Potomac fever plagues Allen, Kaine

By Christina Nuckols

By this time next year, the country will be in the throes of a presidential election with a staggering pricetag and overwhelmingly complicated issues at stake.

It's a good thing the commonwealth will also host a U.S. Senate contest in 2012 featuring two former governors who can explain what all of the competing economic and foreign policy proposals will mean to us here in Virginia.

Or maybe not.

Although neither one can officially claim his party's nomination just yet, the smart money is on Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine to face each other in a heavyweight political rumble.

Both men have deep ties to Virginia that should allow them to reject vapid, Washington-style slogans in favor of substantive discussions about the future of the state and nation.

But as the two candidates start to get re-acquainted with their former constituents, they act more like strangers enduring awkward introductions than old friends back for a much-anticipated homecoming. Although both have maintained residences in Virginia since their gubernatorial terms ended, their time in Washington, D.C. - Allen as a former senator and Kaine as chairman of the Democratic National Committee - has rendered them barely recognizable. It seems both have been stricken with a bad case of Potomac fever.

That realization hit me last week when Kaine surfaced at the state Capitol for his first campaign press conference.

It should not have surprised him to be asked to explain his agreement while governor to hand over double-murderer Jens Soering to German authorities, who promised only to keep the diplomat's son in jail for two years before allowing him to frolic freely around his homeland. Kaine's decision was reversed by Gov. Bob McDonnell after outcries from law enforcement authorities.

Kaine had previously declined to discuss his actions, but on Wednesday he shrugged it off as a cost-cutting measure.

"I basically decided, 'Look, Virginia taxpayers had borne the cost of this German citizen's incarceration for 20-plus years,'" he said, though he believes Soering is indeed guilty. "I thought it was time for German citizens to bear the cost of his incarceration."

And would he recommend that the residents of Red Onion State Prison be shipped off to the French Riviera for the summer if it would save the commonwealth a few bucks?

Kaine didn't seem to care whether anyone believed his nonsensical, smart-alecky explanation. As DNC chairman, perhaps he's become tone deaf to the glib talking points that ricochet around Washington D.C., with its 24-7 news cycle. But he'll have to put the pinball-machine politics aside if he wants to reconnect with Virginia voters.

Unless, of course, his opponent is spewing the same drivel.

Allen entered the campaign in January following a town hall tour in which he bored audiences with a rant against omnibus bills, continuing resolutions and dastardly Democratic parliamentary maneuvers. Unlike Kaine, Allen avoided any major gaffes during this year's kickoff, but no one has forgotten the reason he lost his Senate seat in the first place.

After six soul-numbing years on Capitol Hill, he saw nothing wrong with singling out a college kid at a rally and hurling a racial epithet his way. Even as governor, Allen was a belligerent partisan, but his public mockery of a low-level Democratic campaign worker shocked many longtime supporters. It's fair to wonder why he's so determined to return to a job he seemed to hate, and one that took such a troubling toll on his judgment.

Over the next 18 months, both men will have to explain past actions as well as hone stances on national issues. Kaine owes voters a genuine explanation on the Soering affair, but he'll also have to address an unflattering audit of the state transportation department and his decision to shut down interstate rest stops. Allen has spent most of his political career trash-talking big government even as he orchestrated a massive prison-building campaign and supported a costly expansion of Medicare.

Not surprisingly, some members in both political parties are less than enthusiastic about these two. Allen and Kaine should represent the best leadership Virginia has to offer. Instead, they're just two more politicians who lost their way wandering around Washington, D.C. They'll have to find their way back home if they want their former constituents to follow.

Christina Nuckols is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Christina.Nuckols@pilotonline.com.