He’s definitely running, they said. He’s not only running, he’s cut a deal with Terry McAuliffe for a spot in McAuliffe’s administration when he helps split the Republican vote, they said. He’s a RINO, they said. No, he’s not really a RINO, he’s an establishment crony-capitalist conservative neo-Dixiecrat. He’s the kind of wimpish candidate only Karl Rove could get behind and he foisted Mitt Romney on Virginia to our detriment, they said. He’s a whining crybaby, they said.
These aren’t strawman arguments, either. Take a look at any of the multiple articles about Bolling on Bearing Drift and the comments they inspired. Words like “traitor,” “RINO,” “establishment hack” and the like were thrown about in a completely cavalier way.
Bill Bolling is none of those things. He’s a principled conservative who has sacrificed his own personal ambitions for the Republican Party’s best interests and he’s done it three times now. That makes him, in my opinion, a man we should be lauding, not heaping scorn and ridicule upon.
When Bolling stepped aside back in 2009 and chose to run again for Lt. Governor instead of fighting Bob McDonnell in a bitter convention fight, that was in the best interests of the party. It enabled us to leave Richmond that May united, going into the November election fresh and ready for a fight against the Democrats. The Democrats, on the other hand, had a bitter primary fight and their eventual nominee emerged weak and never got his legs underneath him for the general. A Bolling/McDonnell fight would have been expensive, it would have opened up the LG slot to a contest – one that would probably have looked like the one we’re in now – and it would have had the potential of splitting the party along geographic lines. Bolling did the right thing in 2009. Some would say it was politically expedient, that he was going to lose anyway, so he decided not to fight. They hint his move wasn’t selfless but based solely on cowardly self-interest. I think that’s pure nonsense. When you look at those in politics who’ve ignored the party’s best interest to mount their quixotic campaigns, even when they’ve known they were going to lose and their loss could damage the party, Bolling’s decision stood out as the brave, principled one. His loss to McDonnell wasn’t certain, but the potential damage to the party was real. He made the right, selfless, choice.
Bolling did the same when he chose not to run against Ken Cuccinelli for the Republican nomination last November. Yes, he again recognized that he was not going to be a shoo-in for the job. And Ken’s work in supporting State Central Committee candidates who supported him and conventions over primaries was, as I have said before, masterful. Bolling was clearly outmaneuvered. Yet, even in a convention, he had a path to victory against Ken if he chose to go that route. He had Bob McDonnell’s endorsement, his fundraising capabilities, and a strong network of supporters across Virginia. Had he chosen to stay in, it would have been bloody, it would definitely have split the party, and it would definitely have left us weaker against a Democratic field cleared for Terry McAuliffe. So he chose to drop out. Yet another brave, difficult thing to do. For those of us who have chosen to run for office, making the decision to run is one of the hardest you will ever make. The stress on your family, the fear of what is going to happen, and the dread of losing – not just losing, but being humiliated – keeps many, many good and qualified people from ever deciding on a run. Imagine going through that process, making the decision and then changing your mind and dropping out. I can only imagine how Jean Anne, Matt and Kevin must have felt. It must have been devastating. But they could, at least, rest easier knowing Bill had again done the right thing.
Today’s announcement that Bolling was foregoing an independent run is the third principled, selfless decision he has made to benefit our party and not himself. Given the clamor in some sections of the party and among independents for an “anybody but Ken” candidate, given the push some in the business community were making for an independent candidacy and their apparent willingness to fund one, and given the polling numbers that had Bolling in double digits despite having dropped out of the race, the temptation to run as an independent could have proven irresistible to a less principled man. Just look at Charlie Crist. And given the level of vitriol hurled at him for simply hinting at an independent bid from some in the party, the temptation to end his career fighting could also have proven tough to ignore. But he did just that. He decided against an independent bid, and that was the right decision.
I was a Bolling supporter. I supported him when he ran in 2009, and I supported him when he announced his run for Governor. And when he announced he dropped out, I threw my support to Ken Cuccinelli. Had Bolling stayed in this race as an independent, I would have still voted for Ken Cuccinelli, because I am a Republican. When many, many people asked me if I thought Bill Bolling would run as an independent, I told them he wouldn’t. And I’ve stuck to that story since last November when he dropped out of the race. Besides the logical arguments against his candidacy – the money, the lack of a statewide operation to replace the party apparatus, the difficulty in breaking through the clutter in a three-man race – there was always the fact that Bill Bolling wasn’t the kind of guy to simply play the spoiler. He never struck me in the dozens of times I met him, to be the kind of guy who would end his political career in a spectacular kamikaze attack on a fellow Republican. He was a better man than that, I told my friends and colleagues. And, I am happy to say, he has again proven me right.
A lot of people, though, were wrong. They said some pretty vile things about Bill Bolling, made some pretty heavy accusations that never made a lot of sense, and besmirched the good name of a man who has done as much for the Republican Party in Virginia as anybody else can claim. The folks who smeared him owe him an apology. And we all owe him our thanks for being strong enough to do the right thing, when doing the wrong thing could have been both easier and more personally satisfying.
Thank you, Bill Bolling.
