Yup, though there aren't many left that could !
"I've said it before and can't help repeating: only in the South can mamas name their baby boys Lacey and get away with it!"
Heh...
"I tend to agree though I know there is disagreement among Virginians here. My view is term limits are both anti-democratic robbing me of my possible civic desire to vote for the candidate of my choice. On the other hand, one term seems to have worked well for 400 years, why change it?"
Indeed. Though perhaps they could change the limits, unlimited for the Allens, Daltons and Godwins and one for the Warners, the Robbs, and the Wilders. :-)
"Kilgore so far has taken the most conservative position possible on every decision I've seen him make. Bodes well for his gov bid assuming the troops are motivated after Warner's term is over. My only concern is the non-Virginians who've migrated here who will be put off by his Virginia coal country accent. Even moderates and independents here reflexively vote GOP for the Attorney General position without knowing a thing about the candidate thereby helping Kilgore win northern Virginia. Kilgore earned more votes than M. Warner."
Well, that's been more of a recent development, as the state was saddled with the likes of Gerry Baliles and Mary Sue Terry (ick) until '94. Of course, having a Black liberal as the Dem nominee helped Kilgore a bit. It's just too bad we didn't get Bush down to campaign (as well as up in NJ), since he might've at least saved us the Lt Gov race (though the only downside to had we taken that was perhaps another repeat of Earley-Hager, this time Kilgore-Katzen).
"It was a bad situation and I hope the Republican Party of Virginia learned an important lesson. I was initially an uncommitted Delegate to the convention because I wasn't sold on either one. I ended up voting for Hager but immediately liked Earley when he gave his acceptance speech. They're both fine men who are ambitious, of course. Either one would have been a fine governor. Hager came out and campaigned all over the state for the GOP slate and Earley is prospering at Prison Fellowship (I hope)."
I actually liked Hager a bit more (given his overcoming the handicap of polio), but was let down with his failure following Earley's nomination in getting his financial backers (business RINOs) to switch to Earley (most of whom switched to Warner). I last heard he took an appointment in the administration, yet another letdown. An interesting point I realized that if Hager had lost to Congressman L.F. Payne in '97, Payne and Warner would've obliterated one another, and whomever would've taken the Dem Gov. nod in '01 (I would believe Warner, since he would've had more money), would've lost to an untainted Earley. Of course, it really is unfortunate that Hager and Earley couldn't have sat down and hammered out a gentleman's agreement that would've guaranteed both a shot. As you said, hopefully we'll learn something from this next time something like this happens. I doubt that either will be making any comebacks...
"For a non-Virginian, you sure know a lot about our politics!"
Well, I try to keep up. I'm like a Michael Barone "Junior." :-)
I am often astounded when I think about the legislation the General Assembly passed last few sessions. The parental notification and consent, the moment of silence, "In God We Trust" posted on the school walls plus all that was accomplished in earlier terms regarding welfare and parole/truth in sentencing reform. It's like everyone woke up and said, "hey, what the heck are we doing headed down that liberal path" and started backing conservatives again. Realignment occured when the Dems teamed up with those viewed by most Virginians as immoral and/or irresponsible.