From this article, it appears that Kellam may have gotten some pretty bad advice from political consultant Bob Doyle:
Perhaps Kellam’s only chance to neutralize the GOP go-vote machine was to swing more independents to his side with an endorsement ad from popular former Gov. Mark R. Warner, some political analysts said.
Warner did a radio ad for Kellam, and he was willing to tape a more effective television spot. But that never happened.
Such an ad could have diminished Kellam in the eyes of independent voters by making it appear he couldn’t stand on his own, said Bob Doyle, a consultant on Kellam’s campaign.
WTH? Is this guy nuts? Warner – the guy who would be president, the guy who left office with sky-high approval ratings – wants to do an ad for you and you say no?
If I were Phil, I’d ask for my money back!
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I had heard about this guy and that he gave Kellam some really bad advice. Too bad.
Ah well, there’s always next time.
Not to play the “told you so” card, but you know Jim and I said again and again that these consultants from up north were klling him.
Fact is, had Kellam taken the advice from you, Jim and me, he would be getting ready for January. Instead he is checking personal property bills for cars and the like.
A candidate who knows himself and his district doesn’t allow himself to be led around by consultants. Either Phil Kellam was a bad candidate who made bad campaign decisions or he was a good candidate who let others make bad decisions for him. Doesn’t really matter. The person responsible for the loss is him.
Although Mark Warner’s appearance in a television ad wouldn’t have necessarily won him the election, it probably would of gained him a few votes from people who have a tremendous amount of respect for the work that Warner did for the Commonwealth. It is always difficult to defeat an incumbent, so I would think that Kellam would want any advantage he could get.
If a man who has played a significant part in allowing Virginians to trust the Democratic Party is willing to help your campaign out, a candidate should absolutely jump on the opportunity. There was, after all, a fair amount of discussion during the Democratic primary about which candidate the former governor would endorse. (If I remember correctly, however, he didn’t endorse either one). That debate took place because both Jim Webb and Harris Miller realized that an endorsement from Warner would provide a boost to their campaign.
Now if Warner was an unpopular governor, I could perhaps understand why Kellam would want to separate himself from Warner. But his ratings were, and still are, so high that I simply can’t believe that Doyle would give that advice.
I suppose we should look to the bright side of things. The Democratic Party gained the majority in both Chambers of Congress and it appears as though there will at least be some efforts made to work in a bipartisan manner.
Folks, i hate to disagree with you somewhat, but Kellam’s problem wasn’t independents. He got zero crossover from the Allen-Webb race. in the 2nd, webb and Kellam were virtually identical. He got all the independents he was going to get.
One more Mark Warner ad wouldn’t have got him any Allen voters, and that’s what he needed to win.
I don’t think anyone is saying that Warner would have helped with the Allen voters (unless it was John ;)) but this just demonstrates a bit of the boneheaded advice that Kellam followed.
Viv, the only voters Kellam didn’t get were Allen voters. So, it wouldn’t have helped. Doyle’s reasoning is way off, obviously. But the end result is the same. Lacking another Mark Warner ad didn’t hurt the race.