Watchblog: Dem Sen. Whipple at risk, McD warns of deep cuts, Senate Race even
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- Gov. Bob McDonnell is directing state agencies to make deep cuts in their budgets as he prepares his first biennium budget. Nothing is “off-limits”, not even Medicaid and public education, and agencies must submit their findings by October 17.
- Republicans are looking to take over the state Senate to push McDonnell’s agenda through the General Assembly. In a troubling sign for Democrats, the seat of Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, D-Arlington, is now a competitive race.
- US Senate Democrats have proposed a 5 percent surtax on millionaires instead of many of the $467 billion in tax increases Obama has proposed. No word on Obama’s plan to slash $40 billion in tax breaks to oil and natural gas companies that could lead to layoffs in struggling southwest Virginia. Obama’s jobs bill injects $742 million into Virginia for teachers and first responders, but puts the Commonwealth on the hook for another $246 million reports Virginia Statehouse News.
- Former Republican Sen. George Allen is in a dead heat with former Democrat Gov. Tim Kaine. A Roanoke College polls gives Allen a 42 – 39 lead over Kaine, also the former head of the Democrat National Committee, but within the +/- four percent margin of error.
- Social media plays a critical role in modern political campaigns, and strategists on the left and right agree that Facebook, not Twitter, is the most important platform for networking grassroots support. Since Sept. 27, Allen has continued to outpace Kaine in the Facebook race: adding 150 fans to 50. But Twitter is valuable for piping out a message to reporters and activists, and Kaine has added fans in that same time span at a 2-1 rate over Allen: 79 new followers to Allen’s 38.
- Meanwhile, Democrats are generating footage of the Allen campaign turning away camera-carrying Democratic operatives known as “trackers” from campaign events. A racial epithet Allen used at one tracker in 2006 brought down his Senate bid.
- Good news for the new Dulles rail project: the $2.8 billion metro-rail extension is still within budget. Bad news: it has burned through 70 percent of its contingency fund and is nine days behind schedule.
- President Obama and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., are slugging it out over the American Jobs Act. Obama criticized Cantor for saying that Obama’s jobs bill stands, is dead-on-arrival in Congress. Cantor’s office has asked whether Obama would “promise not to veto [the GOP plan] in its entirety?” House Republicans say they will pass only areas of common ground in Obama’s jobs plan.
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Tags: Allen, Cantor, Dulles Metro Rail, Facebook, Jobs Bill, Kaine, Margaret Whipple, McDonnell, Obama, State Senate, Twitter
