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WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Tim Kaine spent President Barack Obama's first year in office pulling double duty as Virginia's governor and the Democratic National Committee chairman _ and weathering criticism that he was an ineffective, absent party leader. Now freed from the responsibilities of elected office and with the White House struggling to communicate with voters, Kaine has fully embraced his party-chief role as Democrats try to persuade a sour public to stick with them amid unrelenting joblessness and persistent Washington gridlock.

Someone submit the Morning Joe java to Henry Waxman for analysis. There seems to be something in it causing top Dems to experience serious delusions . . . On today's show, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius claimed that the people of her home state of Kansas are "wildly supportive" of the substance of ObamaCare. Unfortunately, suggested Sebelius, they're just too ignorant to know what's in the blessed bill. Later, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine didn't deny that the Obama admin had engaged in two sleazy patronage deals, involving Joe Sestak and Scott Matheson. Instead, the DNC Chairman laughed off the cynical, and...

Not surprisingly, former Gov. Tim Kaine's proposal to raise the state income tax was killed in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates this afternoon. Democrats tried to pull the bill before the vote but their Republican counterparts would have none of that. The GOP majority wanted to force Democrats to vote on the bill, leaving them with the choice of raising taxes or voting against Kaine, the chairman of their national party. Kaine's proposal died by a vote of 98-0. Only the sponsor, Del. Bob Brink, abstained from voting on the bill because well, you can't vote against your own bill....

I cain't believe all the fuss that's been kicked up over what I said about th' president not bein' like a reg'lar Negro. Nope. Lawks a mercy, I was complimentin' the man. Clearly. Billy Bob said a few years back he'd be the one fetchin' the coffee; I don't see people getting' so danged riled up about that. Nope. That's way worse'n what I said. Clearly....

Gov. Tim Kaine, approaching his last week in office, is facing mounting pressure to restore the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of felons as one of his last acts as governor. A coalition of religious and civil rights organizations is in talks with Kaine, a Democrat, to issue an executive order to remove the barrier for about 300,000 disenfranchised Virginians before he leaves the job on Jan. 16., as well as to initiate a policy to automatically restore felons' voting rights after they're released from prison. The commonwealth and Kentucky are the only states in the union that permanently...

During Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's last radio show today on WTOP radio, he got a surprise call from a "Barry from DC." "Barry from DC is calling," Kaine said on live radio. "Go ahead Barry" "Well, uh, governor Kaine this is, uh, actually the president of the United States calling," Obama said joking that he had some, "questions about traffic in northern Virginia." Actually, the President was calling into Kaine's last radio show to wish him a congratulations for a job well done as Virginia's governor. Kaine is leaving his office as governor in January, but will remain chairman of...

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) proposed Friday replacing the local car tax by increasing income tax $1.9 billion a year. But Republicans in the General Assembly and Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell (R) have said they are opposed to any tax hikes. The outgoing governor also proposed about $2.3 billion in budget cuts to help make up for a nearly $4.2 billion shortfall by 2012. ... Kaine recommended eliminating 1,879 jobs as well as 664 layoffs, many of them in the departments of transportation, corrections, juvenile justice and at the University of Virginia. In public education, he would cap the number...

Department of Human Resource Management Commonwealth of Virginia Health Benefits Program [1 VAC 55 ‑ 20] Public Comment Forum On this Action: This action will amend section 1VAC 55 320(E) to include adults, other than spouses and incapacitated adult children, as participants in the Health Benefits Plan for State Employees NOIRA Stage - View the regulatory documents In Progress! Opened on 11/23/2009 and closes at 11:59pm on 12/23/2009 More about public comment forums Enter a comment

Virginia's fiscal picture remained dim, as a panel of state legislators and business leaders got another look at prospects for the state's upcoming budget.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to block the execution of John A. Muhammad, the sniper who terrorized the Washington area seven years ago. The step cleared the way for Mr. Muhammad to be put to death on Tuesday unless Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia intervenes. The court did not comment in refusing to hear Mr. Muhammad’s appeal, but three justices objected to the relative haste accompanying the execution. Justice John Paul Stevens complained that “under our normal practice,” Mr. Muhammad’s petition for the court to take his case would have been discussed at the justices’ conference scheduled...

Is anybody else getting tired of this? Obama is supposedly completely untouched by these wins last night by the GOP...

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

The State of Virginia has argued in a federal court filing that they can legally send out absentee ballots to active duty soldiers the day before an election. Restated again, the Democratic Chairwoman of the Virginia State Board of Election (appointed by the Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor) Jean Cunningham just claimed a legal basis for massively raising the barrier to voting for soldiers at war.

The increasingly aggressive Democratic National Committee on Friday launched a new “Call ’Em Out” website targeting prominent Republicans for statements they have made about President Barack Obama’s health reform plans. “Help debunk the outrageous lies and misinformation about health reform,” the site says. DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said: “The message to opponents of change who would lie or misrepresent the truth should be clear. We are going to respond forcefully and consistently with the facts, and you will no longer be able to peddle your lies with impunity. Through tools like 'Call 'Em Out,' you will be met with a...

Virginia’s Democratic governor has ignited public outrage by pardoning—at the request of a major political donor—three men convicted of raping and killing a teenager. Gov. Tim Kaine ordered freedom for three of four former sailors who raped and murdered another sailor's 18-year-old wife in 1997. The men had all confessed to the gruesome crimes and were serving life sentences before the good governor came to their rescue this week. Kaine said he decided there are “serious doubts about at least the level of their complicity in the crime,” though the governor did find that the “combined weight of all the...

RICHMOND, Aug. 5 -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Wednesday that state agencies will need to cut $700 million to $1.5 billion more this year as Virginia continues to suffer from one of the worst financial crises in decades. Kaine (D) has asked state agencies for proposed cuts of up to 15 percent and will announce the specific trims by Labor Day. He said the shortfall will lead to layoffs, but he does not know how many. -snip-

President Obama's promises of greater government transparency haven't panned out. Multiple transparency problems afflict the Obama administration. Just last week, the administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for White House logs showing the names of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Mr. Obama's "clean coal" policies. This is the same Mr. Obama who as senator castigated the "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House during the Bush administration. Unfortunately, as if that isn't enough, the Democrats have yet another new transparency problem. Now we even have the man that Mr. Obama...

For your Joe Biden Gaffe files: Washington. Mandarin Oriental Hotel. LGBT fundraiser. Hauled in about $1 mill. 33% better than last year with Michelle Obama. --snip-- Biden also praised Tim Kaine as the "great governor of New Jersey." One problem: Tim Kaine's not governor of New Jersey. Jon Corzine (right) is governor of New Jersey (Remember, he didn't wear his seatbelt in the state patrol car for the big high-speed crash). Tim Kaine is governor of another state, called Virginia. He's also chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The bad news is that the Washington Post doesn't know where Virginia governor Tim Kaine is. The good news is they're pretty sure he's not in Appalachia or Argentina: But repeated attempts to review Kaine's schedule — in Richmond, around the state or across the country — before and after he became DNC chairman in late January have been unsuccessful. The Washington Post has requested Kaine's calendar through the governor's office, the DNC and his political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward. The requests have been denied or gone unanswered.

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there. No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called. The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot. DMV officials say the smile ban...