While the money race is not always the deciding factor in a political campaign, it is indicative of the relative strength of a candidate against the potential field — particularly well more than a year before the election. In this regard, Attorney General Bob McDonnell is showing impressive fund raising abilities for the 2009 race for governor, which should serve him well in the general election match-up next year.

In numbers filed today, McDonnell proved to be the first statewide candidate for the 2009 cycle to surpass $1 million in cash-on-hand.

By now most of the political world knows that Jesse Jackson — in a moment of candor that he did not believe was overheard — made disparaging remarks about Sen. Barack Obama. He has since apologized and reiterated his steadfast support for Obama’s campaign.

However, Jackson’s comments may be more significant than just an embarassing gaffe caught on a microphone he did not know was hot.

I spent this July 4th morning washing my car and watching a fascinating documentary on the History Channel about Benjamin Franklin (who, I’m sorry to say to my fellow Virginians, is my favorite Founding Father). A cookout and fireworks will come later (assuming the pyrotechnics don’t get rained out).

As I have tried to do most years if I can, early this afternoon I watched the Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, live from Coney Island on ESPN. This year I had a rooting interest.

It appears that Rush Limbaugh has re-upped his radio deal with — get this — a nine figure signing bonus up front. (Yes, nine figures, which means at least $100,000,000.) See here.

This at the same time that the pathetic Air America struggles to hold onto radio stations that pump their signals into the atmosphere using hamsters and wire wheels.

I live and work in Washington, DC and am unaware of where Air America is broadcast here, if at all. It certainly isn’t on any of the major stations (not that I have searched very hard). Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh is on more than 600 stations nationwide.

Isn’t the contrast funny? Rush is paid a tenth-of-a-billion-dollars, just to sign his contract, whereas Air America has to rely on donations from rich liberals just to stay on the air. If only barely.

Ha.

My, how four years can slip by and change one’s perspective on the world and the needed qualifications to be Commander-in-Chief. General Wesley Clark (pictured here with another well-known war hero), every leftist’s favorite military figure, is either a willing dupe of the Obama campaign or he is willfully forgetful of his own grandiose pronouncements. To hear him tell it, the very reasons that John Kerry was qualified to be president are the very same reasons that John McCain is not.

An outfit that ranks states on the basis of potential litigation against private business used to have Virginia ranked 2nd in the nation, but that ranking has dropped to number 8 in just one year — and guess what? They list Governor Tim Kaine as the very reason for the slide. There are a number of interesting issues in this study, but the main one is that Kaine has been detrimental for business, as it relates to their exposure to litgataion and torts

See the study here. Virginia is on page 3.

Here’s a quote from Virginia’s entry:

Based on disappointing 2007 election results, there is a one-vote pro-plaintiffs’ lawyer majority in the state Senate. Governor Timothy Kaine is considered an activist and opponent of liability reform. He is, for example, pursuing state-level climate change policy that may subject businesses to new areas of liability.

In other words, Kaine has taken the side of ambulance chasers over those who create jobs. What do you expect from a former ACLU lawyer?

Tonight (Tuesday) the New York Yankees pay visit to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game set ( see the Yankees bad nightmare in the photograph).

Aside from being neat because it is inter-league play, this is historic.

In an unprecendented display of arrogance, the great saviour of mankind, the great leader of men, the great thinker of thinkers, the one and true Messiah, Barack Obama, has unveiled a new logo that he uses on his lecterns.

Funny. It looks just like the Presidential Seal. But it’s not. This is kind of like measuring the windows for draperies in the White House.

There is no one who disputes that Mark Warner enters the summer with a sizeable lead over Jim Gilmore in the Virginia Senate race, both in the published polls and in fundraising. That said, it is premature to believe that this race is over.

If Jim Gilmore wants to win, there are a number of areas he might highlight.

The shine may be off the apple for Governor Tim Kaine, who ran for governor as a moderate, when we all knew he was a liberal.

Now that he is well into his term, he has managed to infuriate both sides, which naturally leads to dropping approval ratings. He has plummetted from the high 70s to below 50 in this most recent poll.

Why would that be?

Eons ago in political time, Barack Obama made the decision to position himself as the left-most candidate in the Democratic field on the issue of the war in Iraq. He was repeatedly unequivocal in his criticism of the war. Indeed, he often brags about an early speech he made, often claiming that he was the only candidate who was “against this war from the start.”

Additionally, In November 2006 — before he declared as a candidate — he professed to have plans for a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Obama won the hearts of the MoveOn.org crowd, particularly in light of Hillary Clinton’s vote in favor of the war.

But for Obama, there may be a course-change looming regarding the war. And the left, no doubt, would be shocked that their savior would betray them on the issue most dear to them.

Al Gore may be the most irrelevant Oscar Award winner to be inserted into a presidential race since Susan Sarandon (who, as you may know, has vowed to leave the United States if John McCain is elected. See here.)

“Louise” (or “Baseball Annie”) joins such notables as Alec Baldwin with promises to leave America if their favored liberal candidate does not win the election. Would that they ever kept their promises. But they won’t, since they know that being in America has made them rich and famous and given them the very opportunity to say the inane things they have said.

Which brings us to Al Gore.

Greetings.

This is the first of what I hope will be many, and somewhat more insightful, posts here on Bearing Drift. Many thanks to our host and fearless leader, Jim Hoeft.

In the interest of not roiling the waters too much at first, I thought I would just pass along a few interesting baseball facts at first.

As you may have noticed, Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his 600th career home run the other night. Good for him. Junior is one of the true good guys in baseball. If he hadn’t had a penchant for running into fences from time to time, he might be the all-time home run king.

Anyhow, an interesting fact emerged following that milestone homer. Dusty Baker, manager of Junior’s Reds, obviously was at the game. In addition, Dusty was:

* Manager for the Cubs when Sammy Sosa hit his 600th homer

* Manager for the Giants when Barry Bonds hit is 500th and 600th homer

And, most incredibly, when Henry Aaron hit his 700th — and his 715th — homers, Dusty was the on-deck batter.

Talk about having a front row seat for history.

In any event, I look forward to joining the fray here at Bearing Drift and I appreciate the opportunity.