In the Times-Dispatch, Pamela Stallsmith writes:
Randal J. Kirk, chairman and senior managing director of the investment firm Third Security LLC in Radford, gave Kaine $100,000 last month, according to campaign reports filed Thursday with the state Board of Elections.
[…]
Kirk ranked as Kilgore’s fourth-largest donor in his successful race for the No. 3 spot in 2001, contributing $50,000 to the Republican. Kirk also gave Virginians for Jerry Kilgore three donations totaling $50,000 in 2002 and 2003, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money in state politics.
[…]
“I enjoyed our [Kaine & I] exchange. I found him to be very broad-minded. He’s really quite an intellectual. He’s not at all doctrinaire,” Kirk said in an interview yesterday. “I came to the opinion that Tim Kaine would be the better governor.”
[…]
“I wish I had known Governor Warner at the time I was supporting Mark Earley,” Kirk said.
Inevitably, some top donors will switch back and forth, particularly those who are betting on the winner as an investment, not donating based on ideology. But it’s rather unusual to have such a huge donor not just switch, but go on the record as having erred in the past.