Caroline Kennedy is the latest to be called out for failure to contribute to candidates.
“It calls into question her commitment to politics and to government.”
A couple of weeks ago, it was Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe’s lack of donations to Virginia candidates, especially considering his generous giving to federal candidates, could become fodder for his two rivals for the nomination
So today’s question is simple: does a candidate’s lack of contributions to other candidates in any way affect your decision about that candidate?
For information on contributions to and by Virginia candidates, check out vpap. Contributions to federal candidates can be found at the FEC website.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Having worked on several campaigns for Virginia Democratic candidates, I quickly became aware of the “goodies” that Democratic officeholders or Democratic powerbrokers can or cannot dole out to those brave enough to run for office as a Democrat here. One particularly sour note I remember… the campaign I was working on asked for the endorsement of our candidate from a powerful Democratic state senator (in our district). He wouldn’t even return a phone call. We didn’t ask for money, we just asked for an endorsement. (The Democrat candidate was running against one of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Delegates and the Democratic Senator didn’t care enough to return a phone call!) VA Democrat “insiders” told us that the senator doesn’t support any Democrats except known “winners”.
Nice, huh.
Glenn Nye came out of nowhere to defeat an incumbent in a rather difficult district. I think he won points from voters for daring to do it.
He was not a political insider, and perhaps that partially helps explain his victory.
Glenn Nye also had brown hair. Thelma’s hair is dyed blonde. Phil Kellam’s naturally blonde. QED, voters prefer the least-blonde candidate who is not a political insider.
Woo hoo! Here I come, Richmond!
move over MB, I’m less blonde than you (atleast pigment-wise)
overall, I don’t really care what donations a candidate has made unless:
1) it coincides with someone I also gave too in which case its a plus
2) it coincides with someone I really really dislike in which case its a negative
Silence DoGood,
Phil Kellam came up short, even though he was a candidate from a family with long roots in area politics.
Glenn Nye came out of nowhere. Sure he benefited from Barack Obama’s increased turn out of voters in the area. But Glenn Nye possessed universal appeal that got him within striking range and the wake provided by Barack’s coat tails got him washed over the top.
Please note that nowhere in Glenn Nye’s resume did it include that he supported one candidate over another prior to his running for office. In fact I recall that an issue was made out of the fact that he spent all of his time overseas and did not actually maintain a residence in the district while he served.
Little David, my larger points are these:
1. One or two campaigns by themselves shouldn’t be made into a larger lesson about metapolitics, particularly when there are many counter-examples easily found at hand. Political outsiders running as Democrats lost in neighboring Republican-leaning districts like VA-01 and VA-04.
2. Amateurs talk about candidates; professionals talk about voters. And while Glenn Nye came seemingly out of no where, anyone can observe over the past four successive cycles that voters in the Second District have been trending increasingly towards Democrats, and that they had little love for Thelma Drake. Tim Kaine won the 2nd District’s precincts in 2005. In 2006, Phil Kellam was the only Democratic challenger to overperform Sen. Jim Webb (meaning that the inverse is also true: Thelma Drake was the only challenged Republican who underperformed George Allen, signaling her vulnerability with voters here). In 2007, half of the Democratic Party’s pickups in the House of Delegates were made right here in Virginia Beach, where previously Democrats had been completely locked out of the Assembly delegation. And in 2008, voters in the 2nd District edged for Barack Obama.
Silence Dogood,
It is hard to take out the crystal ball and attempt to predict the future.
But I think I am not going out too far on a limb to predict that the Republicans are going to attempt to unseat Glenn. Personally, my vote is going to be influenced less by which other candidates he campaigned for and more by his own record.
Is the Democratic nominee for Governor going to be selected on merit or on just how Democratic he was?
Seems to me only rewarding political favoritism with political selection ends up with the stuff we are presently witnessing going on in Illinois.
See, now you’re addressing the matter in terms of how you think about things, instead of generalizing about how everyone apparently thinks about things by assuming a causal relationship. That’s much better. 🙂
Personally, I think there are things to be learned by looking at contribution reports that ought to be considered when deciding to support a candidate…and Illinois is a great example of that. Don’t you think it’s important to know who the guy tapped to take Obama’s Senate seat has made contributions to, in light of how the system can (and occassionally does) work?
silence dogood,
OK, and I do not penalize Terry McAuliffe for supporting Hillary.
There is nothing that bars him from seeking office in Virginia just because he concentrated his efforts on his favorite candidate at the national level and now seeks office at a lower level.
As an aside, will it make you happier if I begin every paragraph with the word “personally”. I’m not going to do that. While I will not attempt to speak for the majority, I think my voice can be representative as an example of the “mushy middle”.