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Va. Gov. Takes Steps Towards Presidential Run
Warner Forms PAC, Hires Former Gore Aide
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 10, 2005; 11:06 AM
RICHMOND, June 10 -- Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) is forming a federal political action committee and has hired a former top aide to Vice President Al Gore to advise him on national politics, the governor's top political aide in Virginia said.
The new PAC, which has not been named, will allow Warner to begin raising money for a possible run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 while he finishes out his term in Virginia. The PAC will be announced formally in July or August, said Mary A. "Mame" Reiley, the director of Warner's One Virginia PAC.
Warner has raised millions for One Virginia, which reported a balance of $1.6 million as of April 1. But federal law prohibits the governor from spending money raised in his state PAC on a federal campaign. Virginia does not put limits on campaign contributions from individuals or corporations.
Reiley said Warner, a multi-millionaire who is limited to one term as governor, has also hired Monica Dixon, Gore's former deputy chief of staff, to be the federal PAC's first part-time consultant.
She said Dixon will help set up meetings between Warner and Democrats across the country as he makes the transition from governor back to private citizen.
"She's coming on board as an adviser to him on the national arena," Reiley said of Dixon. "Monica Dixon will be one of the people advising him. She brings a wealth of national experience. We're delighted that she's coming aboard."
Warner has not said whether he is going to run for president, although he is mentioned frequently among Washington pundits as a centrist Democrat who might win in conservative states that Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) lost to President Bush in 2004.
The Virginia governor has also not said whether he will challenge U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who is up for reelection next year. Warner would need a federal PAC to raise money for a Senate race.
Reiley would not say whether the new PAC, which she called a "federal leadership committee," is designed to facilitate either a presidential or a Senate campaign.
"Not necessarily," she said. "He's not ruling out any of his political options. He'll be traveling and contributing to [other] federal candidates."
Warner had no national profile for most of the first three years of his administration, as he struggled initially with soaring deficits and later spent six months battling with lawmakers over what he termed tax reform. In 2004, the Republican-controlled legislature approved a $1.5 billion tax increase for the state's two-year budget over the objections of Virginia's top GOP leadership.
That victory -- and Kerry's loss in states such as Virginia -- helped propel Warner to national prominence. He is often mentioned along with Kerry, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.) and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico as possible Democratic contenders.
Skeptics in the party say Warner is too moderate to capture the nomination of a party still dominated by powerful, liberal interest groups. Others say his support for a tax increase will be a serious liability in any campaign. And some have pointed out that Warner, who has held only one political office, is not familiar with the ways of Washington politics.
Warner has been meeting informally with his 2001 campaign manager, Steve Jarding, about his future in national politics and has consulted over the past several months with Doug Sosnik, one of then-president Bill Clinton's top political advisers in the White House.
For the past year, he's also been chairman of the National Governors Association, a position that gives him the freedom to travel around the country.
Last week, Warner traveled to Iowa to prepare for the NGA's annual meeting, which will be held there in July. Warner made the rounds of the state's Democratic leadership, who will be overseeing the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses in the winter of 2008.
Reiley said Warner met with the Iowa lieutenant governor, who is also the chairman of the state Democratic Party, and with two of the potential candidates for governor. He also met with the chairman of the Polk County Democratic Party, which encompasses Des Moines.
While in Iowa, Warner criticized Kerry for failing to appeal to moderates, according to the Associated Press. "I can't tell you where he ever broke with anything in Democratic orthodoxy," the AP reported Warner saying.
In the past several months, Warner has given political speeches in Atlanta and South Carolina and has met with potential donors and supporters in California and New York City.
But he has repeatedly refused to acknowledge an outright interest in running for president.
"If I want to try to do anything else in politics, the absolute way I could limit options is if I mess up the last year as governor," Warner said earlier this year.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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things are looking good for us virginia democrats!