NLS Endorsements

For the June 12th primaries

Donald McEachin over Benny Lambert

- Very easy choice.  Go Donald!

Greg Galligan over George Barker

-  Both have a chance to win in November because of the changing demographics in this district.  If this district does go Democratic, I'd rather see the guy who was willing to run when it wasn't Democratic rather than the guy who ran 15 years ago and sat on the political sidelines since.

Henry Light over Johnny Joannou

-  See here.

Brandon Bell over Ralph Smith

-  I don't agree with Bell on everything, but his leadership on public health issues is deserving of re-election.
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June 2nd Republican Convention

Julie Lucas over Faisal Gill

-  Gill's political silence on his time as the Chief Lobbyist for the American Muslim Council was bad enough.  His leading a walkout at the White House complex because Sami Al-Arian's son was asked to leave (Al-Arian was soon convicted for terrorism related crimes!!!) disqualifies him from ever serving in public office.

All of these candidates will be given a free NLS ad through their primary election.  (Light already has one, so we will give him another month after the primary if he wins).

Comments

[James Young]

Endorsing in a GOP primary, Ben? Here, I thought you were a Democrat.

A Democrat endorsement should get Faisal a few votes.

[brimur]

Don't you mean a Republic primary?

[Greg L]

Although the meeting was with White House officials, I believe the meeting was actually held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It's sort of splitting hairs, but it's important to make sure that the details are accurate.

I wasn't clear on this for some time, so you may well have gotten that impression from me.

Regardless, it's one entry in a very long list of disturbing incidents, any one of which would normally make a candidate reconsider his inclination to run for office.

[Not Larry Sabato]

The Eisenhower building is the one that connects to the White House, right?

[Publius]

NLS,

Sorry to hear you are leaving the RSS world. I did want to let you know about a new aggregator that we have launched here at the Virginian Federalist. www.commonwealthcampaigns.tumblr.com Commonwealth Campaigns is vary narrowly tailored to specifically syndicate the postings of official and unofficial statewide and national campaign blogs that are of interest to Virginia.

I noticed you made your endorsements, that is why I thought of telling you, but we did decide to limit it. The smaller delegate and state senate campaign blogs will not be included for now. Who knows what the future holds.

Suggestions are always welcome.

What about meyer/simmons?

[George Templeton]

Is there going to be a Blackburn-Stosch debate?

[Virginia Brigand]

Just wanted to say that there are more Gill than Lucas signs in Lakeridge.

it's a convention, signs would be stupid. just get your delegates and move on

[eileen]

NLS, are you gonna make an endorsement in the 83rd House district between GOPpers Chris Stolle (Sen. Ken's little bro) and Carolyn Mini-Wardrup Weems?

[Dannyboy]

eileen:
If Chris Stolle is anything like his brother, we'd be much better off with him than with Weems. Of course, we'd be best off with Bouchard.

George Templeton: There was a Stosch/Blackburn debate already at Pocahontas Middle School.

[Scion]

How about the 34th District race between Vanderhye and Sullivan?

[phriendlyjaime]

There are Lambert signs popping up in downtown Richmond. They are on abandoned buildings, of course, but they are there.

Does anyone have any left over Allen signs? They would look great below the Lambert signs...

[Ghost of A.L. Philpott]

Great idea PJ!
Another great idea: the beer you owe me from Al Gore still not entering the 08 fold...

[phriendlyjaime]

::clenches fists::

Watch it, you...

Thanks for endorsing Brandon Bell. He is truly one of us, just in a Republican wrapper.

[VHDOA]

A Proxy Fight in Virginia
May 10, 2007
By Lauren W. Whittington,
Roll Call Staff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virginia’s hotly contested race between now-Sen. Jim Webb (D) and then-Sen. George Allen (R) may have ended in November, but a proxy battle of sorts is raging on in a state Senate primary that will be decided next month. And Webb, whose campaign slogan was “Born Fighting,” seems only too happy to carry on the fight.
Reverberations from the 2006 contest — in which Webb narrowly defeated Allen — echo loudly in the heavily black Richmond-area district, where longtime state Sen. Benjamin Lambert III is being challenged in the June 12 Democratic primary by state Del. Donald McEachin.

Lambert, 70, drew the ire of many fellow Democrats when he publicly threw his support to Allen last year — a move that earned the 30-year legislator a host of unflattering monikers including “Benedict Lambert.”

Now, McEachin’s campaign is centered around his opponent’s disloyalty to the Democrats in the Senate race, and fundraising reports filed last month show that Webb was his biggest donor.

As of March 31, McEachin had raised just $5,100 for his bid, in addition to the $47,500 he transferred over from his House re-election account. Almost half of that total came in the form of a $2,300 donation from Webb’s political action committee, Born Fighting PAC, on March 23.

Also donating $200 to McEachin on March 30 was Phillip Thompson, the Webb aide who was arrested and charged with unlawful gun possession on the Capitol grounds in late March.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Webb said he planned to do more to help McEachin, including hosting a Northern Virginia fundraiser next week. Tickets for the May 14 fundraiser in Oakton featuring Webb range from $250 to $2,300.

“He’s a terrific guy. He’s a terrific candidate,” Webb said. “He’s got a long future in Virginia politics.”

Lambert, meanwhile, has raised almost $96,000 for the race — in addition to a $100,000 personal loan — much of it in contributions greater than $100 from business groups and also from individuals who gave to Allen previously and have a history of supporting the GOP.

Lambert had received at least $4,250 from Allen donors since mid-December, according to fundraising records made available through the Virginia Public Access Project.

Rumblings about McEachin’s likely challenge to Lambert began shortly after Allen’s defeat in November, and he formally entered the race in late March.

A poll done for McEachin’s campaign in early March showed Lambert in serious trouble.

McEachin led 52 percent to 28 percent, and a polling memo accompanying the survey attributed the large disparity to Lambert’s support for Allen.

The poll was conducted by Pete Brodnitz of the Benenson Strategy Group, the same pollster who worked for Webb in 2006 and for now-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) in 2005.

“It is rare to see an incumbent losing before the campaign has even begun, especially by such a wide margin,” the memo stated.

Lambert, who sits on the Sallie Mae Corp. board, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1977 and has served in the state Senate since 1986. He also sits on the board of Richmond-based Dominion Resources Inc., the energy conglomerate on which Allen’s wife, Susan, served from April 2003 to January 2005.

Lambert announced his support for Allen in mid-September 2006, after the incumbent’s now infamous “macaca” incident and as Allen was battling charges of long-running racial insensitivity.

“Because we have worked well together over the years on many issues, and especially because you have delivered on your promises to support Virginia’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, I am pleased to support you in your re-election to the U.S. Senate,” Lambert wrote in a letter announcing his support of Allen. “I hope to be working with you in Washington long after November to continue fighting on behalf of all educational institutions for higher education.”

Lambert and most other black Democratic leaders in the state had backed Webb’s opponent in the June Democratic primary, and were critical of the former Navy secretary’s past writings on affirmative action.

McEachin, however, was one of the few black state legislators who backed Webb in the primary.

McEachin, 45, was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for state attorney general in 2001, the same year that Mark Warner became Virginia’s first Democratic governor in almost a decade and Kaine was elected lieutenant governor.

He ran and regained his seat in the General Assembly in 2005. He was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1995.

The Henrico, Richmond and Charles City area Senate seat is heavily Democratic, and the candidate who wins the June 12 primary is all but assured of victory in November.