POLITICAL HYPERBOLE: Virginia Politicians Just Keep Getting Extremier and Extremier

A. BARTON HINKLE It's not yet clear whom Virginia Democrats will pick on Tuesday to run against Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling, the GOP candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. (The unopposed Democratic candidate for attorney general, Steve Shannon, will square off against Republican Ken Cuccinelli.) But this much is clear: Whatever the Democratic ticket looks like, it will be the most extreme, radical, wild-eyed bunch of borderline psychotics ever to campaign for public office in the history of the universe.

We know this to a certainty -- just as we know the McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli ticket is equally bad, if not worse. We have that on the authority of Levar Stoney, executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party. Roughly two picoseconds after Republicans made their ticket official at last weekend's party convention, Stoney denounced the triumvirate as "the most divisive ticket in modern Virginia history."

Which is downright amazing, when you look at that history. Because, as it turns out, pretty much every single candidate who has run for statewide office in Virginia during the past couple of decades has been more extreme, more radical, more dangerous than all the ones who went before.

BACK IN 1985, Richmond Del. Frank Hall examined the record of Republican gubernatorial candidate Wyatt Durrette. He then issued a statement on behalf of Durrette's opponent, Gerald Baliles, describing Durrette's ideas as "the most extreme fringes of radical thinking ever introduced into the General Assembly." (Ever!)

Four years later, Baliles -- the winner in '85 -- cast his eyes upon the Republican running to succeed him. According to Baliles, Marshall Coleman "has not hesitated to take the most extreme position on one issue after another."

In 1991, political up-and-comer George Allen was running for Congress against Kay Slaughter. An Allen spokesman helpfully pointed out that while Ms. Slaughter might pretend to be a moderate, "We all know she's an extreme liberal."

In 1993, the Democratic and Republican Party chairmen took turns pointing out what a bunch of lunatics the other guys were. The GOP candidates constituted "the most extreme right-wing ticket" in 30 years, said Mark Warner -- adding tht he was "afraid of this year's Republican ticket." The GOP's Pat McSweeney responded that the Democrats were so useless they had nothing to offer but attacks against Republicans. So there.

When Ollie North challenged him for his Senate seat in 1994, Chuck Robb promised to "differentiate between the mainstream" (himself) "and the extreme" (i.e., North). According to a

Times-Dispatch article at the time, "North shot back that Robb, in fact, was the 'extremist' out of touch with Virginia voters, and he sharply questioned Robb's character."

In 1996, Mark Warner -- then challenging Republican Sen. John Warner -- tried to paint the old lion as a wingnut, too. "Mark Warner is testing the risky strategy of trying to portray the senator as an extremist," a news article reported. During a debate, Mark Warner admitted to having voted for John only because he was the lesser of two evils: "Between you and the LaRouche party, you were the clear choice . . . . [But] I don't think the senator that I voted for in 1990 would have marched in lockstep with Newt Gingrich over the past year."

No sooner had Republicans picked their candidates in 1997 than Democratic gubernatorial contender Don Beyer claimed to head up "the mainstream ticket" -- meaning Republicans were outside the mainstream. Attorney general candidate Bill Dolan blasted his opponent, Mark Earley, for belonging to part of "an ideological minority." Later, after Jim Gilmore endorsed requiring spousal notification for an abortion, "Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr . . . .lambaste[d] James S. Gilmore III as an extremist," a news article reported.

IN EARLY JUNE, 2001, Republicans picked Mark Early, John Hager, and Jerry Kilgore to run for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. "Democrats immediately branded the ticket the most right-wing Republican ticket in years," a press report said.

Eleven days later, the Democrats chose their lineup: Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and Donald McEachin. As this newspaper reported at the time, "Ed Matricardi, executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, who was on hand for the Democrats' appearance, labeled the ticket the most liberal in Virginia history."

Sometimes even members of the same party call one another extremist. In 2005, Republican Russell Potts decided to run for governor as an independent. People like Bolling, Potts said, were "representative of the most extreme wing of Virginia's Republican Party." And Republicans like Bob McDonnell "are not representative of mainstream Virginia."

Bolling ran that year against Leslie Byrne -- who, he said, "has a very extreme liberal agenda." (Not just liberal. Not just extremely liberal. Very extreme liberal.)

Meanwhile, at the top of the ticket, Jerry Kilgore denounced Tim Kaine as "the most liberal [Democratic] candidate to run for governor in Virginia history."

Until the next one, of course -- whoever it is.

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Contact A. Barton Hinkle at (804) 649-6627 or .