National Democrats are rallying for Virginia Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who is vying to succeed Gov. Mark Warner.
Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, yesterday sent his Virginia supporters an e-mail criticizing Republican nominee Jerry W. Kilgore and President Bush, who hosted a private fundraiser last night for Mr. Kilgore, former state attorney general.
The former presidential candidate’s e-mail was sent a day after Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, headlined an event for Mr. Kaine, who is locked in a tight fundraising race with Mr. Kilgore.
“Today, Bush is coming to Virginia … to try to sell Kilgore’s failed programs and irresponsible policies to your fellow Virginians,” Mr. Kerry wrote. “With his fiscal recklessness and mean-spirited, negative campaign tactics, Jerry Kilgore is wrong for Virginia.”
The e-mail solicits donations to the Kaine campaign in a one-day fundraising push. The private dinner with Mr. Bush was expected to raise $2 million for Mr. Kilgore.
“Bush will use his fundraising network to fill Kilgore’s campaign coffers with checks from powerful special interest groups and hard-right ideologues. Let’s use our grassroots power to help Tim Kaine fight back,” Mr. Kerry wrote. “Kilgore and Bush think this is their day in Virginia. Let’s prove them wrong.”
When asked if Mr. Kerry would campaign for Mr. Kaine in Virginia, Kaine campaign spokeswoman Delacey Skinner said the e-mail is the only action the senator has taken so far.
Kilgore campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Republicans long have claimed Mr. Kaine and Mr. Kerry are similar.
“Here you have two liberals who have tried to masquerade as something other than that. John Kerry failed, and Tim Kaine is in the process of failing,” he said.
Mr. Bush beat Mr. Kerry by nine percentage points in Virginia in November.
Independent gubernatorial candidate state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., who is trailing the two main-party candidates, said he thinks national politicians will have no influence on the outcome of the race.
“Virginia citizens are among the smartest and most perceptive voting electorate in any country,” said Mr. Potts, Winchester Republican. “People aren’t going to vote for Tim Kaine because of John Kerry, and they’re not going to vote for Jerry Kilgore because of George Bush.”
Mr. Kerry is not the first national figure to surface in what is one of two gubernatorial races in the country this year.
Mr. Obama, who is considered a rising star in the party, headlined a Democratic rally in Arlington on Wednesday night and donated $10,000 to the Kaine campaign. He encouraged the estimated 1,000 in attendance to volunteer for the Kaine campaign, saying Mr. Kaine and Mr. Warner have presided over the “greatest success story in our union.”
“These simple precepts are not Democratic values; they are not Republican values; they’re American values,” he said. “You have a candidate for governor who has exhibited those values each and every day.”
Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat who was defeated in November, also has helped Mr. Kaine.
Mr. Daschle criticized an anti-Kaine TV ad paid for by the Republican Governors Association. The ad calls Mr. Kaine a “liberal” and shows alternating images of Mr. Kaine and Mr. Kerry.
The Democratic National Committee has given $1.5 million and has pledged an additional $3.5 million to Mr. Kaine.
So far, Mr. Kaine has raised $11.1 million and Mr. Kilgore has raised $10.8 million. Mr. Potts has raised $462,282.
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