Democratic activists would love to see former Gov. Tim Kaine, currently the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, take on former Gov. George Allen in a race for the Senate. Affable and sharp, Kaine would make a formidable opponent. But he may have had his macaca moment, and its name is Wisconsin.
The fight between public-sector unions and Republican Gov. Scott Walker needs little recapitulation. Many Virginians might not realize, however, that the DNC has been aiding and abetting the protesters in Wisconsin through its campaign arm, Organizing for America.
That probably won't go over well here in the commonwealth, where the business community strongly – and rightly – supports the right-to-work principle. Nor will Kaine's recent comments at the Virginia Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, where he said "governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees." (Party chairman Brian Moran and Rep. Gerry Connolly expressed similar support for the Wisconsin demonstrators.)
As governor, Kaine was able to avoid labor disputes – mostly because there weren't many. Yet one of the few times his nice-guy demeanor slipped occurred shortly after his inauguration, when he tried to appoint labor boss Danny LeBlanc as secretary of the commonwealth. The GOP-controlled House of Delegates declined to put a former head of the AFL-CIO who had disparaged right-to-work in charge of all the state's patronage jobs. Kaine blew a gasket – news stories described him as "seething" as he denounced "McCarthy-style politics" – and created a cabinet sinecure for LeBlanc that didn't need legislative approval. So there.
In 2006 Kaine wrote a letter to Republican lawmakers promising to veto any bill that would overturn right-to-work. It was an easy position to take, since no such legislation ever is likely to emerge from the General Assembly. As a senator, however, Kaine could face votes on such contentious issues as "card check," Big Labor's attempt to eliminate the secret ballot in union-organizing campaigns. Sen. Mark Warner has managed to hedge the question. Maybe Kaine could, too. But there's no telling – and Kaine's history, both ancient and recent, give cause for concern. His stand on labor issues could play an important role in whether he chooses to run – and, should he run, whether he can win, or deserves to.
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