Warner won’t run for Senate.

Here’s a shocker:

Governor Mark Warner has dropped a bombshell concerning his political future. Warner is indicating he will NOT run for the U.S. Senate against Republican George Allen in 2006. Warner says serving in Congress is not as appealing as it used to be. The governor says he would be frustrated with the pace of getting things done in Washington. Warner says he won’t give it much thought until he finishes his term as governor. He says he might even consider a come-back and run for governor again in 2009.

Mark Warner ran against Virginia’s other senator, John Warner (that was confusing; the bumper stickers wisely said “Mark Not John”) back in 1996, and lost with 47%.

John Warner, astute readers will recall, was elected to his seat in 1979 after the death of Richard Obenshain. Really astute readers will likewise recall that Sen. John Warner got caught in his race against now-Governor Mark Warner for photoshopping M. Warner into a picture with Chuck Robb (former Virginia Senator and LBJ’s son-in-law) and Bill Clinton. And really, really astute readers will recall that Senator George Allen once got caught doing the same thing, back in 1991. In his House of Delegates race against Charlottesville’s Kay Slaughter, he aired ads with her photoshopped into a group of protesters against Iraq War I. He won, but the Democrats got revenge by districting his seat out of existence mere months after he took office. Then, just in the past two years, Gov. Mark Warner backed Kay Slaughter for a seat on the State Water Control Board. The Republicans screamed bloody murder, because Kay is an environmental attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, and managed to get her off the board back just last October.

It is understandable, then, that so many for so long assumed that Governor Warner would be taking out Allen at the earliest possible opportunity. Allen, that smug bastard, is convinced that he can end up as a VP in 2008 or 2012, and he’s just hanging on until he gets the chance. So, in defeating Allen for the seat, Warner would a little long-due revenge on both Allen and Sen. John Warner. Of course, there’s been some talk about Mark Warner being a potential VP pick for Kerry. Mark isn’t exactly on the top of the list, but he is a) extremely wealthy b) from the south c) about to be responsible for the fiscal turnaround of Virginia, if this budget passes. If he’s not a real good target for the VP not just yet, he will be if the benefits of a decent budget can be demonstrated soon enough. Failing that, he’ll have to wait for 2008, three years after his term as governor is up, when the then-81-year-old John Warner will presumably retire, leaving an open seat.

Unless, of course, Mark Warner is telling the truth — perhaps he really doesn’t want to serve in Congress, and would rather be governor again in 2009, if that. Stranger things have happened.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »