You have to “love” this report on our Commonwealth’s own Senator Mark Warner at the Shad Planking yesterday:

It was a chance for Warner to show off the bipartisan bona fides that helped him become the state’s governor, and then senator. It’s the same image that has some thinking he could one day be a presidential candidate.

Warner talked up his efforts to reach across the aisle.

“What makes Virginia special is that oftentimes in our politics we’ve achieved our greatest accomplishments when we actually work together,” he said, touting the budget he hammered out with Republicans when he was governor before talking about how both parties need to compromise in order to lower the national debt.

Gillespie also showed his personable side at the event, back-slapping with ease with the crowd as his campaign passed out stickers and kettle corn. He’s off to a quick fundraising start as well, hauling in $2.4 million in the last fundraising quarter, a sign that Warner won’t have the huge spending advantage he had when he beat former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) by a wide margin in 2008.

Polls show Warner has a double-digit lead, buoyed by his personal popularity and Gillespie’s low name identification. But Warner has been under 50 percent in some recent polls, a sign President Obama’s low approval ratings might hurt him. Warner refused to say if he’d campaign with Obama in the state, when asked after his speech.

About Elwood Sanders

Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written ten scholarly legal articles. Sandy was also Virginia's first Appellate Defender and also helped bring curling in VA! (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)

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