Month: April 2008 Page 4 of 7

Ben Tribbet, author of the Not Larry Sabato blog*, has announced that:

[F]ormer Governor Mark Warner[‘s] Senate campaign is sponsoring NLS and RK for 2008. A link to his website is in the upper right hand corner of the site- and we will be bringing you special content from the Warner campaign throughout the year!

[ . . . ]

Sponsorships are available only to candidates I am strongly supporting, and it means a strategic partnership between this blog and their campaign.

Is this really something candidates want to do? When I hear “strategic partnership”, it brings message coordination and blessing to mind. Now, that may be exactly what the blog wants, but I can imagine a campaign really regretting that the first time a blog says something stupid or otherwise reaches further than the campaign might, itself.

I’m near certain that there will come a time where the campaign will want to distance itself from something said at RK or NLS. And it’s going to be a whole lot harder when it’s “strategic partnership” describing the relationship, and not “political advertising on a blog.”

*And originator of the clever-the-first-time-but-now-thoroughly-played-out-Not-Some-Name-meme

This is the first of a two part interview with Mark Ellmore, candidate in the GOP primary, where he’s facing Amit Singh (also interviewed at Blacknell.net). The winner of the June 10th primary will face long time incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D) this fall.

I’d arranged to meet Mark Ellmore at Sette Bello in Clarendon. Arriving a few minutes before him, I’d just grabbed a drink and claimed one of the quieter spaces for us. Ellmore walked in, and I waved him over. We briefly introduced ourselves, and he excused himself to get some water from the bar. On his way over, he spotted a few women that he’d recently met at a local Republican committee meeting, and he immediately launched into campaign mode. I’ve only met Ellmore moments before, but he struck me as the sort of guy who’s always “on.” He engaged in a bit of discussion on how to engage Arlington’s voters with one of the women, and made a soft pitch for a contribution from another (expertly rebuffed, on her part). He’s quick on his feet, and in the first few minutes, I knew I was talking to someone who had done this before.

The interview started with a bit of jujitsu on his part, with him conducting a bit of an interview of me, trying to get a handle on who it was that was interviewing him. Fair enough, I said, and submitted to it for a couple of minutes, talking about my political history and present views. And then we got down to business, with him jumping off my own viewpoint as a gun owner who supports a number of gun control measures.

Read More