Plan B, Please!?!

Tim Kaine as Barack Obama's running mate is a terrible idea. There is just no polite way to put it.

On the local level, as Dionne points out, the Republicans would get a boost. But it doesn't seem to have mattered much who sits in the governor's mansion, as the state legislature is, and has been, a mess, and highly ineffective.

What has Kaine achieved as governor? Well, not much (discuss amongst yourselves).

But, it is in terms of our country's future that I think Kaine should be dismissed from consideration.

We are at a crucial juncture in our history. The last eight years have brought us concentrated doses of failed governmental policies, systemic corruption, and moral, ethical, intellectual and spiritual degradation. Enough already of Bush and company. We need a corrective.

Tim Kaine just doesn't have the chops for the job.

Consider please his first step onto the national stage, his response to the President's last State of the Union address. It was a stinker, simply put.

His catchphrase, "There's a better way" was supposed to be a bumper sticker worthy sucker punch. It ended up sounding lame. The entire speech was just not worthy of someone who might hold the second most powerful position in our country.

Kaine hasn't proved himself an adept political infighter, nor has he shown himself to be a strong forceful presence who can get things done. Obama needs a political enforcer.  Not that we need another Darth Cheney, god knows.

But Obama needs someone to strengthen his resume on foreign policy and on the economy. Kaine simply doesn't have these credentials. Our governor should take himself out of the running, and, since he cannot run for reelection here in Virginia, he should start kicking ass, taking names and numbers.

Now that would be a political legacy to build a future upon.

-- Greg Hershey, staff writer

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VP Kaine? 

Wednesday, July 30 at 9 a.m.

Every national media outlet in the country is reporting that Richmond's very own Tim Kaine is on the short list of possible Democratic Vice Presidential candidates.

Sure, he's now Virginia's governor, but he started out here in the city first as our mayor.

Kaine is keeping mum, refusing to confirm or deny even though he's previously said he wants to finish his gubernatorial term, which ends in 2010.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is also said to be considering Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Now that Kaine is being talked about as one of Obama's finalists, people are starting to talk about what that would mean for Virginia politics.

If Kaine was offered and accepted the No. 2 role, that would give Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling the governor's seat.

So what would that mean for Attorney General Bob McDonnell, also a Republican, who has announced his intention to seek the top job?

Would he let Bolling take the Republican nod and remain AG for another four years?

That would create a strong Republican majority in the governor's office, attorney general's office and quite possibly the Lt. Gov.'s office as well as the state House of Delegates. Currently, the Democrats hold a slim majority in the state Senate.

I think it means Virginia might be pushed back into its majority-Republican days yet again.

Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Weigh in below, Richmond.com readers.

-- Dionne Waugh, news writer