Kaine: Va. in play for Obama

By Bob Stuart

Published: June 12, 2008

STAUNTON —Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Thursday he hopes the Democratic Party’s healing over the presidential nomination fight will start this weekend, when he speaks to state Democrats at the convention in Hampton.
He credits Hillary Clinton with starting the process with her concession speech, which he called “masterful” in “urging the party to come together.”
The governor, a Barack Obama supporter from the beginning, was the keynote speaker at the Virginia United Land Trust Conference in Staunton.
Kaine said Virginia is in play for the Democrats in November, and the keys will include Obama garnering young voters, including African-Americans and service members.
The governor is encouraged by the new voters who have registered in Virginia this year: “40 percent ... are under age 30,” he said.
While Republican presidential candidate John McCain is a military hero, Kaine thinks Obama can garner a strong percentage of the military vote in November.
“Sen. Obama got twice as many votes in the February primary as McCain,” said Kaine, adding that one in every 10 Virginians is a veteran.
Kaine said of military families and their war sacrifices, “if we are going to sacrifice the best and the brightest they will want political leadership to be the best and the brightest.”
Del. Chris Saxman, McCain’s Virginia campaign co-chairman, disagrees.
He said Obama will not get a strong Virginia military vote because “of all the defense programs he wants to cut and military cuts he is proposing.”
As for Obama being the best and brightest, Saxman said “Obama should go to Iraq and ask the soldiers and generals himself. He has not been in almost 900 days. A central part of being the brightest is being experienced.”
Kaine has not spoken to Obama nor any of his staff about becoming a potential vice-presidential nominee.
“Barack is a calm and deliberate thinker who makes decisions after careful thought,” Kaine said.
Kaine, meanwhile, is encouraged by the public support he has received for his transportation package.
“The reaction I get is, ‘Governor we need to do something,”‘ Kaine said of town hall meetings and speeches he has made about the package across the commonwealth.
That package includes increasing the annual car registration fee by $10 and the new vehicle sales tax from 3 to 4 percent and dedicating those funds to road maintenance.
A one-cent increase in the sales tax in both Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads would help improve roads in those congested areas, he said.
An increase in the grantor’s tax on the sale of property by 25 cents per $100 would be used to upgrade rail and public transportation.
That package will be considered by the Virginia General Assembly during a special session June 23.
Kaine said many legislators had attended his town hall meetings, and the governor has held private meetings with lawmakers about the package.
While he previously harbored doubts about a transportation package being approved, Kaine said of legislators: “if people just come with the desire to do something, we’ll get this solved.”
Kaine spoke to the Virginia Land Trust Conference Thursday about his goal of preserving 400,000 acres of open space in Virginia by the time he leaves office in 2010.
He expects to reach between 260,000 and 270,000 acres of his goal by mid-July.
The governor said much of what is done in government is changed from administration to administration.
But he said the preservation of land “lasts forever.”
“Forever is satisfying,” Kaine said, talking to members of land trusts. “All of you are part of this wonderful grassroots movement.”
The three-day Virginia Land Trust Conference continues through today.
John Eckman, director of the Valley Conservation Council, the host agency, said the conference is focused on a variety of land conservation issues, including better development, conservation easements and other issues.