One of the easiest jobs in all of Virginia has to be the campaign scheduler for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine.
You see, not a lot of thought needs to go into it. Especially since Kaine managed to get all of his Democratic opposition to quit the nomination race early, allowing him to focus on the Republicans running.
All the scheduler seems to have to do is see where a newsworthy Republican event is, like debates, and schedule a unique Kaine event there.
Make no mistake, this is intentional.
The Kaine campaign in each debate has attempted to hijack any media attention the debates might get. Doing so gives Kaine and his surrogates an unchecked platform to lob pot-shots at his Republican opponents (while the Republicans are busy arguing with each other).
The Republican debate schedule was announced in mid-April for Roanoke, Virginia Beach, and Northern Virginia.
* The first debate in Roanoke was Saturday, April 28th. Therefore, the Kaine campaign announced, “On Saturday, Tim Kaine will hold a roundtable with Roanoke seniors and retirees, followed by a downtown business walking tour with Mayor David Bowers.”
* The second debate was held Friday, May 11th in Virginia Beach. Conveniently, “First Lady Anne Holton, joined Congressman Bobby Scott and 2nd district congressional candidate Paul Hirschbiel, and more than 120 Virginia Democrats to open the Norfolk/Virginia Beach Headquarters of the Democratic Party of Virginia’s 2012 coordinated campaign,” according to a Kaine statement.
* The final debate, tonight, 6:30 p.m., is in Falls Church, Virginia. Of course, Kaine will be in Northern Virginia to “hold a forum with Northern Virginia women to discuss his vision for creating jobs and strengthening our economy.”
At some point, presumably June 13, the Kaine campaign will have to come up with their own schedule.
Regarding tonight’s debate, you don’t have to travel to Northern Virginia. Just grab some popcorn and get a head-start on your Memorial Day weekend by watching the last debate right here:
We will also be covering/following the debate using the primary Twitter hashtag #vasen. However, you also might want to consider using #rpv, #vagop, or #bdrift. But #vasen is generally where the fireworks are though – just like Kaine, you’re bound to get some lurkers on the left who are quick to chime-in:
And, as always, there’s Cover-it Live:
So, from here on out…open-thread. Enjoy the debate!