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Doug Wilder, Virginia's only black governor in history and a Democrat, warned VP Kamala Harris and Terry McAuliffe that churches could lose their tax-exempt status if they play a video for the gubernatorial candidate's contentious election next week. Harris cut a video urging churchgoers to vote for McAuliffe, a Democrat, that was to play at hundreds of black churches across the Old Dominion on Sunday. 'Well, it's very good for her to do that, causing these churches to lose their tax-exempt status,' Wilder sneered, referencing the Johnson Amendment, which bans organizations that are tax-exempt from supporting any candidate. 'If this...

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder endorsed President Obama in 2008. America's first Black American Governor has opted not to endorse a president this time around.

Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, America's first elected black governor, has his own reservations about America's first black president, Barack Obama. Wilder, an emphatic Obama supporter in 2008, said his fellow Democrat should have focused more on creating jobs during his first term and faulted the president for failing to keep his campaign promise to bridge the partisan gap in Washington. "I think he's governed left of center and didn't focus on jobs and economic recovery," Wilder told The Washington Examiner. But will Wilder still vote for Obama on Tuesday in a battleground state Obama is desperate to win again?...

A potentially large change of events as former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder appeared at a Romney fundraiser today. This came after his criticism of Joe Biden for his "chains" comments the other day. According to Pajamas Media, Wilder (D-VA) was a surprise guest and was introduced by current Governor Bob McDonnell at the fundraiser in Richmond, VA. Wilder had said that slavery was not something for Biden to joke about:

The nation's first elected black governor, Doug Wilder of Virginia, has lambasted Vice President Joe Biden on national television for his comment Tuesday about banks keeping people "in chains." Wilder, a Democrat and a grandson of slaves, echoed indignant Republican claims that Biden's remarks before a largely black crowd in Danville, Va., brought racism into the presidential race. *** Wilder said he felt Secretary of...

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's slavery museum is disputing a claim by the city of Fredericksburg that the museum failed to account for $1.6 million in funds. As part of its efforts to seek federal bankruptcy protection, the United States National Slavery Museum is trying to stop the appointment of an examiner to review its finances. The museum also maintains that it be allowed to reorganize so it can eventually resume fundraising and seek tax-exempt status with Fredericksburg. Last month, an attorney for the city filed a motion as part of its efforts to collect more than $215,000 in delinquent...

With midterm elections approaching, and many focusing on politics, more than a few people want to determine what the tea leaves might mean for 2012 — when the “Big One” is on us again. It would be good for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to address some important issues — now. The president’s poll numbers can be read different ways, depending on who is doing the reading. One thing is clear, though: He has to improve his favorability numbers, as well as the unsettled national mood reflected in the “right track/wrong track” indicators. Neither is easy. Nor is...

The House Committee on Militia Police and Public Safety voted 15-6 today to eliminate Virginia’s one-gun-a-month limit on the purchase of handguns. = break = Andrew Goddard, father of Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard, argued that only gunrunners need to buy more than one handgun a month. The vote was largely along party lines. Two Democrats voted with the Republican majority. The measure now goes to the full House of Delegates. The one-gun-a-month law, which passed in 1993, was a key initiative of then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat. Last year both candidates for governor, Democrat R. Creigh Deeds...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor. Wilder wrote of Kaine, in a column for the Politico news Web site, that "the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him." In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilder cited Republican victories in last month's Senate election in Massachusetts and in gubernatorial races last fall in New Jersey and Virginia. "I'm just disappointed in his leadership," Wilder told the AP. "And there are a lot of people...

The changes must go much deeper. Obama’s West Wing is filled with people who are in their jobs because of their Chicago connections or because they signed on with Obama early during his presidential campaign. One problem is that they do not have sufficient experience at governing at the executive branch level. The deeper problem is that they are not listening to the people. Hearing is one thing; listening is another.

During the 2008 campaign, I strongly endorsed Barack Obama for president. I did so early, when many Democratic leaders — including many prominent African-American politicians — believed the safe bet was to back then-front-runner Hillary Clinton. ... I still believe Obama can stand for positive change. But first he must make some hard changes of his own. The need is becoming more obvious by the day: He must overhaul his own team, replacing the admittedly brilliant advisers who helped elect him with others more capable of helping him govern. Getting elected and getting things done for the people are two...

The Talk Shows Sunday, January 10th, 2010 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine; Republican National Chairman Michael Steele.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif.; Kaine; Steele.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.THIS WEEK (ABC): Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; former Gov. Doug Wilder, D-Va.; Romer.

here may have been no period in our State’s history when the voters are more aware of what issues confront them in their choice for Governor. We have undergone the worst economic downturn since the Depression. I have previously set forth the things that I would look to see the next Governor address. (1) Who is best suited by temperament and training to govern in hard times? (2) Who has presented to the people realistic plans for Education, Transportation, Health Care, Public Safety and Social Services, etc.? (3) Who is strong enough to stand up for the state when tough...

The Obama administration dispatched a senior aide to Richmond Wednesday to urge former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to get behind state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director, met with Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, for over two hours in Virginia's capital. But Wilder, in disclosing the meeting in an interview with POLITICO, made it clear that he remained far from endorsing Deeds and was in no hurry to weigh in on the closely watched race — all the while outlining with his typical brutal candor what he thought some...

When L. Douglas Wilder was campaigning in Virginia in 1989, he went into Election Day convinced that he had done everything he needed to win and become the country's first elected African American governor. The polls showed him with a double-digit lead, and the post-election exit polls had him winning handily.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama on Sunday morning during his appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." The media spin has been that Powell, a Republican and former John McCain supporter, has taken very the unusual step of crossing party lines to back a Democrat he thinks will serve the country best. But a review of Powell’s own campaign contributions with the FEC shows that he has crossed party lines once before to help an African-American Democrat in a federal race. In 1994, then-Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the state’s first African-American governor, entered the Democratic primary...

(CBS) In states such as Indiana where open primaries allow independent and Republican Party members to vote for Democratic presidential candidates, right-wing radio commentators are exhorting their listeners to cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the hope that she - and not Sen. Barack Obama - will become the nominee against Sen. John McCain, a supporter of Obama said. Mayor Douglas Wilder of Richmond, Va., a former senator, said a concerted effort by right-wing media was driving voters to Clinton because, he feels, she is the weaker candidate for the Democratic nomination. "Why are the poll...

The Talk Shows Sunday, May 4th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean; Joe Andrew, former DNC chairman; Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe; Carly Fiorina, adviser to John McCain's campaign. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Richmond Mayor and former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.LATE EDITION (CNN) : Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Govs. Mike Easley, D-N.C., and Bill Richardson, D-N.M; Robert Reich, former...

The Talk Shows Sunday, February 17th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence; Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle; Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.FACE THE NATION (CBS): David Axelrod, strategist for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign; Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign; Richmond Mayor and former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.LATE EDITION (CNN) : Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former presidential candidate...

RICHMOND, Va. - The nation's first elected black governor said Saturday he is not ready to excuse comments former President Bill Clinton made about Barack Obama. In campaigning for his wife last month on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Clinton called Obama's opposition to the Iraq war "a fairy tale." Clinton suggested Obama had toned down his early anti-war fervor during his 2004 Senate campaign. "Barack Obama is not a fairy tale. He is real," former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder told reporters at a Democratic fundraiser as the former president spent the day campaigning for Hillary Rodham...