VPOD #54: David Foster, Virginia GOP candidate for Attorney General
By JR Hoeft | Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | Podcasts
In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, Mr. David Foster, candidate for the GOP nomination for Virginia Attorney General, stops by to discuss his campaign, who he is and why he’s running, addresses Sen. Cuccinelli’s concerns about him running as a non-partisan for Arlington School Board, talks about what policies of former Attorney General McDonnell’s he’d continue, how he “fits-in” to a McDonnell-Bolling ticket, his position on the death penalty and the “Triggerman Rule”, and his take on state party chairman Jeff Frederick, and Republican unity.
For more information on becoming a delegate to the Republican Convention, visit RPV.org. For more information on the Foster campaign, visit his web site.
To listen to any of the previous podcasts, click here.
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Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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11 Responses to "VPOD #54: David Foster, Virginia GOP candidate for Attorney General"
not to belittle Foster, I know him personally and think he is qualified to be AG, but when Cuccinelli said Foster didn’t run as a Republican in the Arlington School Board race, it was more than just not having to put an “R” next to your name, but rather Foster did not have to run on traditional Republican issues such as Pro-Life, 2nd Amendment, etc.
Cuccinelli has run on these issues and won in NoVA. I’m afraid the message we are sending to our candidates is that it is okay to talk conservative during campaigns but when it comes to your voting record if you follow through on being a conservative that will deem you unelectable for higher office.
Amit,
I agree that sometimes our leaders talk one way in a campaign (depending on where they are) and govern another way. Cuccinelli broke that mold by running as a conservative and then governing as one.
Most independents agree with our party on the issues(Pro-Life, 2nd Amend., Limited Gov.) the problem that we have is marketing our beliefs. Cuccinelli marketed his beliefs in a way that has won in NOVA. That is a model for the future.
You cannot model off of anything Ken has done in NOVA . Ken always runs in off-year elections, where the turnout is about 18%. If the Senate elections were in Presidential or Gubernatorial years, Cuccinelli would never have been elected to office.
Amit, Dave ran on the elimination of racial quotas in schools, among other Conservative issues.
Then why is Ken Cuccinelli the only GOP senator left standing in NOVA?
Even if the off year electorate does not mirror the even year electorate. Then one has to conclude that Ken Cuccinelli has some mad political skills.
Ken uses grassroots to win. I think that helps whether you’re in a presidential year or not. granted 18% voter turnout is low but I am guessing it is much higher than a school board election in an off year. I don’t know which years Foster ran.
I have to disagree with Aaron. Using the on year off year excuse is not good enough to explain how Ken wins in what is supposed to be a blue area running as a conservative. I have long thought that the biggest problem the GOP has is that it doesn’t run and often doesn’t govern on its principles and also some conservatives run like they are preaching to the crowd rather than explaining their positions with confidence which polls have show a majority of people support. Look at issues like abortion, every poll shows a clear majority of Americans believe it should be legally restricted. Most Americans also do not agree with the sexual activism of the left. Look at the Prop 8 fight in California and the VA marriage Amendment which passed with 57%. The GOP lost heavily in CA in 2008 and VA hasn’t been kind to Republicans for several election cycles. The one thing is clear is that if we ran on some of these issues not with anger and bitterness but in raising the alarm comparing and contrasting then we’d win more elections and probably increase the percentage of minority vote. Instead we have candidates who equivocate and shuffle around as if they are embarrassed of what they believe. The people out here are upset with the way they see the world and country going, they don’t want more single mothers, more sexual perversion, more heartless killing of the unborn. They hunger for a sense of normalcy and truth. Our leaders aren’t giving that to them and that is why they are losing. It isn’t because the soup they are selling isn’t thin enough.
I agree with Fred Newbrough. I think that the problem does not lay with our principles, but rather with the way that we package them.
Ken runs a good grassroots campaign, but the numbers he gets in the off years are his maximum. He would never ever get elected in Fairfax in a Governor’s or Presidential year.
This is Campaign 101, folks. In Republican areas, low turnout years are the Democrats best chance of winning and vice versa.
Why do you think Republicans have been able to do well in these special elections that we’ve had this year?
I think it also matters who is on top of the ticket. In presidential years, I would imagine the party that wins the presidency also picks up collateral victories down the ballot. Let’s face it, the vast majority of voters this year are going to vote for McDonnell or for the Democrat and will follow suit down the ticket and not know the positions of the Lt Gov and AG candidates. Unlike Brownlee or Foster who do not have any demonstrated grassroots I am aware of, Ken has statewide support from activists. These are the activists that make phone calls, go door-to-door, etc. With Ken on the Republican ticket, the other two get a boost. Without Ken, the other two basically carry the AG to victory or not.
Aaron – And that speaks to Ken’s ability to organize and motivate a grassroots effort better than the Ds in an area that should be solidly D. He has the knowhow and the ability to turn that into a statewide operation that can help not just him but up-ticket as well.
Why would a candidate for School Board need to take a position on abortion or guns?
It’s the same crap I got from some Republicans when John Cook and Pat Herrity ran for the Board of Supervisors. We’re trying to get the County out of a $650 million shortfall without raising taxes, and people are too preoccupied with issues that don’t even come before the Board!
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