WP, pg1: (Virginia Governor) Warner Tried to 'Govern From the Center'

[DeepModem Mom]

Warner Tried to 'Govern From the Center'
Skeptics Mock Bipartisanship as Governor's Final Session Ends

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005; Page A01


RICHMOND, April 6 -- The gavels fell in the House of Delegates and the Senate Wednesday, marking the end of Virginia's first experiment in at least 100 years with a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor.

The one-day meeting to consider Gov. Mark R. Warner's actions on bills passed by the General Assembly was the last legislative session of the Democratic governor's four-year term. It closed a relationship that sparked the state's longest budget crisis but also earned Warner a national reputation for working across party lines.

Faced with solid legislative majorities for the opposing party after his election in 2001, Warner forged close ties with moderate GOP leaders in the Senate, turning that body into an ally....

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He failed to reach a similar rapport with Republican leaders in the House, who engineered stinging defeats during his first two years. But in the latter half of his term, Warner found ways around them, appealing to junior and maverick GOP members for the majorities he needed....

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Warner, barred from succeeding himself, now turns his attention to his political future, though he declines to say what that will be. Some speculate he will challenge Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen in 2006. But others believe Warner will seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32627-2005Apr6.html

[underpants]

1. Run Mark RUN!!!

A rid us of that cesspool that is Allen