Democratic leaders vow to hang on to VA Senate and retake the House

Del. David Bulova, Sen. Jim Webb, and House of
Delegates candidate Jack Dobbyn (42nd District)

Sen. Jim Webb, Sen. Mark Warner, former Gov. Tim Kaine, Rep. Gerry Connolly, and just about every elected leader and candidate in the Annandale area—and some from other parts of Fairfax County—made an appearance at the Mason District Democratic Committee’s 44th Annual Crab Feast Saturday evening.

Webb, who is not running for re-election, urged his constituents to support former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who has announced plans to run for that seat in 2012. “There is nobody I believe who could be more successful in the Senate,” Webb said.

Kaine told the crowd that succeeding Webb will be tough, but vowed “to make you proud.” In response to Texas governor and GOP primary candidate Rick Perry’s remarks that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme,” Kaine said Social Security was “created by the Democrats during the Depression so working people can chip in a little bit” to prevent older people from descending into poverty. “It was the most successful program in U.S. history. What’s fraudulent about that?”

Noting that the Republicans want to do away with programs aimed at protecting the poor, other vulnerable populations, and the environment, he said, “that’s why the stakes are so high” in the upcoming election.

Kaine said it will be difficult for the Democrats to take control of the Virginia House of Delegates, but “we can do it.”

“It’s absolutely imperative we hold on to the Senate,” he said, noting that “a lot of crazy stuff gets passed in the House, and the Senate makes the rational decision to kill it.”

Virginia Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw also spoke about how crucial it is to keep the Democrats in control of the state Senate, calling some of the Republican senators “nut jobs.” He said there are some Republicans in the House of Delegates who “make the governor of Texas look almost sane.”

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