Waldoand I talk transportation on Fred Echols’ Weekend Virginia.

Also be sure to listen to this weekend’s show at Radio IQ Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. where we discuss Bob McDonnell and the “no tax” pledge.

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Virginia Senate Republican Leader Tommy Norment gives his thoughts during a wide-ranging interview which includes the budget deficit, the GOP role in transportation funding, the changing dynamics in the Senate due to this year’s general election, working with Creigh Deeds, Bill Bolling, Ken Cuccinelli, and Jody Wagner, and the coordination between the House Republican Campaign Committee, Senate Republican Leadership Trust, Republican Party of Virginia, and the three statewide campaigns.

“In the last couple of years I have been very disappointed with the stewardship of my Democratic colleagues,” lamented Norment about the budget yet again going into the red due to overly optimistic revenue projections and high spending by the state government. “While none of us could forecast exactly what the economy was going to do there were certainly enough indications out there that we needed to move deliberately and conservatively.”

Not unexpectedly, he does not share the governor’s view that the GOP was a roadblock to transportation funding. He goes onto say that the GOP played a critical role in ensuring that the funding we have is in place and that the Democrats’ plans always included massive statewide tax increases.

Regarding the election, Norment believes it is extremely important.

“Our Republican base needs to be reminded on almost a daily basis that this election cycle in 2009, in my opinion, is the most critical governor’s race in the modern history of Virginia,” he said. “We have to win this governors race…if you have a Democratically-controlled Senate and a Democrat in the Governor’s Mansion we are going to be at the mercy of the Democrats — and they are not going to be generous in their redistricting.”

He also talks about consensus building within the caucus and across to the House of Delegates saying that the Senate caucus has “been very supportive of our friends in the House of Delegates that are Republicans” reducing some of the friction that existed in the past.

And, he weighs in again on the change in party leadership.

“There are a lot less tensions [at RPV],” he said.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

• Please also visit us on Podcast.com or PodcastPickle.com and help us promote the podcast by writing a review or adding us as a favorite!

Waldo and I discuss on “Weekend Virginia” the comments Mark Warner made against the Republican ticket a few days ago which effectively called them obstructionists to the Warner tax hike. We also discuss the future debate and how the economy and political philosophies fit in the context of that debate.

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Vivian Paige and Shaun Kenney give their take on the Democratic primary, the upcoming general election campaign, and the netroots.

“What it tells you is that once again the netroots may very well be out of step with the rest of the party,” said Paige.

Be sure to also listen to my interview with Dr. Bob Holsworth and check-out this cool toy from VPAP.

Update - For more from around the blogs:
Waldo Jaquith - On Underestimating Creigh Deeds
Chris Beer - Hold On To Your Wallets, Virginia and Meet the Backbenchers
Bob Holsworth - Patience
Jim Riley - It’s Deeds-Wagner for the Dems and Creigh Deeds’ own words will come back to haunt him
D.J. McGuire - The Democrats have made their choice - and will come to regret it




To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

• Please also visit us on Podcast.com!

Mevio {Mevio-9a236b5f39fba8239c624c78d6e6b1e3}

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Virginia political scientist Dr. Bob Holsworth, president of Virginia Tomorrow, offers his insights into the Virginia Democratic Primary and lays the groundwork for what we can expect in the upcoming gubernatorial campaign between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds.

“Republicans are a little hungrier right now,” said Holsworth of the upcoming campaign.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

• Please also visit us on Podcast.com!

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Chairman Pat Mullins of the Republican Party of Virginia discusses his vision and strategy for the party. He explains his relationship with legacy and new media, the campaigns, the House Republican Campaign Committee, the Republican National Committee, Democratic bloggers, and more. He also delves into how he is going to work to build unity within the GOP and explained why it was important for him to be selected by State Central earlier this month - a selection which he also was skeptical of.

Mullins was candid and engaging in this first interview with any media outlet since his election yesterday.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

• Use this feed in your podcatcher/iTunes - or -
• use Podcast.com!

Waldo and I discuss Offshore Energy production on Fred Echols’ “Weekend Virginia”

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Patrick Muldoon, candidate for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor, introduces us to who he is and why he is running.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Bill Stanley, Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party and candidate for Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, explains why he defended Jeff Frederick last April at Frederick’s removal hearing and whether Frederick will be part of his team, whether McDonnell’s statement that supported Pat Mullins on May 2 helps or hurts his candidacy, describes who he is and his experience, and, most importantly, discusses his vision for what a party chair should accomplish and how he intends to accomplish it.

If you are a delegate to the RPV State Convention, you will want to listen to this podcast and a future one, which we are hopeful to have soon, with Stanley’s opponent, Pat Mullins.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

Michael Gage is a small business owner and ten-year cancer survivor challenging Del, Joe Morrisey in the 74th District of the House of Delegates.

Planners Kim Jorns, Lori-Ann Miller, and Steve Albertson join me tonight to discuss the planning, financing and public information aspects of the 2009 Republican Party of Virginia State Convention and RPV’s relationship with presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell.

Lots of info on new media outreach.

To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
To automatically download and sync VPOD with your MP3 player, use this feed.
Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.

John Brownlee, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, and Dave Foster gathered together one final time in Hampton Roads to make their case as to why they should be Virginia’s next Republican candidate for Attorney General. At a gathering of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach, what started as a relatively collegial and benign policy debate turned into something so much more interesting towards the end.

For the most part, tonight was an explanation of things we already know.

Clearly the candidates had their comfy security blankets with them too.

The tried and true talking points were on full display: Foster has been practicing law for nearly three decades and won as a Republican in the “Peoples’ Republic of Arlington”; Brownlee is a conservative, former U.S. attorney, veteran, and claims he has appeal all across the commonwealth; and Cuccinelli says that he not only talks about being conservative, but delivers on that conservatism in office, yet is still elected as the only GOP senator of ten from NoVA.

As we have seen before, both Foster and Brownlee went after Cuccinelli for his vote on the Triggerman Rule.

Brownlee said that the rule should be abolished and that every Republican senator, except for two, one being Cuccinelli, voted to abolish it. Foster said that both Brownlee and Cuccinelli should remember that the Attorney General does not prosecute criminal cases, but defends criminal appeals and defends Virginia values in court. Therefore, if they feel so strongly about this rule, Foster says that Cuccinelli should still vote on it in the Senate and Brownlee should still prosecute it. Cuccinelli defended his vote as preventing the largest expansion of the death penalty since 1976 and that the bill’s patrons in the Senate (Obenshain) and the House (Gilbert) still have endorsed his candidacy.

The candidates also staked out their positions on E-verify, without too much differentiation, other than the fact that Cuccinelli and Foster explained that a pilot program at the government level would make for a good start and Brownlee pointed to other states that have the law already in place and that Virginia should follow.

Then, the interesting stuff started. (This is where the audio begins – my apologies for the echo, but that was the nature of the room: it was a gym!)

In defining themselves as Republican activists, Brownlee chose to defend his choice to vote in the Democratic primary in 2006 between Harris Miller and Jim Webb. [4:15 of podcast]

Saying that he had read Webb’s books and considered Webb a considerable threat to Allen, he felt compelled to vote in the primary to protect Allen.

“I went out and voted against Jim Webb in their primary. Why?” Brownlee rhetorically asked. “Well, because Susan Allen asked us to.”

Foster said such an action is inappropriate and cedes the high-ground to the Democrats.

“I don’t see, no matter what the motivation for it, how we can criticize Democrats for crossing into our primaries if we are going to vote in theirs,” said Foster.

The event continued to get interesting when a libertarian emerged from the crowd and asked about the privatization of prisons. [8:00]

Cuccinelli is for it, as long as the contractor is “reliable.” He mentioned that there were provisions in the state government for such a partnership to exist.

Foster is open to it, as long as it could “achieve good results.”

Brownlee said that he would “proceed with caution” and that “running prisons is different than building highways.”

Finally, a heated moment came right at the end of the debate when Virginia Beach City Councilman Glenn Davis, in a state of clear agitation, wondered why Cuccinelli would oppose light-rail legislation in Virginia Beach when most Beach legislators were for it. [15:30]

Cuccinelli did not shy away from the answer and pointed to the Dulles rail project as Virginia’s “Big Dig”, only “without the water.”

“I will not suspend my independent judgment,” Cuccinelli scolded. “I will not go along to get along.”

Brownlee then used the opportunity to attack Cuccinelli for supporting H.B. 3202.

“One man’s pet project is another man’s pork,” said Brownlee. [20:20]

Brownlee claimed that the $400 million that went to projects in Northern Virginia associated with H.B. 3202 caused Cuccinelli to “compromise.”

“John’s been out of school awhile and he’s not doing his homework,” said Cuccinelli. [28:52]

He said that former Senators Chichester and Potts voted the opposite way from him on H.B. 3202 and “that should give you a measure of who voted the right way on the bill,” he said.

“Everyone’s a conservative when they want your vote,” said Cuccinelli. “But I’m the only one with a record to back it up.” [31:00]

I’m attending the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, TX this week and had the pleasure to speak with the American Petroleum Institute’s President, Jack Gerard, and the Institute for 21st Century Energy’s President, Karen Harbert, about the state of energy production in the OCS in Virginia waters.

It was very interesting to hear Gerard’s take on Gov. Tim Kaine’s decision to write Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar on delaying lease sales to 2012 (vice moving forward in 2011) and Harbert’s thoughts on how to alleviate some of the concerns that the tourism industry might have in Virginia Beach on offshore drilling.

Rich Anderson of Woodbridge is challenging incumbent Democrat Paul Nichols in Virginia’s 51st House of Delegates district. In this interview, we learn more about Anderson and why he is running for office: