See the “flip” for Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) slamming Romney for these “insulting” and “completely unhelpful” remarks. You know things are bad when even a right wingnut like Jindal thinks Republicans are being “the dumb party” and that the 2012 Republican nominee for president is hurting the party. Me, I’m just popping up some more popcorn and enjoying the show! 🙂

From the Kaine campaign…congratulations to my friend Mike Henry on being named Chief of Staff for Senator-elect Kaine. A well-deserved honor!

TIM KAINE ANNOUNCES MEMBERS OF U.S. SENATE TRANSITION TEAM

Richmond, VA – Today, Senator-elect Tim Kaine announced members of his transition team that will begin the process of establishing his U.S. Senate office.

Mike Henry, Chief of Staff: Mike Henry most recently served as the Campaign Manager for Kaine’s campaign for U.S. Senate. Henry, a veteran of Virginia politics, previously managed Kaine’s gubernatorial campaign in 2005 and U.S. Senator Mark Warner’s 2008 campaign for Senate.  Mike has also worked in a number of policy roles, serving as a representative conducting case work for former U.S. Senator Chuck Robb and, more recently, as the Senior Director for U.S. Field Operations at the ONE campaign where he focused on strategies to alleviate global poverty.  

Jillian Martin, Transition Director: Jillian Martin most recently served as the Policy Director for Kaine’s campaign for U.S. Senate. Martin has extensive experience on Capitol Hill, having previously served on the staffs of U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Robert Byrd, and U.S. Representative Dan Maffei.

Marc Cheatham, Transition Scheduler: Marc Cheatham most recently served as the Scheduling Director for Kaine’s campaign for U.S. Senate. Cheatham is a long-time member of Senator-elect Kaine’s staff, serving as his executive aide at the Democratic National Committee and as Director of Constituent Services and Senior Assistant to the Governor for Policy in Kaine’s administration.  Cheatham first began working for Kaine during Kaine’s term as Lt. Governor after serving as a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant.  

“I am thrilled this team has agreed to assist me as we set up a Senate office that will serve all Virginians. Their expertise will be invaluable during this process,” said Kaine. “Mike has been a trusted member of my staff and advisor for years and I am excited he’s agreed to continue to serve the Commonwealth in this new role. I am additionally grateful Jillian and Marc have stepped in to lend their expertise to ensure a seamless transition as we set up offices in Washington and Virginia.”

Additional transition announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

Mike Signer’s announcement is not unexpected (it’s been rumored for weeks, just like the shakeup at DPVA), but it’s great to see him providing a thoughtful, classy statement, including a strong endorsement of Sen. Mark Herring for AG next year. The fact is, we will need the strongest team – not to mention a unified one – on the field in 2013 against what will likely be one of the most extreme, radical Republican tickets ever to run in Virginia, or in just about any state for that matter.

Dear Lowell:

The Office of Attorney General in Virginia is a powerful institution for both good and ill.  I’ve worked with the Office for many years, as counsel to then-Governor Mark Warner, as a voting rights attorney, and in my own private practice working with growing Virginia companies.  I’ve been deeply concerned by Ken Cuccinelli’s abuse of the office’s powers, which I have spoken about often through the New Dominion Project PAC.

I was very flattered when Democratic leaders around Virginia asked me last year to consider a run for Attorney General.  This summer, I began exploring a campaign, and I was gratified to receive support from every corner of the Commonwealth, including over 50 sitting Democratic chairs; dozens of current and former elected officials, including Members of Congress, Commonwealth’s Attorneys, State Senators and Delegates, Mayors, and Sheriffs; leaders of major progressive organizations; and leaders within the Virginia Bar.

However, I also was impressed by the campaign of my friend, Senator Mark Herring.  I know that Mark has the values, temperament, and track record to undo the damage of the Cuccinelli years and to be a strong and effective Attorney General for all Virginians.

With the Party’s recent choice of a primary rather than a convention, it’s clear that Mark and I are both facing a costly and divisive primary, with a ruthless and well-financed Republican Party ahead.

With those factors in mind, I have decided it will be best to avoid putting the party, my family, and my supporters through such a process in the coming year.  I’m pleased to announce my support of Mark for Attorney General, and I encourage all my supporters and all Virginians to do the same.

As for the future, I’ve been an active Virginia Democrat for almost 20 years, and the years ahead will be no different.  Most immediately, I’m focused on electing Mark and our other candidates next November.  To that end, I encourage you to visit www.herringforag.com to sign up for Mark’s email updates, to connect with him on Facebook and Twitter, and to support his campaign politically and financially.

Thank you.

Mike

P.S. In other 2013 news, Terry McAuliffe has named Robby Mook and Levar Stoney as his campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, respectively.

No, it wasn’t just that Willard was in the heat of a campaign, or that somehow his 47% remarks were taken out of context, or any other possible excuse you can think of. The fact is, the guy’s an ignoramus, sociopath, and – as Kos puts it – “as big a dick as always.” Check out Willard’s latest, from a conference call earlier today with – who else – his big money people, explaining why, in his view, he lost the election (hint: it’s not because his party’s bat**** crazy, that he was a horrible candidate, that he managed to turn off just about every Latino in the country, etc.).

In a conference call on Wednesday afternoon with his national finance committee, Mr. Romney said that the president had followed the “old playbook” of wooing specific interest groups – “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people,” Mr. Romney explained – with targeted gifts and initiatives.

“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”

The president’s health care plan, he added, was also a useful tool in mobilizing African-American and Hispanic voters…

Note how Willard slices and dices America, blames everyone but himself for his failings (of which there are too many to count!), and basically demeans anyone who was too stupid (you know that’s what he’s thinking) to vote for him? Yes, Willard is as heinous as we all thought he was. Thank god he didn’t win the election.

P.S. Meanwhile, of course, the fact is that the “red states” (and “red” counties within blue states) overwhelmingly are net recipients (aka, “takers”) of largesse from the “blue states” (and “blue” counties/cities within red states), which are overwhelmingly net donors (aka, “makers”). Fascinating how that works, huh? Anyway, have fun seceding (more teapublican lunacy – shocker!) and forgoing all that money you guys get from places like Northern Virginia, all you Romney-supporting, dead-ender teahadists out there!

Forget the Warner part, as from everything I hear, he’s not going to be a candidate for governor next year (note that only 18% of Virginians want Warner to run in 2013). Instead, let’s focus on who the Democratic gubernatorial candidate is actually going to be – Terry McAuliffe. On that front, the news is generally good: McAuliffe tops Bill Bolling by 2 points (38%-36%) among Virginia registered voters (RVs) and bests Ken Kookinelli by 4 points (41%-37%). Of course, these results are among RVs, and usually what happens in off-year elections in Virginia is that the Democratic base tends to show up in relatively lower numbers than the Republican base, compared to presidential years. That’s why Virginia’s becoming a “blue” state in presidential years, but is still a “purple” state in gubernatorial years and a “red” state in off-off election years (e.g., 2015). Thus, the key for Democrats in 2013 will be to motivate their base to turn out in far larger numbers than we saw in 2009, when the Deeds campaign took the base for granted and hunkered down in “Deeds Country” (which they lost badly regardless – brilliant strategy, huh?).

Other findings from the poll that jumped out at me include:

*The vast majority (68%) of Virginians say they “haven’t heard enough” of Terry McAuliffe to have a “favorable” or “unfavorable” view. As a political junkie, that once again reminds me that I am not “normal,” in that most Virginians don’t pay a great deal of attention to politics. We’ll see what happens as Virginians become better acquainted with T-Mac, who presumably will be introduced in large part by the highly popular Bill Clinton.

*Also, despite the fact that he’s our state’s Attorney General, and also has been EXTREMELY (in both senses of that word) high profile, with his lawsuits against “Obamacare,” UVA, etc., Ken Cuccinelli is STILL an unknown quantity by 45% of Virginians. We’ll see what millions of dollars in advertising letting people know what a far-far-far-right-wing extremist this guy is will do to that number.

*Almost nobody knows who Bill Bolling is, which is not surprising, given how irrelevant he is. I mean, if the Vice Presidency of the United States was once compared to a bucket of warm spit (actually, it was another bodily fluid…yellowish in color), how about the equivalent in Virginia? LOL

*As usual, Mark Warner is by far the most popular politician in Virginia (60%-25%, +35 points approval rating). In contrast, Jim Webb has just a 44%-28% (+16 points) approval rating. My guess is that this is mostly about Warner getting out and around Virginia, while Webb mostly avoids doing so. In terms of their voting records, they’re not much different.

*Virginians like Barack Obama, giving him a 52%-44% approval rating. Who doesn’t like Obama? Basically, old, white, married, male, born-again/evangelicals. Who likes Obama? Basically everyone else.

*It is utterly absurd that only 29% of Virginians disapprove of Ken Cuccinelli’s handling of his job as AG. That number should be 100%, frankly, just on his witch hunt against climate scientist Michael Mann, let alone on his other wild goose chases and failures.

*Finally, Virginians are optimistic about the next four years with Barack Obama as president, but do NOT trust Republicans in Congress to “make a good faith effort to cooperate with President Obama and the Democrats on issues that are important to you.” My fellow Virginians are absolutely right about that one!