Virginia Tomorrow

If you want to know how political campaigns operate on a day-to-day basis, yesterday was a perfect example.

This is what happened.

-10:15  a.m.

Terry McAuliffe’s unveiled the first chapter of his Business Plan for Virginia at the Convention Center in downtown Richmond.

Speaking in front of a made for tv commercial backdrop proclaiming “New Energy for New Jobs,” McAuliffe gave an extended presentation (approximately 30 minutes long) that covered the specific elements of his plan for revitalizing the Virginia economy, his ideas about the changes that are needed in Virginia’s political culture and his testimony about the kind of Governor he will be if elected.

As I heard it, there were three main features to McAuliffe’s argument.

First, he believes that our long-term prosperity is dependent upon Virginia become a leader in the cutting edge technologies of the new economy, especially in the development of renewable energies and, to some extent, the life sciences.   

Second. McAuliffe asserts that while some progress has been made, the current regulatory and incentive environment in Virginia is simply inadequate to achieve these goals.  He notes that states that will be leaders in the development of new energy technologies all have mandatory standards for the use of renewables, something that Virginia does not.  Nor does Virginia utilize its own extensive real estate holdings to model how a renewable energy economy might actually operate.  As a result, we do not have a reputation as a leading edge state in energy-oriented economics.

To get there, McAuliffe maintains that we’ll need to change our political culture to send a much stronger message about Virginia’s intention to invest in the technologies of the future. This will include both a greater investment  in energy efficiency and a dramatic change in our willingness to offer incentives to companies that will bring  renewable energy jobs to Virginia.

Third, McAuliffe contends that as Governor he will be thoroughly dedicated to “creating more jobs than other Governor in America.”  At various times in his talk, he noted that he is willing to “think out of the box,” “put everything on the table,” and that if “you put a wall up, I’ll knock it down.” 

While McAuliffe points to Mark Warner as his model of a businessman/politican (and denounced the GOP House for stifling Democratic innovation proposals), his exuberant style and his concerns about the barriers that have been erected to promoting economic development remind me very much of a previous Republican campaign.

I had a sense that I was listening to a Democratic version of George Allen’s 1993 contest when he was going to make Virginia “Open for Business” and knock down the regulatory environment that the Democrats in the General Assembly had constructed over the years, one that had even prevented a Democratic Governor from bringing the Washington Redskins to Virginia.

10:45 a.m.

The assembled media begin to ask McAuliffe questions. 

Moran is against the coal-fired plant in Surry, are you?   He responds that the Governor really doesn’t make that decision, but that if Dominion was more aggressive in investing in renewables ( he cites Duke Power as a comparison), we might not have to build more coal and nuclear plants.

Why aren’t you taking political contributions from Dominion?  He simply decided not to do this so long as it opposes mandatory renewable energy standards.  He’d prefer to create win-win situations with Dominion and hopes that he can. In fact, he recently had dinner with its CEO Tom Farrell talking about this , but in the end he’ll do “what is right” for Virginia.

What’s the price tag? Well, he obviously wants to create a $100 million renewable energy fund, but you can’t fully price the incentives, because this will have to be done on a case-by-case basis.

The session wraps up around 11 a.m. as McAuliffe heads to a follow-up session in Norfolk.

2:17

The Moran campaign issues its response, deftly reframing the Business Plan as a matter of who is the more environmentally friendly candidate.

They welcome McAuliffe to the Green Wing of the Democratic Party, applauding his adoption of Moran’s standard for the mandatory use of renewables.

But…

They maintain that Moran is still the greener of the two,  citing his opposition to the coal-fired plant in Surry and to all offshore energy exploration in Virginia.

And they aver that Moran has the stronger position on “key” Democratic issues.

4:26 and 5:17

The McAuliffe campaign issues a press releases responding to the “Moran Attack.”

Somewhat hamstrung by its pledge not to attack another Democrat, Mo Elleithee says that Moran has “unfortunately mischaracterized” McAuliffe’s position and that he is “happy to clarify.”

Elleithee observes that McAuliffe shares Governor Kaine’s position on offshore exploration, for natural gas only and not for oil. The “clarification” also cites Moran’s vote for the legislation that permits this.

On the coal-fired plant, the release states that McAuliffe believes that it does not meet the standard that we would have for “clean coal”  and repeats the position taken in the morning that investment in renewables could ensure that we wouldn’t need these kind of plants in the future.

Who Won the Day?

The Moran campaign did a very good job of countering a major proposal by McAuliffe. They reframed the entire issue of a Business Plan for Virginia into the much narrower question of who is greener, focusing on the coal-fired plant proposed in Surry and offshore drilling.

And the McAuliffe campaign was compelled to respond to the the items that Moran had raised.

The idea of a comprehensive business plan that calls for altering the state’s regulatory and incentive structures got buried in the back and forth about who was greener. (And no one on the Democratic side, of course, aired any of the potential GOP objections to the fact that it will treat renewable energy companies very different from those who might engage in offshore oil exploration.)

And McAuliffe’s assertion that job creation would be his number one priority and that he would be willing to be measured on this yardstick against any other governor in the nation was hardly mentioned in any account.

Yet..

This was only one day.

McAuliffe’s emphasis on job creation should, I think, resonate well in these times.

In person, he presents his message exceptionally well.  And he has the financial resources to deliver the message on any possible media platform. 

But what came out of campaign grinder at 6 p.m. yesterday was very different from what was inserted at 10 a.m.