Terry McAuliffe the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former National Chairman for the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign will announce on January 7th, 2009 whether or not he will run for Governor of Virginia in the 2009 election. With the 136 county/city tour that he has embarked on in its final stages and the fundraising that he has already done, all signs indicate that he will indeed run for the states highest and most coveted position.Terry has received a lot of flack from people across the state including some avid party loyalists who question whether he has the credentials and experience needed to run a state during tough economic times.Also some question whether he is serious about the position because he has not had any serious involvement in state politics and this is not the first state he has run for state-wide office in.
But I ask that voters look to a man name Mark Warner before that cast judgment on Terry McAuliffe. Mark Warner had a back ground similar to that of Terry. Before Warner became the popular Governor of Virginia, he gained the attention of party loyalists and citizens of Virginia when he ran for Senate in 1996 against John Warner. Although Mark had not ran for public office before that he tried to capitalize off his enormous wealth that he had created through his business dealings, most noticeably Nextel (Cell Phone Company).Mark Warner also served as Chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party and through that experience was able to gain some valuable connections.
Warner's rise through the political ranks is very similar to that of Terry McAuliffe. Terry has been a resident of the Commonwealth for more than 10yrs and has a strong background in democratic politics, having fundraised big dollars for democrats across the country and turning the debt ridden democratic party around during his time as chairman. Now these two Gentleman do differ, because Warner had a lot of involvement with state officials with the VDP and as result of that involvement I'm sure that he was able to learn about state issues as result. But maybe Terry could bring the kind of leadership that is needed during these tough economic times. When Mark Warner campaigned in 2001 he did so on the promise to bring a business approach to Richmond, and it worked then, and maybe it can work again with Terry McAuliffe.
However things turn out during this race for the Democratic nomination, the Democrats can rest assure knowing that we have three capable candidates who will continue the strong tradition excellent democratic gubernatorial leadership in the Commonwealth.
~Cam Patt~
"This article is not an endorsement of any political candidate"
No comments:
Post a Comment