With former Governor Mark Warner the all but official Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by long time incumbent John Warner, the question of the moment is who will be the GOP nominee. At this point, it is a constest between dumb and dumber: former Governor Jim Gilmore who left office as one of the most unpopular Governors in recent memory, or Delegate Robert Marshall who makes the Taliban look liberal on social issues. The fact that the Republican Party of Virginia cannot find better would be candidates is telling as to the GOP's groing weakness in Virginia outside of backwards rural areas.
Increasingly, Virginia voters seem to be waking up to the fact that slavish adherance to an ultra-far right Christianist agenda is NOT in the state's best interest. As a result, GOP moderates have abandoned the Party in droves, most of my own family being prime examples. Meanwhile, the Christianists blame the defections on the Party not being conservative enough, although I'm at a loss as to how the party base could get more conservative other than perhaps by pushing to re-enslave blacks, have gays publicly executed and taking the right to vote away from women. Barring some unforseen disaster, Mark Warner should win this contest by a land slide. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:
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Former Gov. Jim Gilmore says he's all but clinched the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. "Baloney," replies Bob Marshall, an outspoken state delegate also vying for the GOP's senate banner. No one can say with certainty which candidate is right, given the complex rules of the nomination that will be awarded at a GOP state convention on May 31. But there's a strong hunch among party loyalists that Gilmore is sitting pretty.
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The winner will be rewarded with a new set of problems. He will have to take on former Gov. Mark Warner this fall, who is highly popular, well financed, and unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Warner is slated to launch his U.S. Senate campaign in the coming days with a series of speeches and rallies across the state. At stake is the seat that Republican John Warner - no relation to Mark Warner - has held for 30 years. The incumbent announced last year that he will retire.
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Gilmore's belief that abortion should be legal during the first two months of pregnancy puts him at odds with social conservatives. Marshall dismisses Gilmore and Mark Warner as cookie-cutter politicians. " Neither of them will challenge the traditional political status quo," Marshall said. "What we need in Washington are people willing to throw policy grenades." Marshall wants to put military troops on the Mexico border, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, pass a balanced-budget amendment, tap into the nation's strategic oil reserves and "make the right to life fundamental." He opposes embryonic stem cell research and believes the Iraqi government should help pay for the presence of U.S. forces.
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