Va. Hopeful Hopes to Ride Governor's Wave

[Frodo]

I realize Kilgore has an advantage in this race by the mere fact that he happens to be a Republican, but I doubt whether he really will win this race in the end.  This race will be decided on two factors -whether Virginians desire to symbolically have Mark Warner elected to a second term by electing his successor Tim Kaine to the governorship; and on whether they place investing in such public goods like education, transportation, health care, and public safety over lowering taxes.  Polls have shown that Virginians -by a significant margin- support the tax increases enacted by the legislature last year, not to mention Mark Warner is even more popular than George Allen was towards the end of his tenure in office.  The wild card here is the rising property taxes that have come about as a result of development, especially in northern Virginia -however, that is mainly a local government issue, and one which county boards throughout northern Virginia have to deal with themselves. 

Given the support for the tax increases and the subsequent investment by the state into education, and other government programs and commitments, as well as Mark Warner's enormous popularity throughout the state, Tim Kaine is well-placed to win the governor's mansion, despite the traditionally Republican tilt of the state at large.  Indeed, it is for these reasons that I intend to vote for him -while advocating support for various programs, he does outline a plan for how to support them (namely by supporting the tax increases passed by the legislature), which shows he is clearly more fiscally responsible than his rival Jerry Kilgore, who, while he advocates cutting taxes in the Republican tradition, nonetheless supports many of the same programs and investments that Mark Warner and Tim Kaine support.  He promises the moon, but does not outline how he would pay for it.