Early Warner Warning

Since I occasionally blog about California politics, I thought maybe those who are interested in politics (as opposed to political stances) might be interested in this NYTimes magazine article on former democratic Virginia governor Mark Warner and the way his presidential chances are lining up against Hillary at this very early stage of discussion. To get a flavor, here's a snippet describing his encounter with the raging Bay Area liberal mentality:

Warner may have glimpsed a piece of his future when he attended a dinner of wealthy Democrats last summer at the Bay Area home of Mark Buell and his wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, well-connected contributors and close friends of the Clintons. Warner made some introductory comments about "the Virginia story," but the first several questions were not about taxes or schools or health care, but about gay marriage (which he's against), the death penalty (which he's for) and abortion (he's in favor of parental notification but vetoed a bill banning all late-term abortions). Warner thought his liberal guests would be interested in his policies to improve Virginia schools and raise the standard of living in rural areas; instead, it seemed to him, they thought that they understood poverty and race in an intellectual way that he, as a red-state governor, could not. Like a lot of politicians, Warner can be snappish when he feels he isn't being heard, and the dialogue quickly grew testy.

At the end of the evening, according to people who were there, as some of the guests walked Warner to his car, one woman vowed to educate him on abortion rights. That was all he could take. "This is why America hates Democrats," a frustrated Warner blurted out before driving away. (Still piqued a month later, Warner, speaking to The Los Angeles Times, summarized the attitude of the assembled guests about their plans to save the country: "You little Virginia Democrat, how can you understand the great opportunities we have?")

Reminds me a bit of attending a Howard Dean house party early in the 2004 election cycle. The most common issue people had was that he was not liberal enough (for example: "I don't know if I can vote for him. He is for the death penalty [gasp>]!!!") Sigh. Me, I am for winning. Ooooh, nooo, I feel myself being pulled into a political rant. Must... sign... off.