Waldo Jaquith

Warner, the Virginia Republicans’ savior?

In the WSJ, NBC’s Chuck Todd has a great piece about Sen. Warner’s role in politics and the Republican Party. I feel comfortable saying that the author is utterly wrong in his minor point that, since Warner represents the bulk of independent-minded voters in Virginia, he may well save the state’s Republicans from plunging back into the dark ages from which they recently emerged. That gives far too much credit to the state’s Republican collective power brokers, who would rather drown in an icy sea than accept a lifeline from somebody with whom they disagree about matters of policy. Thanks to J.S. for the tip.


1 Comment

The idea that John Warner would be swayed from retirement by the danger of a primary showdown between Tom Davis and Jim Gilmore is just dumb. In the first place, of COURSE you are going to have a serious primary fight when a Senate seat comes open. If that is a reason not to retire then nobody would ever retire. It’s a circumstance that will not change in 6 years or in 12 years or whenever.

In the second place, I have a hard time imagining that John Warner would lose much sleep over the idea of 2 factions within the Virginia GOP having an argument. This is the party that has only barely tolerated his existence throughout his entire career. When has John Warner ever shown much interest in the dynamics of the Virginia Republican Party? He’s never shown any desire to be a real state power broker. The man is a Senator, through and through. He’s not like George Allen who spent a decade ensuring that the state party was tuned to run the way that he wants it to (wise self interest since Allen expected to run for new offices over the course of his career and wanted the VA GOP to be his source of muscle).

No, I think that when John Warner retires he will be inwardly laughing his ass off at the fight that erupts in his wake.

Posted by Jack on 21 August 02007 @ 10am