Kaine for Senate 2012 launched a brand new campaign website at KaineForVA.com.  The new site is a testament to the early investment supporters have made in this campaign.

KaineforVA.com is more than a place to learn about Governor Kaine — it’s going to be a central hub to reach out to new constituencies and interact with voters through fresh and engaging technologies. Click here to take a look at the new website, KaineForVA.com.  And make sure to check it out on your phone!

In addition to harnessing the power of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that have become essential parts of any modern political campaign, the new site has a couple of features that put it a cut above the rest.

• Mobile.  Check out the site on an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry, and you’ll notice that it looks totally different. With more Americans using smart phones every day, the new mobile site will help reach them.  Nearly 60% of smart phone users won’t return to a mobile site if it is difficult to use – the investment in a mobile site will bring supporters back to the site time and time again.  Also, look for a series of mobile ads being launched now — they will help to reach more supporters.

• Español. Virginia’s Hispanic population has nearly doubled in the past decade.  In an effort to communicate with members of the community who may be English language learners, a Spanish version of the website has been deployed.  Governor Kaine is fluent in Spanish, and he wants to make sure he is reaching out to native Spanish speakers, both on- and offline, who call Virginia home.

Please take a moment now to look at the new website, KaineForVA.com. Whether you use your smart phone to read emails and surf the net, prefer Twitter and Facebook to stay in touch, or turn to your PC to read news updates, this campaign is going to be where you are.

The Governor and would love to hear what you think — and he’ll be looking for your comments on Twitter and Facebook.

It’s one thing to talk generically about the vastly different philosophy of the Democratic and Republican parties, but quite another to examine the actual legislation that could be enacted if Republicans and Tea Partiers gained control of the Virginia Senate.

“ … if Republicans gain three or more Senate seats in next month’s decisive legislative elections, conservatives would consolidate their hold on Virginia government and turn state policy hard to the right.

Democrats hold 22 of the Senate’s 40 seats. Should they lose two seats to the GOP, it would force power sharing in an evenly divided chamber with the committees — gatekeepers that determine which bills reach the Senate floor — apportioned equally between senators of both parties headed by Republican and Democratic co-chairmen.

Republicans could prevail once a bill reaches the floor because Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling casts the deciding vote in case of a tie.

With a three-seat gain, however, Republicans would have unchallenged control of the Senate, and the GOP would take total control of both the executive and legislative branches of government for the first time since 2001.

A Senate takeover is a political imperative for Gov. Bob McDonnell, who knows it’s his chance to enact his socially and fiscally conservative goals during the single, non-renewable four-year term Virginia uniquely allows its governors.”

• Reduce State Pensions – attacking government employees
  
  • making the underfunded public employee pension fund less generous
• Increase Virginia Debt – increased taxes sometime if not now
  
  • financing highway construction and repair without taxes
  • privatizing state-owned liquor stores (reduced income to Virginia)
• Gun Rights – a more dangerous society
  
  • allow the manufacture of firearms not regulated by federal law if they are constructed solely in Virginia and are never sold or moved outside the state
  • repeal Virginia’s 20-year-old law limiting individuals to one handgun purchase per month
  • allow people with permits to carry concealed handguns to take their weapons onto most any government property, including libraries, emergency shelters and parks; colleges would also be barred from adopting firearm policies more restrictive than Virginia’s, which are among the most permissive in the nation
• Welfare
  
  • compel drug screening for welfare recipients
• Immigration
  • restrictions on undocumented immigrants
  • bar undocumented immigrants from enrolling in state colleges, deny public assistance to illegal immigrants, track numbers of pupils who take English as a second language and allow employers to fire employees for not speaking English
• Reproductive Rights – attack on women’s rights
  
  • amend Virginia’s constitution to allow explicit protections for prayers offered voluntarily in public places and public events
  • make it a crime for a woman to cause her own miscarriage or to coerce a young woman into having an abortion
  • require doctors to offer to anesthetize a fetus before performing an abortion
  • end abortion by granting legal rights of personhood to fetuses
• Separation of Church and State – officially sanctioning public religion
  
  • amend Virginia’s constitution to allow explicit protections for prayers offered voluntarily in public places and public events
• State Sovereignty - anti-Federalism, nullification
  • establish an alternative Virginia currency should the Federal Reserve collapse
• Increased Death Penalty Use
  • extend Virginia’s often-used death penalty to people convicted as accomplices to murders
• Public Health – increased health risk, playing on public fear
  
  • end vaccinations required of all sixth-grade girls against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer later, although parents who object can already opt out their children

• Friday focused on practical training for candidates and political professionals – over 150 people, including a number of new candidates, attended sessions addressing  personal  issues, advisors, field, finance, and communications, and video training. 
• The highlight of the Friday night reception was an address from Congressman Bobby Scott.
• Mudcat Sanders got the day started with a call for new Democratic populism and advice on how to reach rural Virginia (respect their culture and be genuine).
• The US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra  spoke about President Obama’s Open Government Initiative and innovative uses of  technology to change the world – e.g., making government data available to entrepreneurs and activists to solve problems and  www.challenge.gov asks people to provide ideas and solve problems.   A lot of very cool initiatives that people (or at least me) did not know much about.
• Communications – Brian Coy of DPVA and  Marianne Van Nordeck of OFA provided guidance on messaging, including the importance of specific objectives and targeted approaches to help candidates and activists and candidates develop and spread the party’s message.  They discussed accomplishments of Virginia Democratic governors and the Obama administration and personalizing that message.

Sincerely,
Jim Moran