Virginia Tomorrow

1. Ignoring Bobby Scott

Kaine, Periello, Boucher… even Don Beyer in Switzerland before he took his hat out of the ring

I must be missing something.

Why do I think that it’s so unusual that Democrats have barely mentioned Congressman Bobby Scott’s name as a possible 2012 Senate candidate?

I don’t quite understand it.

He’s served as a strong Democratic voice in both the General Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

He’s generally acknowledged to be one of the smartest Democrats around.

Despite having a safe seat seat and only token oppponents, he still works extraordinarily hard in his constituency.

He has the grit, toughness and media savvy to run an aggressive, take-no-prisoners statewide campaign.

I’ve heard some Dems say that he’s too liberal to win statewide.

Perhaps.

But wouldn’t the same argument apply to Tom Perriello as well?

And if Scott did decide to enter a primary, what Democrat could beat him?

I couldn’t imagine that Boucher or Perriello would defeat him in a Democratic primary electorate.

And I guess that Scott-Kaine would be a genuine tossup.

Whether he’s a candidate or not, Virginia Democrats will need an energized Bobby Scott if Barack Obama is to have a chance of carrying Virginia.

And this makes the lack of attention he’s receving even more baffling.

2. Outmaneuvered

Describes what happens to the Senate Democrats this week on a bill that would have abortion clinics required to meet similar safety standards to other venues performing outpatient surgery.

Just last weekend, the Democrats were crowing at the JJ dinner about their success in stopping GOP social legislation. (See Bob McCartney’s column in the Post on this.)

But the Republicans ran a parliamentary end run attaching the clinic regulation bill as an amendment in the House to a health care biill that had passed unanimously in the Senate. 

According to the Senate rules, the new amended bill would not be returned to committee (where it would have been killed), but instead  proceeded directly to the floor where two Democrats joined with the Republicans to vote in favor of passage.

The ensuing tie vote was then broken in favor of the GOP by Republlican Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.

In essence, the Democrats didn’t recognize the end run until the GOP was spiking the ball after the touchdown.

3. Veepstakes

The bottom line on Governor McDonnell’s carefully worded response to reporters queries about the Veepstakes is this: he didn’t take himself out of the running.

McDonnell said all the right things.

He’s focused on Virginia. He really can’t imagine being a candidate. But he can’t foreclose the possibility that he would say yes if he was asked to serve his country in this manner.

McDonnell’s smart enough to know that it’s unseemly (and almost certainly ineffective) to run for Vice-President before the nominee has been selected .

And he’s politically adept to realize that if the media want to put him on their fantasy short list for the next year, there’s no reason to remove himself from consideration.

4. The Virginia Big Number

More than $100,000 per person.

That’s what it is costing the Commonwealth to detain sexually violent predators in a program that allows the state to commit these felons for an indefinite period of time.

Given the extraordinary high rates of recidivism with sexual predators, the ability to hold then for an indefinite period of time makes a lot of sense.

But a number of legislators have started to ask why we’re paying more than double the cost of incarcerating most other felons.

It’s a good question.