Rasmussen released Monday that Sen. John McCain now has a two-point lead in the polls over Sen. Barack Obama in Virginia. However, the polling company does not see the four-point swing from last month as significant:

That’s little changed from a month ago. The candidates have not been separated by more than three percentage points since March.

Of course, this is the same poll that says 52% of Virginians are giving Gov. Tim Kaine “excellent ratings”.

The Palmetto Scoop is reporting that Gov. Tim Kaine is holding an emergency meeting to discuss matters when he is selected to be Vice President:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is set to announce his running mate within the next few days and now The Palmetto Scoop has learned that he may have already settled on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

A source inside the beltway informed me that high ranking officials throughout Virginia were recently summoned to the governor’s office for an emergency meeting which reportedly involved discussions on the line of succession if and when Kaine steps down to become Obama’s running mate.

The officials were mandated to leave an out-of-state conference and return to the state capitol in Richmond immediately.

Due to the confidential nature of the meeting, details are scarce but the source said that either Obama will choose Kaine, or Kaine was given the impression that he would be chosen.

Kaine however told reporters Monday, “It has been really nice to be mentioned, my mom loves it. I never thought it was very likely, for a variety of reasons”

Such a meeting would make sense even if you were being seriously considered, as to ease any issues that may pop up after an announcement. While this doesn’t mean Kaine is a lock, it’s still quite interesting to hear.

Barack Obama will be in Martinsville and Lynchburg tomorrow and Richmond on Thursday (maybe even Chesapeake), pending any changes due to a Vice President announcement.

Drudge is reporting that the New York Times has found out that Barack Obama will announce his Vice President pick as early as tomorrow:

Obama has set an elaborate roll-out to announce his decision that will begin with an early morning e-mail to supporters, perhaps as early as Tuesday, Zeleny and Adam Nagourney have been told.

A top source close to Caroline Kennedy tells DRUDGE — the pick is more likely to come early Wednesday morning.

Wednesday Obama is hitting Martinsville with Mark Warner (by invitation only) in the morning and then Lynchburg with Jim Webb (open to the public). Thursday will supposedly see Obama in Richmond.

A Vice President announcement from Obama in the next two days that finds him spending an awful lot of time in Virginia might be a good sign for Tim Kaine’s chances.

UPDATE: The NYT article is up:

If all goes according to plan, the announcement will be made with text and e-mail messages to supporters early in the morning, in time to capture coverage on the morning news shows and take advantage of a full day’s news cycle. Mr. Obama and his new running mate will than begin a cross-country tour; current plans call for them to on the trail together for most of the time between the day of the announcement and when Mr. Obama arrives in Denver, a week from Wednesday.

Mr. Obama’s schedule calls for him to awake Tuesday morning in Orlando, Fla., and by the end of the day be in Raleigh, N.C. By Wednesday, he is scheduled to be in Virginia. The Obama campaign has cautioned against reading anything into his schedule, saying it could be changed in an instant to accommodate the plan to introduce the running mate.

Aides said the announcement would come at the earliest on Wednesday morning, and no later than Friday.

Next Thursday will see a Barack Obama event in Richmond:

To conjecture, of course, would be easy. Gov. Tim Kaine lives and works in Richmond… but

Virginia’s a swing state; it’s not unusual for Obama to campaign there. Or maybe it’s an event for Michelle Obama.

For some reason, I don’t think this is IT — THE vice presidential announcement. It could happen somewhere else… on another day..– Wednesday — in another state… and not involve anything related to Virginia. Maybe Richmond is a stop on the vice presidential tour — a tour that begins elsewhere the day before.

But: unless he’s planning a convention week surprise, Obama has to announce his vice presidential nominee next week.

Both Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have seen a bit of vetting by Democrats lately:

One of the sources said that the Obama campaign had conducted the tests; the other source would not disclose the identity of the organization conducting the focus groups but did agree to confirm the results.

The sources do not have direct ties to either Kaine or Warner, to the Democratic National Committee or to the Obama campaign.

They said that the focus group was held in a conference room in Norfolk, a city in Virginia’s eastern Tidewater region, a huge swing area of the state.

Warner came off well; Kaine did not, with respondents saying that he lacks substantive accomplishments and kisses up too much to Obama.

This may be more related to the keynote address (which Warner will be delivering) than the vice president slot.

So what does this mean? An awful lot of speculation more than anything else. This could be Obama coming to help his chances in Virginia. Or it could be Obama revealing the audacity of Obama/Kaine ‘08. Or it could be a big ol’ pat on the back of Mark Warner so his lead over Gilmore can break the 30 point barrier.

The last option is the one that makes the most sense. Obama’s success in this state will rely heavily on the coattails of Mark Warner. Boosting Warner with keynote addresses and campaign appearances boosts Obama’s chances. Tim Kaine could just be along for the ride.

Yesterday, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine boldly told the nation in an interview that Senator Obama’s words had caused the Russians to ceasefire in Georgia:

“I’m very, very happy that the Senator’s request for a ceasefire has been complied with by President Medvedev,” said Kaine.

However, according to the AP just moments ago:

Russian tanks on Wednesday rumbled into the Georgian city of Gori, a hub along the country’s main east-west highway, and Georgian officials said it was looted and bombed. An Associated Press reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles roaring south, deeper into Georgia.

Now American forces are being mobilized and a massive humanitarian relief effort is being planned.

Maybe Sen. Obama forgot to say “please”?

The Georgian-Russian conflict has been getting a great deal of news coverage the last few days as world leaders, candidates and concerned citizens try to get a handle on what has happened and what should be done to avoid a descent into all-out war.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, Barack Obama is on the scene. As the Russian leadership wrings its hands waiting for some guidance from the international community, the clear, still voice of The Chosen One rings forth, beseeching them to halt the violence. Relieved, the Russians immediately acquiesce to the wishes of the Junior Senator from Illinois.

That is, of course, if you believe the version of events put forth today by our Governor, Tim Kaine.

Courtesy of Red State. Somebody’s paying attention. This is too funny.

Today, the WSJ runs a profile of Gov. Tim Kaine and discusses why his being the Democratic nominee for vice president is feasible.

“State Republican leaders say that the rosy picture of Gov. Kaine painted by Democrats is distorted and that his legislative track record is inconsistent.”

There’s an understatement.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!!!

Qualifications:

• Must have repeatedly failed to implement transportation plans.
• Must have consistently fought for higher taxes.
• Must call special sessions just for the heck of it.
• Must include “International House of Pancakes” as foreign policy experience.
• Must have both Democrats and Republicans opposing you.
• Must answer to the phrase “that guy who served after Mark Warner.”
• Must have blog named after you that then changed it’s name.

Eyebrows are a must!

If interested, contact the offices of Barack Obama for President.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Tom Daschle by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC:

MITCHELL: …let’s talk about tim kaine…

Yesterday on “Meet the Press” presumptive Democratic nominee for president Sen. Barack Obama described his ideal running mate as someone “who shares a vision of the country, where we need to go, that we’ve got to fundamentally change not only our policies, but how our politics works, how business is done in Washington.”

Obama also said the potential running-mate must also have “integrity”, “independence”, and be “willing to tell me where he thinks or she thinks I’m wrong.”

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, since 2004, Democrats have been all over the map when it comes to discussing the state’s financial picture. And two of the key players — former presidential candidate and now Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner and current governor and potential Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine — are among the worst offenders.

State Senator Ralph Smith delivered an on-point memorandum last evening detailing the failed revenue forecasts of state finance officials that Gov. Tim Kaine inexcusably relied on when ramming through his latest budget. Because of these shortfalls, Smith is now calling on Kaine to cut spending and reduce government waste.

While Democrats Del. Brian Moran and Sen. Creigh Deeds voted in favor of massive tax increases to fund transportation and Gov. Tim Kaine’s transportation bill failed to muster even a single vote, it would appear that Republicans have solid ground in 2009 to demonstrate why they are the party of ideas and Democrats are mired in the same tired, old, tax-and-spend stereotype.

You would think, then, Republicans would be looking forward to setting the conditions in 2009.

HB 3202 passed. It was signed into law by the governor. It was found unconstitutional. The only thing unconstitutional about it was how regional taxes and fees were imposed.

Enter HB 6055. Del. Dave Albo and Del. Phil Hamilton of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads respectively crafted this bill to ensure that the regional taxes were passed at the state level, but that the raised revenue would be used locally…which is very similar to how transportation fund money was raised by a 1/2-cent statewide sales tax increase in 1986. Never before had sales tax been used for transportation, but Virginia law made it so. The same would be true this year for money rasied by taxes and fees for NVTA.

Now, it appears that Gov. Kaine and the Democrats are balking at supporting the substitute bill and Hamilton lays into them: