Brian Moran called on all three Democratic contenders for the party’s gubernatorial nomination to refuse contributions from out-of-state donors for the rest of the primary season. He says that Virginians need to choose the Democratic nominee for Governor.
The call comes in the wake of a spate of stories suggesting that the yet unofficial gubernatorial campaign of Terry McAuliffe will break all fundraising records set in Virginia to date, largely because of the national base McAuliife can tap as a result of serving as head of the Democratic National Committee.
I have sometimes thought of writing a book titled The Odd and Peculiar Rituals of Political Campaigning. Moran’s Virginia Only call would be part of a chapter titled How to Make a Serious Point by Making Demands that Can’t be Taken Seriously.
The Moran campaign wants to argue that Terry McAuliffe does not have deep roots or much experience in the Virginia political environment. And Moran believes that McAuliffe’s out-of-state financial base might enable him to overcome his lack of Virginia-specific experience in the nomination contest.
Fair enough.
Moran and Deeds ought to raise McAuliffe’s lack of experience in the Commonwealth as a central point in the primary campaign. If they do not, Bob McDonnell is unlikely to be equally bashful.
Terry McAuliffe knows that he will have to answer questions about his experience and interest in Virginia. And he is aware that money will not win the gubernatorial election in 2009 if he can’t respond to this challenge.
At the same time, no one really believes that Moran’s actual call will be taken seriously. Politicans who can raise a ton of money rarely decide to forego the advantage it can provide.
Barack Obama’s support for public financing of presidential campaigns vanished after he started amassing $50 million a month on the internet.
And speaking of Obama, it was interesting that Moran’s call for a Virginia Only pledge does not extend beyond the Democratic primary in June to the general election.
If President Obama volunteers to send a fundraising email solicitation in July to every Democrat in his national database telling them just how important the Virginia gubernatorial race is to the future of the party in 2010, will any Democrat say “thanks but no thanks, we’re doing Virginia Only this year? ”
I think that all of us know the answer.
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