Tim Craig and the Washington Post speculates that Bob McDonnell could be running quite the risk by taking a side in the Jeff Frederick saga:
McDonnell is running unopposed for his party’s nomination and has all spring to prepare for the general election as the Democrats attack one another. He also appeared to have the luxury of a unified conservative base that is relatively enthusiastic about his candidacy, leaving him the freedom to reach out to moderate swing voters who might decide the November election.
Despite all this, the McDonnell campaign apparently couldn’t resist wading into an ugly, internal party battle over Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick’s fitness to serve as chairman of the Virginia Republican Party.
McDonnell joined in efforts to oust the party leader. Frederick (Prince William) has vowed to fight for his job. The looming battle could set up the kind of split that McDonnell and GOP leaders worked so hard to avoid. It’s a curious strategy that poses huge risks for McDonnell.
The rest of the article contains enough “what if”s and “maybe”s to constitute a Choose Your Own Adventure.
But perhaps most interesting is Bob Marshall speaking up:
Marshall predicts the conservative base will quickly turn on McDonnell if it appears Frederick is “railroaded.” Marshall said an independent committee should be set up to evaluate the accusations against Frederick.
“If an independent group doesn’t do this, this is going to seriously damage Bob McDonnell,” Marshall said. “The folks who came to the convention who voted for me and voted for Frederick, they just won’t work for McDonnell.”
Jeff Frederick is Chairman in large part thanks to Bob Marshall’s coattails and Marshall knows that. Marshall’s call for a fair trial more or less is interesting in that it’s not so much a vote of confidence in Frederick but an acknowledgement of what the Marshall base was able to do and could quite possibly NOT do if Frederick does not get a fair shake. That’s certainly something McDonnell needs to keep in mind.
