Attention Virginia Democrats – no need to worry your pretty little heads about who you’d like to be your nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012! The Washington Post is here to tell you who you want.
On the Post’s Virginia Politics Blog (which barely edged out “Place Where We Type Words About Elections & Legislating” in the Post’s Give Our Blog A Boring Literal Name! contest), Anita Kumar has a post about Tim Kaine attending this weekend’s DPVA Jefferson Jackson Dinner. As a WaPo commenter has already noticed, it’s a weird reason to post – wouldn’t it only be news if Kaine was skipping the dinner? But the post’s real purpose soon becomes clear:
Kaine is the first choice for many Democrats for the U.S. Senate, but the former Virginia governor previously said he was not interested in running.
OK, well that’s kind of a meaningless statement at best. I mean, Rick Boucher might be the “first choice for many Democrats,” but I ain’t putting my money on him getting the nomination. Then comes this:
Defeated congressmen Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello will join their former colleagues, including Reps. Gerry Connolly, Jim Moran and Bobby Scott, at the dinner.
A simple sentence like “Perriello is also considered a top contender for the Senate nomination while Nye has indicated he won’t be running” would’ve made the story far more balanced. Instead, it has no news peg & deliberately ignores other possible candidates – frankly, it reads like a free campaign ad for Kaine.
Look, while I may be hoping Tom Perriello runs, I’ll support whoever earns the Democratic nomination. But there are already questions about Kaine gaming the system to give himself an edge in getting the nomination – possibly through an undemocratic convention instead of a fair statewide primary. It doesn’t help Kaine’s case when the media is trying to anoint him as the nominee before rank & file Democrats have even had a chance to consider the candidates.
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