Sen. Warner Not Raising Much Re-Election Cash

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SO, IS HE GOING TO RUN AGAIN? That's the big question in Virginia, where the commonwealth's senior statesman, Sen. John Warner, is considering retirement.

As we noted on Monday, the lawmaker, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 and is the ranking Republican on the powerful Armed Services Committee, has said he'll make a decision on a re-election run in September. But political observers are predicting he'll step aside. And there's more evidence to support that theory, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes this morning: Warner, 80, has "only $71,000 in the second quarter of this year, hardly looking like that of a candidate girding for re-election."

If Warner steps aside, he has another decision to make, which could greatly impact who the Republican nominee is to replace him. As Roll Call reported last week, the outgoing incumbent gets to pick the method of how the nominee is picked — either by a primary election or party convention. A primary vote would benefit Rep. Tom Davis, a moderate Fairfax County Republican who has been gearing up for a Senate run should Warner step aside. A party convention, packed with social conservatives, would favor someone to Davis's ideological right, such as former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who recently bowed out of the race for the 2008 Republican White House nomination.

On the Democratic side, popular former Gov. Mark Warner, no relation to the senator, has been eyed as the party's most competitive nominee for U.S. Senate.

» "Warner Has Little Cash for Re-Election" [Times-Dispatch]
» "Davis Builds Up ’08 Infrastructure" [Roll Call, subscription req'd]
» "Gilmore's Out; '08 Races in Va. Shaping Up" [Free Ride/Express]

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