm.