BREAKING POLITICO SCOOP

Douglas Wilder rejects Barack Obama's overture in Virginia governor's race.

Comments

[James Martin]

Doug Wilder didnt endorse Tim Kaine or Jim Webb until the last week before the election... He'll endorse Creigh, but it'll be a while.

[Not Frank Hargrove]

I've never seen someone so famous who is so desperate for publicity. We worked real hard to get him elected in 1989, and this, amongst oodles of other actions, is what we get for thanks. Sorry Obama and Creigh have not kissed your ass enough.

[DanielK]

"It's Doug being Doug"

Plain and simple he needs to get over the fact that Creigh didn't support his legislation when he was Governor and move on. I'll take a candidate who won't be swayed out of what he believes is right. Wilder is the reason why Bob McDonnell is in a place where he is now to run for Governor because he has enough followers to where enough of them didn't vote for Creigh which put B-Mac over the top in 2005.

What I believe all this crap is about is that he doesn't like the fact that now he's not in the news anymore since Sheila Johnson stole his thunder. This gets him back in the news because it's "Doug being Doug." Too bad voters just see that he is playing games during a time when the last thing we need is Bob McDonnell as our next Governor.

[Not Larry Sabato]

I'm sure he would have an easier time "getting over" Creigh not supporting his legislation, if Creigh hadn't come out and called for its REPEAL.

I for one, strongly agree with Wilder that we need one gun a month.

[Not Frank Hargrove]

Whose boot won't you lick?

[DanielK]

I'm sure Doug would have an easier time "getting over it" but then again I don't think Creigh is the type of person or politician who is really going to pander for an endorsement, especially on something he doesn't truly believe. He's demonstrated that he has "grown" throughout his political career on certain issues which can result a new understanding and view on certain issues.

I respect Creigh a hell of a lot more knowing that he won't be bullied by someone like Wilder for the sake of gaining an endorsement or a few extra votes. I'm sure Creigh sleeps peacefully at night knowing deep down he did what he believes is right and not politically beneficial.

[proudvadem]

When has Wilder NOT been an ass before an election? He loves to play the "woo me" game and this is just more par for the course.
What a jerk, considering that he served on Gilmore's transition team I'm not surprised at all.

[kelley in virginia]

after reading the article which refreshed my memory on Wilder, Deeds & Wilder's endorsement record, i can only conclude that Wilder will endorse Deeds later.

much later.

why bother with him?

[DanielK]

Exactly! If he doesn't then hopefully his supporters will really see it for what I believe it's worth....A political stunt for him to get attention. Remember, negative attention is better than no attention!

[Dan]

If there were anything at all unique about this situation it might be a story. But Wilder does this every election cycle. Without exception.

The story doesn't even have to be written. Just pull out the one from the last time and change a couple of names and the dates.

Wilder really is pathetic. His need to be the center of attention and desire to have his ass kissed are breathtaking.

Here's a novel idea. People who have a similar political philosophy and shared goals support one another in order to have a positive effect on the direction of public policy. The way many of us supported Wilder when he ran for Governor.

I think we have long since passed the point where the best way to deal with Wilder is to ignore him.

[bubba]

Apparently Bob has taken time to meet, develop a rapport, and work with Wilder.

It's called attention to detail.

[change]

amazing to watch libs slam one of their own when he has the nerve to tell a truth.

Wilder has a point about black voters being taken for granted. Maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost.

[Tatum]

I'm not sure it's going to hurt Deeds. Come November Deeds might be better off to have distance between him and Wilder or Obama, for that matter. It helps couch him as a common sense centrist.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Wilder is a gas-bag ass-clown and has been pretty much since he left office. In Democratic circles, Chuck Robb and Gerald Baliles are still mentioned, Don Beyer and occasionally even Mary Sue Terry. But at least in NoVA, I've never heard anyone say a peep about Wilder in the last 10 years - except for crap like this. Here's the real scoop on Wilder: Wilder is for doing whatever is best for Wilder. Nothing more, nothing less. These antics before pretty much every election cycle are par for the course. Maybe people in Richmond give a shit what he does and says but Democrats elsewhere really pay no attention to him. He's a lost cause.

[Dan]

bubba,

I give McDonnell credit for running a solid campaign so far. But the quality of McDonnell's campaign is a completely separate issue from Wilder's douche baggery.

Knowing Wilder's history, I'd agree that it is a smart move for McDonnell to cultivate a relationship with him. However, since Wilder has a decades long history of attempting to focus attention on himself by playing these games EVERY SINGLE election cycle I question whether it has much impact any more.

[Steve Vaughan]

You'd be hard pressed to find an example of Wilder endorsing a statewide candidate before Labor Day since he left office. He likes to create suspense to focus attention on himself. That said, I really doubt that Deeds is going to humble himself to get Wilder's endorsement the way some past Dem candidates have. So maybe he doesn't get it. I'm not convinced that moves many votes at this point.
And McDonnell has run a very solid campaign to date. Any Democrat who thought this was going to be easy was smoking something.

[Flateartha Kitt]

Doug...Doug...Doug Who? Oh him...Gosh is he still around?

[Solon]

So someone from the Obama Administration comes to see Wilder (Doug says) to ask his support for Creigh Deeds (Doug says).

Apparently this was a personal and private meeting. But--so typical of Wilder--he breached the confidence and revealed it.

The old saying when he was governor was "Never get too close to Wilder. It just makes it easier for him to stab you in the back." The man is so starved for attention and so desperately seeks relevance that he'll do just about anything.

It is best to keep a distance.

[bubba]

Meanwhile, CNBC just listed Virginia as the best state in the nation for business again.

This is good news for all Virginians.

[Mr. GOP]

Come November, I can assure you that if Deeds is too close to O-blah-blah, he will be toast. Ironically as he begins to run away from BHO (recall he was too busy to show up with O-blah-blah at the NOVA event on health care last month), blacks will actually stay away too.

In sum, Deeds has two big problems.

First, if Wilder say “no” to Deeds, or “yes” to Bob, or even “no” to both, Deeds gets hurt in all conditions.

Second, if he embraces Obama be will alienate a growing majority of Virginians who now have second thoughts about the “Commander in Blame”. If he rejects Obama he will alienate blacks and will ironically need Wilder even more to restore some support among blacks.

Tough choices…I bet he’s working hard to get DW’s blessing…

[Stonewall Brigade]

Wilder will eventually endorse Deeds but it will be late and not be real enthusiastic when he does it. Deeds has lots of problems. BO being a big one and TK numbers falling.

[Suzie]

Wilder is so yesterday. He finds himself very important. I don't why Dems even bother with him.

[Mr. GOP]

Ben, answer this. Was one-gun-a-month effective in stopping Cho murder innocent VT victims? He bought two guns; one in one month and one the following.

[Not Barack Obama]

Hmm...ya know, a large bloc of African American voters were born during a time where they weren't probably old enough to remember Doug Wilder as Governor, why do reporters always try to find a black 'spokesman' that will give their representation of what the whole community will do or not do in terms of their support for a candidate? Do we have a 'white' spokesperson, or a 'latino' spokesperson, or an 'asian' spokesperson, who speaks for all of us?
Ughhh....

[Steve Vaughan]

Mr. GOP,
No it didn't. And wasn't meant to. What would have stopped him is a law that only allowed U.S. citizens to legally purchase weapons here. I'm all for the 2nd Amendment. I own a gun. But I can't think of a good reason that the 2nd Amendment should extend to non-citizens and, in a post 9/11 world, several good reasons that it should not.

[southside dem]

I would think Deeds would be actively seeking Wilder's endorsement. Widler was the last actual fiscal conservative Democrat in the Governor's mansion. Both Mark Warner and Tim Kaine campaign saying they wouldn't raise taxes, but after they got elected - in Kaine's case 6 days after taking office - sought to, and in Warner's case was successful in raising taxes. Wilder promised not to and when the economy dipped during his term, he chose to keep his promise and make the difficult decisions Warner and Kaine didn't want to. Creigh is a moderate, except when it comes to fiscal matters. He has a record of voting for higher taxes that Warner and Kaine didn't have when running for office. Getting backed by a fiscal moderate would help Deeds' overall moderate image, but my guess is it doesn't happen because Creigh really beleives increasing taxes is the way to go.

[bubba]

Who helped Mayor Wilder the most with Richmond's chronic, and some would say institutionalized, public safety challenges?

[Not John S. Mosby]

Republicans really do need to remember that President Obama is only unpopular with Republicans, who wouldn't support him under any conditions. So keep up with the mocking, keep supporting the birthers and other racists, keep doing what you're doing. Of course the stock markets have recovered half their losses and pretty much every economist is in agreement that the recession is pretty much past the bottom and growth is actually kicking in again. Then again, Republicans never had a good word to say about President Clinton when he was in office in boom times and had very high ratings.

So yeah, I hope Deeds and every other candidate does nuzzle up to the President. He's still viewed positively and approvingly by a majority of people. Certainly more than Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee or Newt or Dick Cheney or Pat Robertson or whoever else Bob has to stump for him.

[Sam]

NJSM-

Yes, the market's up, and the economy's clearly on the rebound, but don't forget where the average voter deals with the economy the most - jobs. Many voters have lost jobs, and many more risk losing jobs. Unemployment is, unfortunately, a lagging indicator, since businesses have to be confident in the growing economy before they'll expand. As a result, while I expect the economy as a whole will have largely recovered by November, unless unemployment has dropped pretty dramatically, Obama's numbers aren't going to be that great.

[Mr. GOP]

Steve,

Cho was a legal permanent resident alien and as such could legally purchase firearm. But if your point is that a law making it just for US citizens would have stopped him, you’re wrong. He would have ignored it like he did the requirement on the gun application to reveal his mental health issues. He lied on that form, twice. (But he knew that he would get caught easily violating one-gun-a month so he obeyed that…go figure).

So if one-gun-a-month wasn't supposed to abate gun violence, what was it meant to do? Answer: appear to be doing so. The reality is different.

It surely has never stopped a criminal from getting a gun, as many as they want, because they buy them illegally anyway, lots of them. And criminals normally don't like to buy guns either at gun shows or gun stores because there are checks mandated checks by licensed dealers at both and crowds of people walking around who would be witnesses to a purchase by a felon. Bad guys generally get their guns on the black market in "back alley" exchanges or (sit down for this, Steve) they steal them...kinda goes with the MO.

So my point is one-gun-a-moth is as effective at stopping gun crime as one-drink-a-night would be in stopping DUIs were we every to have such a law. In the end, bad people will find a way to do bad things, no matter how much you try to hem them in with laws for every act.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Actually, the one-per-month law did stop the bulk purchases that illegal dealers in other states used. They would come down from New York or wherever and either buy a half dozen or more handguns themselves or have local friends/relatives do so. Then they would go back home with large supply and sell them illegally at a huge mark-up. They can't do that in Virginia now, and that was really the purpose of that law: to prevent dealers without FFLs from coming down, buying a trunk of guns, then taking them back to wherever.

[DCCyclone]

Virginians should be glad to have been able to claim Wilder as the nation's first post-reconstruction black Governor, and the first black Governor of the Capital of the Confederacy. There is no reason to bash the guy. All this whining about his non-endorsement of Deeds only begs the question: why does he owe Deeds anything?

I'm sure Deeds was sincere in believing the gun purchase limit was bad policy, and Wilder was sincere in believing it was very important. And policy disagreements matter; we all have our pet issues that are not negotiable, we all draw a line in the sand somewhere on something, but it's not the same thing for all of us.

What ultimately matters for Deeds is to cultivate support in the black community, and losing endorsements from Sheila Johnson and Doug Wilder isn't fatal to that effort. Endorsements like those are a very small part of the game, and he needs to do much more and probably most of it on the local level in black precincts.

I want a united Democratic front this November as much as anyone, and I want Wilder on board with that, but I'm not going to trash him for having a principled objection. Neither should other Democrats, because doing so constitutes participation in fratricide.

[Claire]

He pointedly refused to endorse him in 2005 and that cost Creigh the race. On the phones for Kaine, I always added and Creigh Deeds. The voters said they'd vote for Kaine but not Creigh. Way to go, Douglas.

[kelley in virginia]

Sam & NJSM: there are some economists who say that today's increase in the min. wage could cause unemployment to rise yet again.

and yes, i do realize i can find an economist who will say Anything!

Obama's poll #s are dropping, that's a fact. Obamacare will be a bloody battle & NO ONE will win. the loser: the taxpayer. that might influence votes as well. how, i don't know exactly--depends what can actually get out of Congress.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Raising the minimum wage has never increased unemployment before, why would it this time? That wage would still leave a full-time worker below the poverty line.

[I.Publius]

Raising the minimum wage ALWAYS results in lost jobs, you douchenozzle. Go get your G.E.D. and then take ECON 101 at NOVA.

And OF COURSE a full-time minimum wage job is poverty level. It's the MINIMUM wage. It's what high school kids make in part-time jobs. Those jobs aren't intended for a family breadwinner.

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

This reaction by Doug Wilder hardly surprises me. I'm not so sure he will endorse Creigh. He may stay neutral. But there is speculation that Sheila Johnson's endorsement of Bob McDonnell had, at least, some tacit encouragement from Wilder. Repeat, that's just speculation.

But there are issues between Wilder and Deeds.

Be that as it may, I'd take Obama's support in Virginia, along with Warner's and Kaine's as more valuable than Wilder's. That's because there are so many people in Virginia who are new to this state and who were not here back in 1989, and that includes blacks.

I won't diminish Wilder's historic achievement in becoming governor of this state. That's an accomplishment he should be proud of.

But his recent history of playing spoiler to those who won't kiss his ring is not one he should be equally proud of. Wilder now has a reputation, not for independence based on principle, but for quirkiness based on ego.

[I.Publius]

"Wilder now has a reputation, not for independence based on principle, but for quirkiness based on ego."

That may be his reputation among left wing Democrats, or what self-proclaimed "progressives" wish was true. Among the rank and file of Virginia voters (mostly apolitical moderates) he's seen as a principled maverick who does no man's bidding -- and they respect him for it.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Well gee I.Pub, if the jobs that are minimum wage are just high school part timers, then the job losses shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Show some stats where raising the US minimum wage has led to job losses.

I.Pub, you are truly a dipshit, so stupid you don't even realize it.

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

I Pub. just because you want something to be true does not make it so.

There is no credible evidence that raising the minium wage leads to job loss. It's a rightwing meme that you guys want to be true.

The actual situation is that evidence is mixed. It can be argued that raising the miniumum wage leads to minimum wage workers having more disecretionary income to spend, which stimulates the economy.

But the evidence goes both ways. So, stop insulting people who disagree with you.

Likewise, there is little credible evidence that ordinary, non-political people respect Doug Wilder as a principled maverick. Most non-political types actually don't think much about him one way or another.

To Democrats, he's a pain in the neck because he inserts himself into politics in ways designed to embarrass candidates, rather than to work constructively to get any real social or political object. That's neither principled nor maverick. It's just quirky egotism.

Of course, to Republicans, he provides endless hours of entertainment because of this. So, just enjoy!

It won't make that much of a difference to the outcome of the race. Other factors are far more important.

[I.Publius]

Anonymous Is A Woman, now you're just making stuff up, and you obviously have little or no education in economics. It is universally accepted among economists that the mere existence of the minimum wage suppresses employement, and every increase reduces employment. I'm not going to bother giving you cites. I might as well offer citations to the fact that the sun rises in the east.

The only significant issue that is debatable regarding minimum wage increases is whether the benefits to the working poor outweigh the effects of reduced employment. The primary reason for each push for an increase is that it helps unionized labor because their contract pay rates are tied to the minimum wage. Not coincidentally, every Big Labor study about the minimum wage says that it should go up. Imagine that.

It is also well established that minimum wage increases disproportionately hurt the poorest among us, because they are generally unskilled, and their jobs are the first to be cut. It also disproportionately hurts African Americans.

You could spend an hour or so reading easily obtainable research to understand this issue better. I leave that to you.

[Not John S. Mosby]

So basically, you don't have any stats to support your conclusion. So you're against the minimum wage? Let the busboys and dish washers and cleaning people and burger flippers get what they can and if they don't like it, fuck'em? Is that the plan?

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

NJSM is right, I.Pub. Publish me some stats that don't come from Cato.

I'm in a hurry right now but I can find you academic studies, not studies from the Economic Policy Institute (a left leaning pro-labor think tank).

The trick is to find evidence that supports your point of view from reliable sources, not ideological think tanks. I can do it; I'll be back later with links.

You, sir, just site propaganda and insult people. And you don't know how truly foolish you sound.