I'm ready to call part of the 2012 election right now. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will be the Republican candidate for Vice-President in 2012. It doesn't matter who the Presidential nominee is, everyone in the field would benefit from McDonnell being on the ticket. The way Obama's poll numbers are plunging, McDonnell should be prepared to move to DC in January of 2013.
And then what?
The problem is that unless McDonnell can force bold changes to Virginia's budget through the Democrat State Senate, where we also have the "Republicans" like Robert Hurt, he'll be forced to move year to year balancing the budget with smoke and mirrors. The system will eventually break down, something a Governor facing a reelection and possible second term would be more likely to tackle. But McDonnell, faced with just one term and the likelihood of the VP golden parachute, will be fine to just kick the problem down the road.
It will eventually blow up in the GOP's face. Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will take over in 2013, setting himself up for the Republican nomination for Governor and ending the chance of the party nominating the more energized Ken Cuccinelli. The budget will begin to break down as the short term solutions expire. Bolling will be defeated by a well funded Democrat, maybe McAuliffe or Connolly, and the stage will be set for another historic tax increase in Virginia.
You heard it here first.
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Interesting prediction, but I can bet you McDonnell's budget amendments not getting passed in the Senate will be the fault of anyone but Robert Hurt.
ReplyDeleteYou can go ahead and blame RPV and the Fairfax GOP for that one. They wanted to win the 37th seat cheap and if they had put more money into Steve Hunt's campaign for absentee efforts as well as GOTV. If he had won we would have been in a much better situation having the Lt. Governor as the tie-breaking vote. And maybe more money would have gone to Hunt if Bill Stanley was RPV Chairman....you just never know.