Jo Ann Davis: Doing George Allen's dirty work?- UPDATED
I'm planning to go down to Richmond to cover James Webb's kickoff for the U.S. Senate tomorrow at 10 a.m.
But I was surprised to see this pop up yesterday on Shaun Kenney's website:
Jo Ann Davis having a kickoff, outside of her Congressional district, at the same time and same city as James Webb?
This kind of stuff doesn't happen by accident.
UPDATE: Jo Ann Davis has moved her kickoff to March 13th. Good job, Congresswoman Davis. The showdown on the James will not occur.
I think I'd agree with you in almost any other city. But it's the State Capitol. If this was Norton, Danville, or Herndon, for example, I think there might be more to this.
Posted by: Not Ben | March 06, 2006 at 12:18 PM
It's same city, same time, same day, and outside of her Congressional?
Posted by: Not Larry Sabato | March 06, 2006 at 12:19 PM
Have you looked at the shape of her district geographically? I have to believe that scheduling such an event in Richmond might make about as much sense as anywhere else inside her district. As to the date, who knows. If it helps George, why not?
Posted by: Rtwng Extrmst | March 06, 2006 at 12:30 PM
I don't see how this will upstage Webb's kickoff. All the serious media folks are more interested in the senate race I would think.
Posted by: lenny | March 06, 2006 at 12:31 PM
How do we know that Webb isn't doing Kaine's dirty work against Davis? Hmmmm?
Posted by: Riley, Not O'Reilly | March 06, 2006 at 12:47 PM
Riley, I wasn't aware of any reason Webb (who hasn't yet spoken to Kaine) would be doing his dirty work against someone who isn't running against Tim.
Seriously, that was dumb.
Posted by: Not Larry Sabato | March 06, 2006 at 12:58 PM
Riley,
If you believe that, then you must believe that Jo Ann Davis is somehow in a competitive enough re-election race that the Democrats would be scheming to upstage her re-election kickoff.
Perhaps with Bush's approval ratings in the low 30s and ethical issues galore, the Republicans really are worried about a 1994-like reallignment.
Interesting.
Posted by: ZB | March 06, 2006 at 01:19 PM
ZB - Realignment? Maybe, but that's going to happen with Virginia's seats. It's probably just coincidence that Davis and Webb are at the same time and place (or maybe Webb scheduled his AFTER Davis? Hmmmm...)
Anyway, like Lenny said above, no one's going to really pass up the Webb announcement for Davis. And it's not like any "thunder" stolen by this scheduling issue is going to change the race in any drastic way. Allen's still going to trounce any challenger.
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 01:27 PM
Ben:
Is this one of those posts where you add details and clarify later? I don't understand.
Posted by: Virginia Centrist | March 06, 2006 at 01:31 PM
Follow-up:
Official public published mention of Davis announcement scheduled for today, dated March 3rd:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/032006/03032006/172240
First District Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Gloucester, will announce next week that she will be running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The announcement will take place Tuesday in Richmond.
The closest I can find to a published mention of Webb's announcement is dated March 3rd as well:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935264&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834476990&path=!news!politics
Webb is expected to make a formal announcement of his candidacy and open a campaign office next week.
So who's making the non-accidental move here?
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 01:57 PM
Follow-up 2:
http://www.raisingkaine.com/1954
Webb press release dated March 5.
Posted by: jason | March 06, 2006 at 02:00 PM
Webb's people were calling around about it as early as my Mudcat post last week.
Let me put it this way. I don't think Harris Miller will have this same problem when he announces.
Posted by: Not Larry Sabato | March 06, 2006 at 02:00 PM
I seriously doubt the Davis camp just up and decided March 2nd, "Hey, we should kick this off Tuesday," and let the FLS know that night. I think this is a non-issue, man.
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 02:05 PM
>Let me put it this way. I >don't think Harris Miller >will have this same >problem when he announces.
I would think that if he did---and Jo Ann Davis announces her re-election AGAIN during his kickoff---we would REALLY know something funny was going on.
Posted by: ZB | March 06, 2006 at 02:15 PM
Wait. Davis is facing a challenger this November (though not much of one). Couldn't Webb be stealing HER thunder and trying to give that O'Donnell guy a boost? Hmmm.....
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 02:16 PM
I think Jason has pretty well crushed this piece.
Why is Webb so desperate to steal Jo Ann's thunder?
Posted by: Shaun Kenney | March 06, 2006 at 03:10 PM
Sorry Kenney's, but Webb:
a) announced his first
b) has no motive to steal Jo Ann's thunder
c) Might not even know who Jo Ann Davis is
Meanwhile, Jo Ann has all the motive in the world for trying to do something to distract from Webb's announcement.
Posted by: Not Larry Sabato | March 06, 2006 at 03:17 PM
Ben
a) Where's the papertrail that shows Webb moved first? Calls don't work, Davis would have to have started making calls well in advance to get her reservations as well.
b) He has as much motive as you claim Davis might AND his work would have a greater impact, being a statewide candidate.
c) If he doesn't know who Jo Ann Davis is that speaks a lot about his chances of winning (or lack thereof).
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 03:31 PM
This kind of stuff doesn't happen by accident.
Precisely. So if Jo Ann changed her timing on the announcement in order to disengage, then it looks as if Jason's hypothesis is correct.
And given the fact that "these things don't happen by accident," surely Webb's staff simply didn't notice Davis' announcement, did they?
Shame on Webb. Or retract.
The only paths out.
Posted by: Shaun Kenney | March 06, 2006 at 03:39 PM
I have a third theory on that Shaun.... :)
Posted by: Not Larry Sabato | March 06, 2006 at 03:47 PM
Heh heh... very good. Do we get to see the third theory yet, or is that an undeveloped story for later?
This was a blast while it lasted though!
Posted by: Shaun Kenney | March 06, 2006 at 03:51 PM
I think the trilateral commission has something to do with this.
Posted by: Virginia Centrist | March 06, 2006 at 03:54 PM
Drats, my thunder has been stolen.
Posted by: Jason | March 06, 2006 at 04:00 PM
The thought of James Webb trying to steal Jo Ann Davis's thunder is simply preposterous.
So too, in fairness, is the concept of Davis trying to upstage Webb for Allen.
Jo Ann Davis is a complete non-factor in Webb's race for Senate - we're talking about a Marine hero in a CD that includes Quantico.
Webb wipes the floor with all comers in the VA 1st, no matter what Davis does or does not do.
Posted by: William | March 06, 2006 at 09:27 PM
NLS, I thought you knew when I was being sarcastic by now.
Posted by: Riley, Not O'Reilly | March 06, 2006 at 09:52 PM