The real test of Ed Gillespie’s mettle

Ed Gillespie, this is a test.

Former Sen. Phil Puckett, the man who resigned his post and flipped the upper house to Republican control has gone to war against the McAuliffe administration and Sen. Mark Warner.

Rumors are floating that this is only the beginning. Puckett has a lot more to say (through his lawyer) and when it comes out, it will be big.

We shall see. But one does have to wonder why all this is coming out now. Politics, pride, revenge…and, possibly, a federal indictment on the horizon.

This story plays out against the backdrop of the U.S. Senate race. Until Friday night, there was no reason to believe the two tales would intersect. Now they have, hence, Mr. Gillespie’s test.

He made a statement on Saturday saying he was troubled by the news about mark Warner and that the Senator needs to offer a full explanation for his actions.

This is the right tone to take. It’s not shrill or bullying. It conveys a degree of disappointment and what it asks for is an explanation. Full, complete, public.

The temptation, and the advice, will be for Gillespie to leave it there and let the press go to work on Warner. He shouldn’t. This is the only story that matters now, and it is all Gillespie should be talking about in the closing days of the campaign.

Forget the alternative to Obamacare. “Ease the Squeeze”? Irrelevant. The Warner-Puckett dust-up does what nothing else the Gillespie campaign has pushed so far has been able to do: it puts Mark Warner’s character in question.

Senator Warner is a practiced, successful politician. He has cultivated a reputation as a guy more concerned about getting something done that in scoring partisan points. It mirrors to a large degree the personality of the man Mark once tried to unseat who is now his great friend — John Warner. The press likes Mark — they always have. The voters like Mark — even a slice of the GOP is firmly on his side. He’s a tough campaigner with a professional team at his side.

But for the first time in his political career, there is reason to question him personally. Why did Warner get involved in the Puckett mess? What possible upside for him could there be? One can spin any number of theories — party loyalty, further defusing of the Obamacare issue, getting an edge over his old frenemy, Terry McAuliffe, take your pick. But going so far as to blue sky the idea of giving a federal judgeship to a state Senator’s (unqualified) daughter if he just hung in there for a while longer? That was bizarre, just as was the offer to, possibly, set her up with a job in a company Warner helped bring to Virginia while he was Governor.

Once upon a time (pre-Bob McDonnell), this sort of wheeling and dealing was not a big deal. It’s how the sausage got made. Everyone knew it, everyone accepted it.

Not in the new political climate, where the old ways are discredited and the mere whiff of their practice generates howls for an indictment.

It may not be fair, but it’s reality. And so it is entirely fair for Mr. Gillespie to follow-up, relentlessly, with questions for Mark Warner.

Gillespie must not accuse Warner of wrongdoing — that will instantly backfire. But a constant stream of questions, mixed with disappointment at what happened, puts Warner in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of having to square his image as the straight shooter with the guy who was up to his elbows in the muck.

I’ve not been impressed by the Gillespie campaign so far. It’s clear he wants to be Senator…just not necessarily a Senator from Virginia. It has had no spark, no emotion, and no sense of the profound difference between a campaign that is managed, and one that is run.

This is Gillespie’s chance to run –to show he can pick up an issue that has gripped capitol square and turn it to his advantage on the campaign trail. It will require putting the white papers and talking points aside. It will mean paying close attention to changing events and tuning the message accordingly.

In short, it’s a genuine test of Gillespie’s mettle.

Go.

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