Tim Kaine for DNC Chair

As we prepare for today's debate between the Republican candidates for party chair, the media is buzzing with the news that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has been nominated by Barack Obama to be the new Democratic Party Chair.  This should be very interesting.  

When you think of Governor Tim Kaine, what do you think of as his accomplishments?  Honestly it seems to be the national media attention he has received.  It began with the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union Address in 2006, and then this year has been round the clock media coverage with Kaine's support for Obama.  

It appears this is simply a pay back by Obama for political support during the presidential race.  Governor Kaine has accomplished very little as governor.  One of the biggest issues of his campaign was solving the transportation issue.  Governor Kaine has failed on that front, and spent this year campaigning instead of solving that issues, and now he faces a multi million budget shortfall and will be only a part time governor now.  

Even on the political front Kaine has failed.  He has failed to defeat some of his top targets in the general assembly: Ken Cuccinelli, and Jeff Frederick.  He has failed to unite his party heading into this year's executive elections in Virginia, and even with the nationwide destruction of the Republican brand he was only able to take a slim lead in the senate, and failed to take control in the house.  Honestly most of the Democrats recent success in Virginia is due to Mark Warner and not Tim Kaine.  If Kaine brings that kind of success to the DNC, the Republicans might really have a chance in 2010.

The other interesting thing with Tim Kaine as Democratic Chair is his arched left eyebrow.  Tim Kaine's arched left eyebrow has earned him such nicknames as "Tim Eyebrow Kaine" and "Unibrow."  

Seriously, how does a picture like that not make you laugh?  

On a more substantive note Governor Kaine can also be something of a loose cannon.  When he was basically campaigning for the vice presidential nod, Governor Kaine received a lot of flack over comments he made during the Georgia/Russian conflict over the summer while talking about Barack Obama's diplomatic abilities.

“It was a bad crisis for the world. It required tough words but also a smart approach to call on the international community to step in. And I’m very, very happy that the Senator's request for a ceasefire has been complied with by President Medvedev.”

The problem with this quote was that the Russians did not agree to a ceasefire at that time, McCain had called for one earlier, and it reveals a certain sense of pompous arrogance to think that just because Obama called for it, it happened.  I was going to post a You Tube video of the comment so you could see the eyebrow in action, but all the videos of it I could find said "This video has been moved due to terms of use violation."  I wonder why You Tube really removed that video...

After the election, Kaine also made another revealing statement.  It didn't receive anywhere near as much flack since it wasn't said till after the election.

“Let’s be realistic,” Kaine said, using the words “challenging times” several times in his remarks to VSU officials, faculty and students. “You don’t run for governor to make budget cuts.”

If only this statement was made before the election it might have been interesting.

I have also noticed a general inability for Kaine to accurately use historical references in major speeches including his inaugural address, the Tech shooting speech, and his state of the commonwealth addresses.  I wonder if the national media will pick up on that as Governor Kaine receives more national attention.

It should be very interesting and a lot of fun having Governor Kaine as Democratic Party Chair, hopefully we can win big in Virginia in 2009, and then in the midterms.  Meanwhile, for the good of the commonwealth, I hope we can fix the financial state of the commonwealth and the transportation issue in the upcoming session.

RNC Candidates debate

Tomorrow at 1 PM Americans for Tax Reform will host a debate between the candidates for RNC Chair.  You can watch it live online.  This is an important debate as it is the only debate, and will hopefully show differences between the candidates.  It is also important because some of the committee members, including Jeff Frederick--The RPV Chairman--, have not yet decided who to vote for.  

The chair is elected by the 168 Republican National Committee members and the election is slated to take place on January 28th.  The current list of candidates is incumbent Mike Duncan, Saul Anuzis, Ken Blackwell, Katon Dawson, Chip Saltsman, and Michael Steele.  Hopefully whoever is elected will work hard and successfully rebuild the party in time for the midterm elections.  We need a chairman who can raise money and create a strategy that engages and builds the grassroots while using new technology, and developing more useful technology.  

If you are interested in my thoughts on the race for RNC chair you can read an article I wrote earlier relating to the RNC Chair race.  Hopefully the committee members make a wise choice on behalf of the party.

What do you think about the race?  Please vote in my poll which will be up till the new chair is chosen, and comment and let everyone know who you support and why.

Hucks Army 2.0?

In a recent e-mail sent out by Huck PAC, Mike Huckabee announces the launch of a National Volunteer Team. The heart of the e-mail says, 

I wanted to email you today to announce the launch of our National Volunteer Team. Our goal is to identify volunteers nationwide, organize into local groups in every county of the United States and then assist Huck PAC endorsed candidates.

We have divided the country into regions and will begin recruiting leadership in every state and county. Ultimately, these leaders will be responsible for building local volunteer teams, setting up events, organizing phone banks, knocking on doors and much more. Our goal is to have at least one Huck PAC group leader in every county in the nation by the end of 2009.

This is one part of our plans but is a very important part. We want to make a difference locally in the races of the candidates we are supporting (as we did with Saxby) and we believe having a volunteer team in place will make a big difference. We had a strong record of candidate support in 2008 but we weren't satisfied with the results.

The rest of the e-mail included specific ways to get involved, and further explanation of the program.

Many indicators point to the fact that Mike Huckabee will run for president again down the road.  Among all this talk though, many wonder how Huckabee will continue to stay relevant over the next few years.  The National Volunteer Team seems like a creative way to strengthen Governor Huckabee's bid to run for the Republican nomination for president down the road.  If this initiative is anywhere near close to successful and the National Volunteer Team is able to have teams in most of the counties in America by the 2010 midterm elections, it could become a powerful force for the Republican Party during those crucial elections.  If Governor Huckabee can create a force that helps elect conservative Republicans he could portray himself as a party builder, and someone who has expanded the conservative movement.

While creating a national network of volunteers who will support conservative candidates in a year seems extraordinarily difficult, Mike Huckabee and his team are probably uniquely positioned to create this group.  His presidential bid took him from being an unknown to receiving the second most delegate votes in the Republican primary.  His electoral victories included a win in Iowa and an impressive second place finish in states won on Super Tuesday.  Much of this success was the result of a passionate and well organized grassroots comprised of Fair Taxers, homeschoolers, social conservatives, and others.  These supporters formed a highly organized grassroots force known as Hucks Army.  Governor Huckabee often referred to this group as his "secret weapon" and attributed much of the success for his campaign to this group.  With a whole year to organize and create this grassroots army instead of a matter of months, it will be interesting to see how well this group does.  If they could somehow be even more effective in the midterms than Hucks Army was in the primary, that could be quite a feather in the cap of the former governor from Hope.

U.S. Military on High Alert?

So admittedly this is only a caller calling into a radio show, but it is definitely intriguing. 

In the last quarter before the 11:00 hour today, a caller called into the Glenn Beck program, and said he had insider information that the military was going on high alert in light of the new incoming president.  He also said it was a higher alert than normally done during transitions between administrations.  Again, I recognize this is basically just an unsubstantiated rumor based on the source, but it is still interesting.  We will see if other reports confirm this rumor.

If it is true, I pray the military is successful in protecting.  It is generally recognized that it takes an administration a couple months to transition in, and get everything running at the White House.  Not only do the terrorists understand this fact as they did in 2001, but Obama is perceived as a weak president.  His talks of reducing nuclear activities, and diplomacy must encourage the terrorists.  Hopefully the military is successful, and America is kept safe during this especially vulnerable year.

Announcing the PHC College Republicans Blog

I would like to announce the beginning of the PHC College Republicans blog. Please stop on over, check it out, and give us some feed back. This blog should keep you posted on different activities the club is involved in as well as wrapups of our events. You can also keep an eye on another aspect of my life there as I am 1st Vice Chair of the club.