Brian Moran for Governor

The Richmond Times Dispatch has a article out this morning that provides a great profile on Brian Moran, one of the three candidates for the Democrat nomination for Governor. I have met Brian twice and had great conversations with him and I truly believe that he is the candidate that Virginia needs as opposed to Terry McAuliffe who strikes me as a modern day carpetbagger with ZERO previous experience in Virginia politics or Creigh Deeds who is too far right of center to convince me that he's in a position to carry the must win areas of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. The boyfriend is so taken with Moran that we have a yard sign out in front of the house and he is wearing a Moran campaign button every day to his salon. One thing that strikes me about Moran - besides his ability to see LGBT Virginians as regular everyday citizens - is that he comes from a background that allows him to know what life is like for the common citizen and that he has not forgotten where he came from. Here are some highlights:

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The reserved Moran -- known for studious qualities -- doesn't suck the air from a room like McAuliffe. While Deeds speaks in a native Virginia drawl, Moran delivers his decades-spent-fighting-for-Virginians speech in a hard-edged Boston accent. Moran says he has been working for Virginians for 20 years, from Arlington County, where he served as a prosecutor, to the halls of the state Capitol.

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It was him -- not the others -- who in 2004 sat with Republicans in a 24-hour diner to draft a budget reform compromise on a paper napkin over beers, he says. "I do believe that we are on the right track," in Virginia "and we need somebody that's been there and can lead us," Moran said this week. "I truly believe I have that ability."

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"What you have with Brian Moran is a knowledgeable, competent legislator who has won the respect of his peers in Richmond," said Steve Farnsworth, political scientist at George Mason University. "I describe him more as a workhorse and less of a show horse. In modern media-dominated politics, people seem to be drawn to show horses more than workhorses. And show horses with money -- that is a second advantage."

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Moran started working at 14, bagging groceries near his home in Natick, Mass., a suburb west of Boston, where he lived with his parents and six siblings. He lived there until moving away to the University of Massachusetts, where he briefly played football. By the end of his junior year, cancer had tightened its grip on his father, and Moran moved home to help. He never returned to the university, instead putting himself through the local Framingham State College and later Catholic University law school working jobs on a construction site, at a gas station, in a bar, and as a subcommittee aide on Capitol Hill.

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One misfortune in particular has stuck with Brian and his oldest brother. The way Jim Moran tells it, their father was a loyal, hardworking employee for a beer distributor. That was, until one day, when the company was bought out. Their father was shown the door and the family's station wagon -- his company car -- was towed out of the driveway. "These people who came in didn't have loyalty to the company or the product or anything else," Jim Moran said. "They just wanted to make a quick buck."

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[W]hen the candidate steps out at events, he often talks about lessons from his childhood. He says nursing his father gave him perspective on elder care. And he'll never forget the day the family car was hauled away. "Whether voters decide I'm the best candidate or not, I'm going to put myself out there. I really want to take Virginia to the next step building on where we've come," he said. "I think because of my upbringing I am truly empathetic with what people are going through."

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I believe that Brian has a compelling personal story and that he has the best vision for Virginia. I also believe that he would represent the best candidate to defeat Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell in November. Virginia cannot afford to have a puppet of Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation in the Governor's office.