Gillespie Wins Nod to Challenge Senator Mark Warner

Perhaps having learned a lesson from last year that nominating total whack jobs to be party standard bears was a guarantee of defeat at the polls, the Virginia GOP nominated Ed Gillespie as its nominee to challenge incumbent Senator Mark Warner.  While Gillespie is one sleazy operator, in comparative terms he's rational compared to the challengers that the Tea Party loons put up against him.  With Mark Warner very popular in Virginia, one hopes that Gillespie goes down to defeat in November, especially if the GOP controlled Virginia House of Delegates is stupid enough to force a state government shut down over Medicaid expansion at the end of the month.  A piece in Politico looks at Gillespie's win and the disgruntled Tea Party crowd that may prove to be a pain in his side:

Ed Gillespie won the Virginia Republican Senate nomination at a party convention here Saturday afternoon and will face Democratic Sen. Mark Warner in the fall.

Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and lobbyist, won on the first ballot over three conservative opponents.

The coronation, while expected, is another win for the Republican establishment.

He enters the general election as the decided underdog, but GOP operatives see him as a credible candidate who could capitalize in this purple state if there is a strong wave against Democrats in the midterm elections.

Gillespie was a top adviser to George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, both of whom have drawn criticism from some corners of the tea party movement.

His main challenger, insurance agent Shak Hill, drew a mix of cheers and boos when he attacked Gillespie for pushing the TARP bailout in the closing days of the Bush administration.
“I have the moral authority to challenge Mark Warner,” Hill said. “When you lobby for big bank bailouts, there is no separation between you and Mark Warner.”

Hill supporters handed out literature that showed pictures of Gillespie laughing alongside fellow strategist Karl Rove under the heading: “Ed Gillespie: A Washington Insider with a Virginia Address.” The back of the leaflet attacked Gillespie for being soft on Obamacare, for helping sell the TARP bailout and for supporting comprehensive immigration reform.

The convention offered a marked contrast to last year’s state convention, which dragged on late into the night and nominated firebrand preacher E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor over several more electable candidates.  Jackson, who got trounced last November, introduced Hill as a principled conservative who won’t go along with party leaders.

Gillespie’s victory is a reflection of the degree to which activists have become more concerned about winning elections. The commonwealth, which voted solidly Republican in presidential elections for four decades, went twice for Barack Obama. For the first time since the 1960s, there is no Republican elected statewide.

The Democratic Party of Virginia quickly attacked Gillespie as a lobbyist who has spent his career advocating for special interests.

“Mark Warner has spent two decades working in the sensible center to create jobs, chart a more fiscally responsible future, and ensure everyone has a fair shot at success,” Democratic state chair Dwight Jones said in a statement. “Senator Warner’s proven, bipartisan approach is exactly the kind of representation Virginians need in the U.S. Senate.”

We do NOT need Gillepsie in the U.S. Senate.  The husband and I believe that Mark Warner needs to be reelected.  In fact, we went to a Warner fundraiser on Friday evening that saw a local who's who crowd in attendance.