Can You Hold It ‘til We Get Home?

It’s beginning to look like Governor Flomax — the man who closed the highway rest stops in Virginia — will enter the race for our open US Senate seat. Former governor Tim Kaine is much sought after as a candidate due to his most notable accomplishment, which came on November 8, 2005, when he won the election. And not because he was the scourge of car–trip families all along the Eastern seaboard.

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Even though Kaine’s career peaked before he was sworn in, he’s still the only Democrat in Virginia who’s won a statewide race in the last five years and is not already in the Senate. Looking back over his term in the governor’s office, there was always something of a mismatch between Kaine’s vision of what his legacy would include and the political reality of what was feasible in Virginia. (Conversely, his political philosophy why he’s so perfect in his current out–of–town job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee: He actually believes Obama’s ideas are brilliant!) Kaine didn’t plan to be known for the remarkable number of men who could be seen standing with their backs to the roadway just inside the woods along the interstate. Nor did he wish to be known for the skyrocketing number of women suffering from poison ivy exposure and urinary tract infections. Initially his legacy was to be built on a foundation of transportation, teacher pay raises and universal pre–Kindergarten. Kaine’s solution for our chronic traffic woes involved passing a tax increase, with the money to be used transport motorists along new highways, rather than into nearby bushes. His pre–K mobilization — a big favorite with the teacher’s unions — was intended to expand early childhood education and rev toddlers up like a BMW at a stoplight; preparing them to eventually beat the Jamaicans in a spelling bee. But his failure to pass a tax increase for roads and spelling flash cards forced former Gov. Kaine into legacy retrenchment. Universal pre–K, better known as subsidized daycare, collided with a tight budget environment. So he grudgingly limited the proposed program to students who qualified for reduced–price lunches. But even that fell victim to budget problems. All Kaine could persuade the General Assembly to fund was a pilot program that had his two teenagers playing “Baby Einstein” videos for neighborhood children. And we know what happened to transportation, although all may not be lost — with Ms. Obama currently waging Jihad on Junk Food it’s entirely possible the Kaine campaign can position rest stop closing as part of a plan to fight obesity by encouraging Virginia residents to take impromptu nature walks. These multiple legacy failures are why even the Washington Post describes Kaine as having a “somewhat deflated political record.” But you know; he is the only Democrat to win a statewide election in the last five years. Kaine’s other accomplishment was passing what amounted to a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants, but removing second–hand smoke flavor from the french fries is hardly the basis for a campaign. It would be understandable for a candidate who specializes in emissions control to angle for the job of Environmental Protection Agency administrator, but becoming the next senator is a stretch. Kaine did leave office with a 60 percent approval rating among Virginians with a healthy urethra, but this is simply tautology popularity. He was popular because, like a reality show participant, his name was in the paper and not because Virginians approved of any particular accomplishment, simply because there weren’t any. This popularity will soon disappear when the campaign starts. Kaine as senate candidate is also an odd choice for a state that so thoroughly repudiated the Obama administration in the last election. As chairman of the DNC, Kaine is joined at the hip with Obama. There is no way he can credibly distance himself from Obamacare, cap–and–trade, high unemployment, huge deficits, $4–a–gallon gasoline and Michelle’s diet hectoring. This is a major vulnerability in a state that defeated three incumbent Democrat congressmen in the last election. But have I mentioned Kaine is the only Democrat to win a statewide election in the last five years? In an interview, Kaine once defined success in politics as doing things that nobody will ever want to undo. By his own benchmark, the Kaine legacy comes up very short. But Kaine did provide me with my favorite rhetorical question during his last year in office. Many times I was able to respond to a question with an obvious answer by asking, “Does the Virginia motorist s@#% in the woods?”