Inside the Beltway

KAINE NOT ABLE?

Running a political party is complicated stuff. But old statehood matters may crop up for Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine — a former governor of Virginia — who has vexed an NAACP chapter in the Old Dominion. The group says Mr. Kaine adopted educational policies that failed minority and disadvantaged students when he was in office, and are requesting an audience with Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and other officials to discuss their charges and some remedies.

“African American, Latino, and economically disadvantaged students are underrepresented in gifted education programs in each and every school division in Virginia,” says a public petition readied by the Chesterfield County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It casts blame for the situation on flawed regulations Mr. Kaine signed and approved during his tenure that have no “uniform definition of a gifted student” and overlook student demographics, among other things.

The group cites statistics: They say black students represent 26 percent of the student enrollment statewide in Virginia but only 12 percent in “gifted education services”; white students are 57 percent of the statewide student enrollment but 69 percent of the students receiving gifted programs.

“Tim Kaine failed to use the power of his office to address the disparity in minority and low-income students placed in Virginia’s gifted education programs. This is just one of many issues that he failed to use the power of his office to correct,” the group’s education chairman, Arthur Almore, tells Inside the Beltway.

“We echo the words of Thomas Jefferson. ’By selecting the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated,’ ” Mr. Almore adds.

FROM THE UH-OH DEPT.

Well, let’s see. He’s wanted for treason and been the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists since 2004. He’s an American who appears in pro-al Qaeda videos. Adam Gadahn was reportedly arrested by Pakistani security agents while riding in a pickup truck outside Karachi on Sunday; The Dawn, the city’s English-language paper, ran a photo of a man “said to be Gadahn being taken away with a bag on his head.”

There’s been dispute over whether the man the Pakistanis have really is Gadahn. Nevertheless, here’s one reaction:

“Adam Gadahn gets to see how we punish treason these days. Whoohoo! So … who gets to interrogate him and how?” asks National Review’s Jim Geraghty.

MOORE OR LESS

Filmmaker Michael Moore wants to do more than chronicle cultural moments and the byzantine workings of the White House. He want to be in the White House, now that things are reportedly, uh, a little dicey within the sanctum sanctorum.

“Dear President Obama, I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff. I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement. I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that’s been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp,” Mr. Moore says in an open letter to the president.

“I don’t need much, just a cot in the White House basement. …You and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week,” the rotund filmmaker continues, recommending that Mr. Obama join him to “kick butts” and complete 100 jumping jacks while repeating an anti-Republican mantra.

“But the Republicans were not going to go quietly into the night. You see, instead of having just one Rahm Emanuel, they are ALL Rahm Emanuels. That’s why they usually win,” Mr. Moore adds.

PIVOTAL DIALOGUE

Should that bumper sticker read Palin/Romney or Romney/Palin? For those who wonder: Mitt Romney, absolutely offered a vote of confidence to Sarah Palin if she runs for president.

“She brings a lot of energy and passion to our party. She may well be a Republican presidential contender in 2012, and we’ll see how she does,” Mr. Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“Do you think she’s qualified?” he asked.

“I sure do.”

“You do?” Mr. Blitzer demanded.

“Yeah,” Mr. Romney said. “She’s qualified. She’s been a mayor. She’s been a governor. She’s been part of a presidential campaign. She’s got a lot of support.

“So she’s ready to be president?” Mr. Blitzer asked for a third time, just to make sure.

“She sure is,” Mr. Romney replied.

POLL DU JOUR

• 46 percent of Americans trust Republicans to deal with “the economy”; 41 percent trust Democrats; 13 percent are not sure.

• 47 percent trust Republicans on “national security and the war on terror”; 37 percent trust Democrats; 15 percent are not sure.

• 28 percent trust Republicans on “government ethics and corruption”; 35 percent trust Democrats; 37 percent are not sure

• 48 percent trust Republicans on “taxes”; 37 percent trust Democrats; 15 percent are not sure.

• 45 percent trust Republicans on “healthcare”; 42 percent trust Democrats; 13 percent are not sure.

• 42 percent trust Republicans on “abortion”; 38 percent trust Democrats; 20 percent are not sure.

Source: A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted Feb. 27 to March 2.

• Brash statements and modest press releases to jharper@washingtontimes.com.