Jim Gilmore has experience running statewide in VA. He was elected as Attorney General and Governor. However, VA suffered deficits in the state budget under Gilmore. Resulting in the election of Mark Warner. Marky Mark could claim that he had to fix the fiscal mess Gilmore left.
Tom Davis represents Fairfax County, a NoVA county trending Blue. Davis is sharp about political strategy. His work as NRCC chairman helped the GOP keep Congress in 2000. The problem is, he is a bit too liberal for many conservative tastes.
Not exactly. You must be getting your news from The Washington Compost.
There was NEVER a budget deficit. All that happened is that the budget did not increase at the same percentage it had in previous years (and as much as the GA wanted).
However, the MSM (and Gilmore's team allowed this) spun it into a budget crisis.
Mark Warner stared into a camera and said "I will not raise taxes" and proceeded to try to do that every year until he enacted the largest tax increase in budget history.
Within weeks (perhaps days) of him signing that bill, revenue numbers were out that provided the state with a surplus that was almost identical to the size of the tax increase.
When Warner left office, his finance staff made a slight $137 million miscalcuation on the budget numbers.
It's an uphill fight. But Mark Warner is far less substantive than people think.