UPDATE: A DNC official responds:
“They spent an awful lot of money and went to an awful lot of trouble on this lame attack against for someone not even in the race,” the official said. “I know they’re going to have a bloody primary with deeply flawed candidates, but you’d think they’d be better at hiding how worried they are about it.”
Cheerleader-in-chief? That’s what the National Republican Senatorial Committee is saying about Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, who is still weighing whether he will run for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Sen. Jim Webb.
The NRSC released a video Tuesday depicting the former Virgina governor as a cheerleader — quite literally — for President Obama and Democrats’ big-ticket items like health care reform and the stimulus.
“Hey, hey Obama, Tim Kaine is the best – he’s your #1 cheerleader, cheering from the left!” girls in the video chant.
Will it work? It’s anybody’s guess.
But the video comes on the heels of a similar production by the Republican Party of Virginia “welcoming” Kaine back and highlighting the final portion of his tenure as governor of Virginia, as well as Republican victories during his tenure as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
With Democrats pushing Kaine to run and Republicans spending cash to pre-emptively attack a candidate who hasn’t even declared, it would appear both sides are coalescing around the idea that Kaine is the strongest candidate for Virginia Democrats in 2012.
Indeed, a poll released Tuesday by the firm Public Policy Polling puts Kaine and Republican George Allen in a dead heat at 47-47, while Allen leads former Reps. Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher 48-41 and 47-42, respectively.
Kaine has indicated that he will make a decision in early March.
