Republican Kilgore Shuns Bush in Tight Virginia Governor's Race

[Judi Lynn]

Republican Kilgore Shuns Bush in Tight Virginia Governor's Race

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Jerry Kilgore, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, was happy to have President George W. Bush at his side at a fundraiser last July. Kilgore won't be there today when the president makes a speech in Norfolk.

Kilgore, 44, is in a tight race with Democrat Tim Kaine in the Nov. 8 election, and Bush -- weighed down by the prolonged Iraq war, criticism of the government's response to hurricanes, high gasoline prices and the legal troubles of top Republican officials -- isn't an asset anymore.

``Bush is a drag, even in Virginia,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics in Charlottesville.

The Virginia race may have other implications beyond deciding who will occupy the governor's mansion in Richmond: It might influence the presidential hopes of two other leading Virginians, Democratic Governor Mark Warner and Republican Senator George Allen, in 2008.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=acTP3AUWVThk&refer=us

[Mr. Peanut]

1. A Hex On Kilgore

Jerry Kilgore's TV ads have been so nauseating I hope the people of Virginia do not fall prey to his slick repub smears. But I fear they will. Kaine's ads haven't been much better.

...there is no shortage of issues for the candidates to talk about ... voters are deeply concerned about education, health care and jobs ... Elsewhere, economic decline is a painful fact of life, as many of the mining, textile and manufacturing jobs that once kept more rural areas humming are no more.

Kaine and Kilgore have paid some lip service to these issues, of course. Both have talked, for instance, about reducing congestion in Northern Virginia. But neither has an effective plan for raising the vast sums needed to pay for their highway and mass transit proposals. In the absence of concrete ideas, their attack ads have overshadowed all their other comments.—Washington Post, Oct. 23, 2005

[VaYallaDawg]

2. Of course he didn't shun Cheney a couple of wks ago

when all the swanks gathered in Richmond at a very very hush hush fund raiser out in the very very far West End that fattened Kilgores campaign chest by a lot. It didn't even get in the TD it was so hush hush.