An uneasy wind-down for Kaine

Tim Kaine is losing the mojo he may have never had.

His four-year term as governor is winding down. So, too, are the chances of the fellow Democrat who hopes to succeed him -- at least, this is the whispered worry of the rank and file.

As Jerry Baliles, Doug Wilder and Jim Gilmore learned in the closing, controversy-marred months of their administrations in 1989, 1993 and 2001, respectively, Kaine is discovering that a soon-to-be-out-work politician is as useful as last year's bird's nest.

But was he ever?

As a candidate for governor in 2005, Kaine had the good fortune to run on the coattails of Mr. Popularity: Mark Warner, now a U.S. senator. Broken promise on new taxes notwithstanding -- or perhaps because of it -- Warner was, in effect, rewarded with a second term through Kaine's election.

Kaine also got a break in facing an underwhelming Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore, who was hobbled by anti-Bush sentiment, particularly in the federally oriented Washington suburbs, anchor of the latest Democratic ascendancy -- though the headwind Kilgore faced apparently can't match the No-bama gale slowing Creigh Deeds.

As a governor, Kaine had the misfortune to face a dispiteous GOP-controlled General Assembly that became more so because Warner had picked off enough Republicans in 2004 to win the $1.4 billion tax increase for cops, schools and welfare that propelled him to presidential orbit.

Republicans, vowing never again, fought Kaine at every turn, shredding an agenda that included cleaning up the mess Warner left behind: a cash-starved transportation system and a hand-over of the state's computer network to a cash-hungry corporation.

The lousy economy only made it easier for Republicans, particularly after losing the Virginia Senate in 2007, not to cooperate. As revenue fell, so did Kaine's ambition for a caring government, not to mention his standing with the public.

As a national figure, Kaine may have risen too quickly. His early endorsement of Barack Obama -- in February 2007, the governor became the first Southerner of consequence to endorse the future president -- only fed speculation that Kaine's true interests lay beyond the borders of the commonwealth.

That Kaine teased out the vice-presidential string until the eve of the Denver convention -- as Doug Wilder might ask, "What would you have him do?" -- then awkwardly flirted over a Cabinet post and finally accepted the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee only solidified the image Kaine shunned: part-time governor, full-time partisan.

But one with access to cash and services that allowed Democrats, while sorting out their nomination for governor, to slap around Bob McDonnell during the spring with a $3 million-plus fusillade of attack commercials. This cornucopia could help restore Deeds' competitiveness this fall.

Kaine now must endure the inevitable: that it is time for him go. He is the guest whom everyone knows and almost everyone, especially Deeds, avoids, because recession, political resentment and a spotty record are dragging down Kaine -- and his party -- just as he yearns for a legacy-sealing Democratic three-peat for governor.

Wonder if Kaine has started talking to the portraits in the Executive Mansion.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or . Watch his video column Thursdays on TimesDispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter at RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).