Decision Virginia

McAuliffe puts Cuccinelli on the transportation spot

It will be a key rallying cry for the McAuliffe gubernatorial campaign for the next several months. It will be a cry aimed directly at Ken Cuccinelli.

I supported Bob McDonnell's transportation plan and you fought against it.

In his Richmond campaign launch Monday morning where he was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D), Terry McAuliffe drove that point home and hinted that a Governor Cuccinelli could potentially undo the progress.

(McAuliffe was joined in Richmond by Kaine (left) and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones)

He also took a bit of credit for the transportation bill's success himself.

"I was proud to make calls and do meetings to help push it over the finish line," he said "And I was frankly amazed that my opponent tried to block this important progress at each and every step."

Running on the McDonnell transportation record has plenty of benefits for McAuliffe. It is clear Virginians are happy with the concept, and continue to give McDonnell high marks for his stewardship of the state despite the difficulties he has had with Star-Scientific saga.

It also plays into important constituents McAuliffe will need to draw in order to win in November. Both Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads deal the most with Virginia's transportation difficulites and they are both regions where a McAuliffe victory will need to come from.

Cuccinelli remains vague about his plans for transportation but has consistently been critical of tax increases, a key component of McDonnell's road fix. The Republican is planning a major tax policy roll out tomorrow, which could include a fix or change to the McDonnell transportation plan.

Regardless, while McAuliffe continues to remind voters that he was for the transportation plan and Cuccinelli wasn't, Cuccinelli will take a page out of the traditional GOP playbook and accuse McAuliffe of just wanting to raise taxes.

"McAuliffe has a long record of supporting tax increases on voters in the Commonwealth, including the estate tax that even Tim Kaine opposed," said Anna Nix, a Cuccinelli Spokeswoman.

An extended clip of McAuliffe's remarks regarding transportation can be found below:

 

VA Congressional delegation makes plea for sequestration solution

It is getting to the point where they are on the border of begging.

Nine of the thirteen members of Virginia's Congressional Delegation wrote to President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking for a speedy, bi-partisan solution to the budget sequester showdown.

"The Commonwealth of Virginia, with its long history of contribution to our national defense and to the federal government, will bear a disproportionate amount of the pain imposed by these arbitrary cuts should they come to pass,” the letter reads. 

Only four members of the Virgina Congressional delegation did not participate. Rep. Eric Cantor (R), the House Majority Leader, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R), Rep. Morgan Griffith (R) and  Rep. Robert Hurt (R).  

It is not uncommon for Cantor to not sign on to congressional delegation letters, because of his role as Majority Leader.  His spokesperson Megan Whittemore said today that he is very much committed to seeing an end to the sequester. A problem they continue to blame the White House for.

“Congressman Cantor sponsored and the House twice passed legislation to replace the President’s sequester cuts with responsible reforms. The President hasn’t budged, and his only solution appears to be more taxes," Whittemore said in a statement. "That won’t help Virginia families. We want to work together to find a common-sense solution to replace the President’s harmful sequester cuts. Rather than opposing our efforts, President Obama and Senate Democrats should join us.”

Those that did participate represent a broad bi-partisan swath of the Commonwealth. Many of them, like Rep. Rob Wittman (R), Rep. Randy Forbes (R) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D) represent areas heavily dependent on the defense industry.

Both of Virginia's Senators, Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D) signed on to the letter as well. 

The letter is short, only three paragraphs and doesn't offer an specific ideas as to how to break through the sequester stalemate. It essentially is a call to action to the three people with the most sway to begin the negotiations.

You can read the entire letter below.

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

Full text of the letter follows:

February 15, 2013

The Honorable Barack Obama

President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20500

 

The Honorable John Boehner

Speaker

United States House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

 

The Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

Dear Mr. President, Mr. Speaker and Mr. Leader:

             As a bipartisan delegation of Virginia lawmakers representing wide-ranging interests and viewpoints, we write to show unified support for immediate action to avert the devastating impacts of sequestration.  The Commonwealth of Virginia, with its long history of contribution to our national defense and to the federal government, will bear a disproportionate amount of the pain imposed by these arbitrary cuts should they come to pass.

            These reductions, while harmful to the entire U.S. economy, will be particularly devastating to Virginia. According to a study published by George Mason University, nearly ten percent of the 2.1 million jobs that would be lost as a result of sequestration will come from Virginia.  Of these 207,571 Virginia jobs, 136,191 will be lost as a result of cuts to defense, 71,380 job losses will result from reductions in non-defense spending.  Further, sequestration would result in a loss of $20.8 billion in gross state product. The consequences of a failure to avert sequestration will ripple through all parts of our state economy and could lead to a hollow military force and a government unable to adequately respond to the needs of its citizens.

            We stand ready to work hand-in-hand to negotiate an agreement to avert these cuts that threaten grave consequences for the Commonwealth, our federal government, and our national security.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

Sen. Mark Warner

Sen. Tim Kaine

Rep. Frank Wolf

Rep. James P. Moran

Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott

Rep. J. Randy Forbes

Rep. Robert J. Wittman

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly

Rep. Scott Rigell

# # #

Virginia Congressional Delegation hoping for sequestration solution

I am up in Washington, D.C. tonight for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Prior to the speech I caught up with some the Virginia's congressional delegation. Both Republicans and Democrats want a path to an end to the sequestration budget stalemate.

Here is my report for NBC12:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWBT)- Virginians from ever corner of the Commonwealth will be keeping a close eye on one particular issue in tonight's State of the Union address.

Sequestration, set to take effect on March 1st could mean huge cuts to defense and government jobs throughout Virginia. In fact, there may be no state in the union with a more at stake than Virginia when it comes to the sequester, and the entire congressional delegation knows it

"Virginia families are going to be disproportionately hurt," said Sen. Mark Warner (D) this afternoon. "Sequestration basically says we are going to chop every part of government whether it is working or not and as a former business guy that is not the smart way to do budgeting."

Warner understands that the idea of lopping off funding to almost all of government without any plan won't work. He isn't alone, this weekend Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Henrico) gave similar sentiments on NBC's Meet The Press.

"These indiscriminate reductions do not make sense and we are going to hurt a lot of people and it is up to the President to act now," said Cantor.

And even though Cantor is a republican. Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine, who played no part in the sequestration being implemented agrees with the Henrico Republican. Tonight the president needs to lead the charge to solve the problem.

"I want the president to talk to tough to all of us," Kaine said.  "Republican, Democrat House, Senate about finding the alternative to sequester."

 

 

NBC's live coverage of the State of the Union starts at 9pm. You can also join our livechat and watch the speech streaming on NBC12.com.

I'll have another live report tonight at 11 on NBC12.

Biden to travel to Richmond to talk gun violence

Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Richmond this Friday to discuss gun violence in an event with Sen. Tim Kaine.

The White House released the news this afternoon but provided few details about the exact time of the event or where it will take place.

Biden chaired President Obama's task force on gun violence in the wake of the Newtown school shooting and offered up a long list of potential legislative changes to curb access to firearms. The Petersburg Police Chief,  John I. Dixon served on the task force. 

We'll update you when we learn more information.

UPDATE:

Biden will appear at a round table discussion at VCU's University Student Commons at 11am on Friday. The event is not open to the public.

In addition to  Sen. Kaine, Rep. Bobby Scott and several Obama administration officials will take part in the discussion.

The details provided by the White House can be found below:

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

Vice President Biden to Travel to Richmond to Discuss Gun Safety

WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday, January 25, 2013, Vice President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole, and other Administration officials will travel to Richmond, Virginia, to hold a roundtable discussion on the Administration’s efforts to reduce gun violence. Senator Tim Kaine and Congressman Bobby Scott will also attend. The roundtable discussion will include experts who have worked on gun safety issues in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting.

The Vice President and other officials will deliver remarks at the conclusion of the roundtable. These remarks are pooled for television and open to correspondents and still photographers, but space is limited.

Who:  Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole, Senator Tim Kaine, Congressman Bobby Scott, and other Administration officials.

When:   Friday, January 25, 2013

Where:  Virginia Commonwealth University, University Student Commons

Obama Inauguration personal for Kaine

It was something that his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, George Allen, attempted to drag him down with. Sen. Tim Kaine is a close personal friend of Barack Obama. It is a friendship that was built in the early stages of Obama's first run for president.  Despite Obama's tenuous status in Virginia, Kaine never wavered in his support of his friend. When the votes were cast the partnership forged early in 2007 stood strong. Obama heading back to the White House, Kaine taking one of Virginia's two Senate Seats.

(We caught up with Kaine in Washington on the day before the Inauguration)

"It's very touching, and humbling," said Kaine. "No president before this president ever cared what I thought about anything."

On the eve of Obama's public swearing in, Kaine is a different position then he was four years ago. He was completing his term as governor and had taken on the role of DNC Chair. Now he is a member of the U.S. Senate and while he continues to maintain that close relationship with Obama, his first priority will be Virginia. Kaine said it will be essential that this congress gets off to a fast start.

"I think the 112th Congress will go down as a flame out on the working together side," Kaine said. 'The 113th has to do better and there 15 new members and that means a lot of people coming in. As I start get to get to know them, we are learning that while we come from different places politically, we all have the sense that we were sent here to get some things done."

Kaine wants to get to work as soon as possible.

An extended clip from our interview can be found below:

  

Suffolk University/NBC12 Poll: Decision Virginia remains a dead heat

The race is not over yet.

With just a little more than a month to go and all three presidential and one vice presidential debates still ahead of us, a new poll conducted by Suffolk University shows the race for the White House and U.S. Senate remains a virtual tie.

Several swing state polls show President Barack Obama begining to open up a sizeable lead, but here in Virginia it is still too close to call:

The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted between September 24-26th. Enough time for the full impact of the covert 47% video to have the opportunity to have an impact on people's decision. Despite the beating Mitt Romney has taken over the video, his standing in Virginia remains unchanged.

The poll has a 4% margin of error, meaning that the numbers are basically a tie.

And while the race for president is "basically" a tie, the U.S. Senate race actually is a tie:

A few recent polls showed the potential for Tim Kaine to perhaps pull ahead in this race, but our survey shows that he and George Allen remain locked in a razor thin battle. While the polls shows that most Virginians know both Allen and Kaine, there is still an astounding 12% of voters who have yet to make up their mind. Only 7% of respondents to the survey said they were undecided about the race for president.

You can see the full poll on Suffolk University's web site.

Here is pollster David Paleologos putting the numbers into perspective:

 

 Here is my story on the poll for NBC12:

We are getting a better idea of just how close the race for president is in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

NBC12 partnered with Suffolk University to conduct a poll on the election.

Most swing state polls show President Barack Obama opening up a sizable lead, but here in Virginia the race is a virtual tie. In Ohio, Florida and Colorado polls show President Obama taking control. But a new Suffolk University/ NBC12 poll shows that is not the case in Virginia.

In our poll President Obama is holding on to a slim 2 point lead. Roughly 7% of Virginia voters are still undecided and pollster David Paleologos believes the president still has work to do.

"I can tell you with a high degree of confidence this is a close race, this is not a landslide for Barack Obama," he said.

But the news for Mitt Romney is not all good.

Votes still like President Obama more than they do the republican nominee. More than 52% view Obama favorably, while only 42% feel that way about Romney. More voters have a negative opinion of Romney than a positive one. 

According to Paleogolos, being liked has never been the president's problem.

“People are saying they like Barack Obama more than Mitt Romney,” he explained.

It is Obama’s work as president that some aren't comfortable with. In fact 48% of the respondents in this poll disapprove of the way obama is doing his job. Only 46% believe he is doing a good job. 

Things are even tighter in the race for U.S. Senate.

Our numbers show Tim Kaine and George Allen locked at 44% each.

The favorability numbers for the two former governors is roughly the same, both in the 40% range.

Palegolos believes both races could come down to turnout.

“Anybody can win this state, and there is not going to be a landslide win in either race,” he said.  “Either the U.S. Senate race or the Presidential race.”

read and see the full story on NBC12.com

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After the jump you can read the full press release from Suffolk University after the jump:

Kaine and Allen leave lasting impression in third debate

Rarely do you leave a debate wondering what the long term impact might be. Usually you get a pretty good impression right away. But today's NBC4/Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce U.S. Senate debate was a tangle between two Virginia political titans that will take some time to see how it plays out.

(Moderator David Gregory with Tim Kaine and George Allen)

Tim Kaine and George Allen sparred on defense cuts, the economy, issues born out of the presidential race and their own careers in Washington and Richmond. However in a debate that was on TV, but only in the Washington, D.C. metro and in the middle of the day, it is the coverage of the event that will have the lasting impression and Tim Kaine had a moment in the debate that republicans are already promising to bring up from here on out.

It was a discussion on tax policy, based on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments about 47% of Americans who don't pay federal income tax. Moderator David Gregory pressed Kaine on his personal views of who should pay income taxes.

Here is a transcript of the exchange:

(Moderator David) GREGORY: Do you believe that everyone in Virginia should pay something in federal income tax?

KAINE: Well, everyone pays taxes, I mean, the statistics that have come out..

GREGORY: I'm asking about federal income taxes.

KAINE: I would be open to a proposal that would have some minimum tax level for everyone.

Kaine went on to layout the specifics of his tax policy. Later in the post debate gaggle he explained what he meant. He said he wasn't calling for a minimum across the board tax level, but instead showing that he was open to any possible suggestions for improving tax policy.

Here are his full remarks from the gaggle. (I apologize for our unfortunate camera position)

 

Later Kaine senior adviser Mo Elleithee defended his bosses his position in a lengthy blog post.  Saying in his opening line that the Kaine team was "pumped" about his performance.

Not surprisingly, republicans aren't impressed. They quickly posted the debate moment online and fired off a fundraising e-mail based on Kaine's comments.

Allen came to the post debate gaggle prepared to double down on Kaine's comments which play right into the GOP's claim that Kaine is a tax raiser:

 

It is doubtful that this relatively minor slip by Kaine will alter the course of this race dramatically. However, recent polls showed the direction of the race was heading in the democrat's favor. This slip will offer Allen's team more fodder on the tax issue, an issue republican's generally focus on and could swing undecided voters. A pool that in this race in particular is smaller and smaller.

Here is my full wrap on the debate for NBC12:

It doesn't get any bigger than this. Virginia's race for the U.S. senate is one of the most watched in the country.

 Thursday, two commonwealth political titans, George Allen and Tim Kaine, met in their first televised debate. The race was on TV, but only in the Washington, D.C. metro area and in the middle of the day, so the vast majority of likely voters didn't see what happened.

Instead they will be left with the lingering sound bites, and Tim Kaine gave one that republicans are already pouncing on.

It was a debate filled with plenty of substance. Allen and Kaine giving their take on things like defense cuts.

"He (Allen) is on more sides of this than a Rubix Cube," said Kaine while discussing Allen’s position on the congressional showdown over the sequestration budget.

On foreign policy, Allen was critical of the Obama administration and talked tough on the situation in the Middle East.

"The biggest threat I think is Iran,” Allen said. “If Iran gets nuclear weapons that needs to be prevented."

But it was a comment Kaine made on taxes inside that Capital One building in McLean that Allen was quick to pounce on afterward. Here is an exact transcript:

(Moderator David) GREGORY: Do you believe that everyone in Virginia should pay something in federal income tax?

KAINE: Well, everyone pays taxes, I mean, the statistics that have come out..

GREGORY: I'm asking about federal income taxes.

KAINE: I would be open to a proposal that would have some minimum tax level for everyone.

Kaine made the point after a lengthy discussion born out of Mitt Romney's comments about 47 percent of Americans not paying federal income tax. Allen wasn't surprised.

"It is typical of Tim Kaine,” Allen said.  “As I mentioned his record is one of always looking to raise taxes."

Kaine argued that he wasn't calling for a minimum across the board tax, but rather showing that he is open to any suggestions.

"I don't think it should be that newsworthy that a Senator would consider what a colleague proposes," Kaine said with a chuckle.

A characteristic the democrat believes is lacking in his opponent.

"We need more bridge builders,” Kaine said during the debate. “We need more people who know how to listen and find common ground."

read and see the rest of the story on NBC12.com

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