The Richmond-Times Dispatch’s often tendentious “Truth-O-Meter” today takes a look at Ed Gillespie’s statements about Mark Warner voting to raise taxes by a trillion dollars while also irresponsibly adding $6 trillion to our national debt.
The result? A predictable “True.”
Though this is a bit like confirming that the sky is blue, it’s important in that it highlights just how hard it is going to be for Mark Warner to run away from his record. A record which places him in cahoots with the unpopular president 97% of the time!
This is smart campaigning by the Gillespie team. We’ve seen in the last few cycles that the Democrat machine gets way out in front on defining their GOP opponent, and framing the race around that definition. This leaves the (usually underfunded) Republican candidate trying to shift the narrative and retake the initiative all the way up to election day. This time, Gillespie appears determined not to let the race fall into that rut, even well before the nomination is decided. Good for him.
All in all, with a string of endorsements by General Assembly members now followed by former Virginia Senate candidate Wayne Coleman, and this no-brainer from the RTD, it’s not a bad day for the Gillespie camp.
