Posted on 07/24/2009 5:12:25 PM PDT by csvset
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 of the party’s challenges were and what was at stake.
On what the former governor called “bread-and-butter issues,” he said of Deeds: “Tell me what the man has done? I haven’t heard it.”
Asked if he thought Deeds may have a problem this fall with African-American voters, Wilder said flatly: “I do.”
He said black voters have no reason at the moment to vote for the nominee and referred to the decision this week of BET co-founder and Democratic donor Sheila Johnson to support GOP nominee Bob McDonnell.
“Many people feel taken for granted and I think that was built into the decision Mrs. Johnson made,” Wilder said.
The former governor could have also been talking about himself.
He pointedly noted that he had not yet met with Deeds – though he is scheduled to – while McDonnell has come to court many times.
“I’ve talked to him a lot,” Wilder said of the Republican. “He’s called a lot. We’ve had lunch, we’ve met. He’s not slow.”
And Wilder took a similar swipe at the state Democratic Party, saying he had not heard from their high command.
“I’m right here in Richmond,” he said with a chuckle. “I thought the party headquarters was in Richmond.”
But Wilder also said that Obama officials had aggressively sought his endorsement for Deeds. They argued that keeping the governor’s mansion in Democratic hands was important for the president’s political standing.
“The case that they made is that in Virginia and New Jersey—the two states that are up for election—losing one is bad, but losing both would be devastating.”
Wilder has never been shy about taking after his own party and basking in the attention that comes with it.
“It’s Doug being Doug,” said one Virginia political watcher when told about Wilder’s unvarnished critique. That a top Obama official would not only meet with Wilder about the campaign but make the two-hour trip down I-95 to do so, however, reflects both the 78-year-old former governor’s still-considerable sway in state politics and the investment the White House has in winning the Virginia race.
While he's been out of the governor's mansion for over 15 years, Wilder just completed a term as mayor of Richmond, his hometown. He is still held in high esteem by many voters, especially older African-Americans and centrist whites.
The White House’s attention to Wilder and recognition of his desire for flattery dates back to the president’s own courtship of the wily pol.
As Wilder recounted in a 2007 interview with POLITICO, Obama approached him at a Washington dinner shortly after winning election to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and paid homage to the racial barrier-breaker.
"He came over to my table, as a matter of fact,” Wilder recalled. “He said very nice things — how he had been inspired by what we had done in Virginia, and it meant a lot to see that take place.”
Wilder subsequently endorsed Obama early in the Democratic presidential primary and hammered Hillary Clinton in national media appearances.
And now Obama is again counting on the always-unpredictable Wilder.
In last month's three-way primary, Deeds fared poorest in the Richmond-to-Tidewater region where Wilder still commands the most influence. Democrats are concerned that the state senator, who hails from an overwhelmingly white Allegheny Mountain town, may not have the same appeal to black voters as their past two governors, Alexandria's Mark Warner and Richmond's Tim Kaine.
Deeds trails slightly in early polls behind McDonnell and has less cash than his GOP rival.
But of the two governor's races held this year—contests which are invariably scrutinized to assess the health of the party in control of the White House—Virginia may represent the Democrats' best hope for success.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine trails his GOP rival by double-digits in some surveys and Obama's appearance in the Garden State last week was seen by some as early box-checking by the White House—the first and last time the president puts his capital on the line in the event the unpopular incumbent fails to show signs of life this fall.
“This is just July – it’s a long time,” he said with a laugh. “You know how long that is in politics.”
Further, in political terms, Virginia is more important to Obama than New Jersey. For the first time since Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 1964 landslide, the Old Dominion went in the Democratic presidential column last year. Obama and his team worked feverishly to win Virginia and will surely put in the same effort in 2012. They’d rather not give the demoralized Republicans there any hope. New Jersey, meanwhile, is almost certainly a sure thing in Obama’s re-election campaign.
The Virginia contest is also a personal matter for one of Obama’s top allies – Kaine. As the new Democratic National Committee chairman, it would be deeply embarrassing for him to lose his home state and be succeeded by a Republican.
“You gotta carry your own state,” as Wilder put it when asked about the stakes for Kaine.
In Deeds, Democrats have an authentically rural candidate with the potential to make inroads in Virginia's heavily conservative countryside, for years a GOP bulwark and a key to their statewide success.
But lacking strong ties to the black community, one of the Democratic Party's most loyal constituencies, has meant that Deeds has had to use the weeks since his primary victory to shore up support among African-Americans.
Deeds has called Wilder several times since winning the primary but they have not yet connected.
“Creigh has nothing but respect for Gov. Wilder,” said Joe Abbey, Deeds campaign manager.
Still, the former governor said he has concerns over Deeds's stance on guns, especially the one-gun-per-month bill Wilder pushed through the legislature and signed into law.
Deeds, then in the state House, opposed what was then one of Wilder's signature initiatives and what the former governor now sees as one of his legacy accomplishments. McDonnell, who also served in the state house when Wilder was governor, supported the one-gun-per-month limit.
“The last time Deeds was running, he said he wanted to repeal that,” Wilder said. “He hasn’t said too much about it this time around.”
Wilder also said that at a recent reception for all of Virginia’s living governors in the Executive Mansion, he had asked Kaine about the one-gun-per-month issue.
Kaine, Wilder recalled, noted that Deeds had shifted toward cracking down on the gun show loophole.
“And I said, ‘Well, ok, but what about my piece,’” Wilder recalled, alluding to one-gun-per-month.
Representing a rural swath of western Virginia--from Charlottesville to the West Virginia border--Deeds has a pro gun-rights record and won the National Rifle Association’s endorsement in his unsuccessful race against McDonnell for attorney general four years ago.
Wilder did not endorse Deeds in that race, and the state senator lost to McDonnell by just 323 votes, running worse than the top of the ticket in Virginia’s heavily African-American cities.
The NRA has not yet weighed in on this year's gubernatorial race. In what may be a play for the gun-rights group's support, a spokesman for McDonnell, citing improved background checks and changes in the law, said that the Republican now backs repealing Wilder's gun control measure.
The courtship of the hard-to-get Wilder is a familiar political ritual for Virginia Democrats.
The independent-minded and outspoken former governor and mayor has frequently clashed with members of his own party and often been the Democrat Virginia Republicans love most.
In most every high-profile statewide political contest since he left the third floor of Virginia’s Capitol, Wilder has either drawn out his endorsement for the Democrat until the closing weeks (or days) or stayed on the sidelines, offering a golden silence for the GOP nominee.
In 2005, Wilder came out for Kaine with a flourish, proclaiming his support for the current governor and DNC chairman less than a week before Election Day.
Wilder noted that, while he had sat out some races, he had never “publicly endorsed” a Republican.
Asked about what he may do this year, Wilder suggested he would again keep his own party and the rest of the political world guessing. Source URL (retrieved on 07/24/2009 - 20:08): http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/former-gov-wilder-no-hurry-endorse-deeds
Since we didn't know each other, and we were both armed, I didn't say much. But maybe I should have asked him, if one a month is okay, why wouldn't one every six months, or every year, or every five years, be even better, since the premise is that the limiting purchases will reduce crime.
I suspect these gun-a-_____ laws will only embolden criminals, since they don't pay attention to laws anyway. They will get what they want, even if they have to pay more.
We see it in almost all the major cities, that more gun restrictions increase violent crime.
At the same time, I can't think of a state that has enacted Right to Carry laws that has experienced an increase in violent crime.
It's always the same complaint among the pinheads, that it will result in "Wild West" and "Gunfight at the OK Corral", but they have no stats to back them up.
done dirt cheap?
Don’t read too much into this. This is just Doug Wilder playing the game he plays every year.
Best we can hope for is that he not endorse Deeds. He will never endorse McDonnell.
But, the last two times he didn’t endorse the Dem, the Republican won.
You’re right. Wilder doesn’t like others telling him what to do... he milks it in order to look like a ‘maverick’.
It’s too bad Wilder didn’t stay in the ‘94 Senate race, Ollie North would’ve won.
Doug let the Richmond Braves leave town, good move Doug. /s
Perhaps he's not the power broker he seems to be.
LESS cash than McDonnell?
BS. Since this race is so important to Obama/Soros, Mr. Deeds has a virtually unlimited supply of money. It may not all be DECLARED, but it IS there.
I read on Facebook that Doug Wilder has endorsed Bob McDonnell. Wonder if it’s true.
No, as far as I know that’s incorrect.
Wilder has said some kind things about McDonnell and has said that Deeds has too much of a “me too” attitude and is just parroting McDonnell’s ideas. But while Wilder didn’t endorse Deeds in 2005, it would be very much out of character for him to openly endorse the Republican.
Wilder always plays these games. At the end of the day, it’s all about Doug.
Souns like Wilder may have started the rumor to keep people talking about him.
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