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Mark Warner talks with visitors during a stop at Caroline Street Cafe and Catering in Fredericksburg yesterday.
Former Gov. Mark Warner talks up his Senate campaign during a stop at Caroline Street Cafe and Catering in Fredericksburg yesterday. |
Mark Warner was walking so fast down Caroline Street yesterday that a cadre of local politicos had trouble keeping up with him.
"I'm Mark Warner. I was the governor. Now I'm running for Senate," he said as he stuck his head in several Fredericksburg shops.
He contributed to the city's flagging sales tax receipts by buying a chocolate Coke at Goolrick's pharmacy and a bumper sticker at Corky's.
The sticker's message:
"If you don't vote, don't whine."
But if Warner wins the U.S. Senate seat that John Warner will leave empty when he retires at the end of the year, it's the whining of the politicians mired in partisan power struggles, not necessarily that of the voters, that he'd like to put to rest.
If elected, he wants to build a bipartisan group of what he calls "radical centrists" in the Senate to go to work on some of the country's toughest problems.
"Regardless of who the next president is, that next president is going to need a group in the Senate that's going to put the country's interests first, not just partisan interests," Warner said to a group gathered at Caroline Street Cafe & Catering.
"I'm tired of our politics in this country being driven by the loudest voices on the extreme."
Warner said his bipartisan message has already earned him some ribbing from a few state Democratic party leaders, but he said Congress needs to make less time for "normal partisan bickering," and more time for actual problem-solving.
"If I get hired, I'll make some folks mad and break some glass," he said, referring to the political status quo. "I think that's what the country is really looking for at this point."
Warner is touting his term as governor--an office he left in 2006 with approval ratings around 70 percent--in seeking the Senate seat.
He'll learn this weekend whether he'll face another former governor in the election this fall.
State Republicans will convene in Richmond tomorrow to choose either former Gov. Jim Gilmore or Del. Bob Marshall to face Warner.
Yesterday, Warner didn't spend a split second talking about either of his potential opponents.
He talked about energy policy as an issue "that could absolutely capture America's imagination."
He suggested the country should be challenged to wean itself from oil in the same way President John F. Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon.
He said fixing the nation's health care problems is not just an issue for politicians to toss around, but something the country must do if its companies are going to remain competitive globally.
"Right now, every CEO in America, this is one of their top concerns," he said. "If we don't get this fixed, we just can't compete."
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
