Gov. Timothy M. Kaine held a telephone blogger conference yesterday afternoon. His most interesting comments came at the tail end of the session, when a blogger identified as Joshua with Raising Kaine, the hugely popular pro-Democratic Party blog, asked the Governor about the political impact of his decision to work with the Republicans on their transportation legislation. Coming to an agreement with the GOP, as I read the sub-text of his question, neutralized the Democrats’ big campaign issue this fall.
I replicate Joshua’s question almost verbatim, but not quite; he spoke a little faster than I could type: “I see you as the coach for Virginia Democrats. I find the message from the transportation bill and this session not necessarily conducive to the goal of helping Democrats win. … In terms of winning in November, where’s the plan? How do we take the message and win the legislature?”
Kaine didn’t seem particularly concerned about the Democratic Party message in the General Assembly elections this fall. His response: “While I’m Governor … I define my role as 60 percent chief executive, 30 percent interacting with the legislature, and 10 percent [Democratic Party] coach. … My goal is getting results.”
Thank you, Governor. It’s nice to know that your Number One priority is the well being of the Commonwealth, not creating Democratic Party talking points for the next election. As one of the 40 percent or so of the electorate that classifies itself as “independent,” I, too, am far more interested in the well being of Virginia than I am of either political party. As for the merits of the legislation itself, I’ll leave that for another blog post. But your heart is in the right place.
Update: Well, at least the Governor’s rhetoric is in the right place. I was praising the Governor to a Republican delegate during the VCAP reception for Newt Gingrich last night. The delegate (who spoke off the record) seemed less than impressed. GOP legislators had boxed Kaine into a corner with the transportation legislation, he said. Politically, the Governor could not allow himself to be perceived as the one responsible for torpedoing a transportation solution that had proven elusive for so many years. As I interpreted the delegate’s meaning, once Republicans crafted a far-reaching legislative package, Kaine had to go along or he’d jeopardize the Democrats’ chances in the upcoming elections.
That’s a plausible interpretation. At the very least, give Kaine credit for this: He’s smart enough to know when to look like he’s rising above partisan politics. Virginians like that. Virginians do want results. And in the long run, governing well is the best political strategy of all.
Update: Not Buck Turgidson offers much the same interpretation as the delegate I quote above. Read his post on Bearing Drift.