Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner has been seeing a lot of the country lately, including a recent stop in Pennsylvania. He appeared at fundraisers for three local Democratic candidates: Patrick Murphy (PA-08), Lois Murphy (PA-06), and Joe Sestak (PA-07). Warner, honorary chair of the Forward Together PAC is considering a presidential run in 2008. Here are a few excepts from news articles and a local blog on his visit:
Daily news
Warner made a fortune in cell phones and left his term as governor of Virginia, a predominantly Republican state, with an 80 percent approval rating.
Warner said his background is distinct from "a lot of candidates that might be just coming out of the Washington experience."
Warner acknowledged that trips such as this one would help a presidential run by enabling the building of relationships with potential donors and three grateful congressional candidates and their supporters. Source: Philadelphia Daily News Wed, Aug. 23, 2006, “Ex-Va. guv stumps for Dems here: Warner, eyeing White House run, aids 3 congressional hopefuls,” by Dave Davies (full text here)
Inquirer
But the biggest winners could be the presidential contenders themselves. They get to make contacts, build alliances, and promote their ideas in a battleground state as they decide whether they have the vision, the will and the money to land the country's top job.
"You pick up chits, you show you're willing to support other people, and you get exposed to different people who might not be focused yet on the next cycle," former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner acknowledged in Philadelphia yesterday at the first of three fund-raisers for House Democratic candidates Patrick Murphy, Lois Murphy and Joe Sestak.
It was his third trip to Pennsylvania since the fall.
Later
The first event, for Patrick Murphy, was hosted by the law firm of Dilworth Paxson. The firm, its partners and employees have contributed at least $256,000 since 2003 to state Republicans and Democrats. The second fund-raiser, for Sestak, was held at the Wynnewood home of Richard and Barbara Schiffrin. The Schiffrins, and Richard Schiffrin's law firm, have contributed just shy of $160,000 in that same period. The third event, a reception for Lois Murphy, was at Aronchick's home in Narberth.
Patrick Murphy raised about $50,000, spokeswoman Carrie James said. Aronchick said he expected to raise $30,000 to $40,000 for Lois Murphy. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer Aug. 23, 2006 “Presidential contenders keep dropping in Pennsylvania, with 21 electoral votes, is critical for winning in 2008,” by Angela Couloumbis and Thomas Fitzgerald (full text here)
Booman Tribune
And Warner was very, very impressive. He keeps improving every time I see him, and I would characterize his performance as just shy of Clintonesque. He was inspiring. (full blog post here).
Mydd
Mark Warner was at the event. I can tell you right now: he is going to raise a ton of money in 2008. He really knows how to communicate with this type of crowd. Joe Sestak came after Warner. Since I spent a little more than a decade closely connected to the literature and poetry world, his speaking style immediately struck me as crossing between the two world I have lived in. Sestak makes his delivery very much in a poetry reading / spoken word style, specifically with the cadence of his voice (several people I talked to said the same thing without me even prompting them). I have never seen anything quite like it in politics before (maybe on the West Wing). (full blog post here)
A flickr photo set is here.
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8 comments:
Personally, I'd prefer Clark, Edwards or HRC to Warner. I strikes me ironic that Warner, a conservative Dem, gets so much love from the same bloggers who rarely miss a chance to bash other Dems with similar viewpoints.
A BIG reason that he gets so much love from the usual suspects among a certain blogosphere is that he hired Jerome Armstrong.
Warner is way at the bottom of my list He supports the death penalty, NAFTA, WTO, opposes equal rights for gays, would ban partial-birth abortion, wants to stay in Iraq until we finish the job, and is opposed to gun control.
There is a reason why he is so popular in a conservative, republican state.
We will soon start hearing from Armstrong's blogging compatriots about how Warner isn't a "perfect candidate" etc and blah blah. We need to jettison a long laundry list of positions (previously known as Democratic ideals), and so on.
Spare me.
That is a fair observation.
Hmmm, fellas, am I in the Armstrong zombie group? Representatives of three presidential hopefuls, John Edwards, Evan Byah, and Mark Warner have been sending me press releases and other info. Warner's person has been, by far, the most diligent, with personal emails as opposed to clear mass missives. I did receive one email from Jerome Armstrong and it simply referred to an earlier message from Warner's person. That is the only message I have ever received from Armstrong. There has been no overt suggestion or pressure that I post on Warner. The blogosphere is nowhere near as organized as you seem to think, or at least my corner of it isn't. The entry was posted to promote the three congressional candidates and not Warner. If there is a conspiracy, I'm simply not important enough to be included in it. Sorry to disappoint you.
I think that you are all out of the loop. I take my orders directly from Markos.
I listen to the voices coming through my tinfoil hat.
I have a fish that tells me what to write. I haven't fed him in 3 months and his water is now green, but he gives me good info.
LV,
You must be a big fan of the Dr. Seuss book, "The Boy Who Fed His Fish Too Much."
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