Gilmore Gets Dirty, and Some Green, on Tour
In an effort to contrast himself with his Democratic opponent, former governor Mark R. Warner, Republican Senate candidate James S. Gilmore III will be getting a bit dirty during his two-day swing down the Interstate 81 corridor.
Part of his "working families tour," Gilmore is trying to portray Warner as a liberal elitist who is out touch with the concerns of lower and middle class families. Gilmore has stops planned today and tomorrow at several construction sites in the Shenandoah Valley.
Gilmore has taken to calling Warner, who is worth an estimated $200 million, a "limousine liberal." Tomorrow, Gilmore will visit a BP station in Radford and a Chevron station in Bristol, where he will be pumping gas to highlight the high price of fuel. But Gilmore, who is also a millionaire, won't just be mingling with blue collar workers during his campaign swing.
At nearly every stop on the tour, Gilmore will hold a closed-door fundraiser, where tickets range from $25 to $1,000 per person.
"Each stop has a fundraising component and a working site component," said Ana Gamanol, a Gilmore spokeswoman. "People requested to host fundraisers for us and we didn't want to turn them down, but that is not the prerogative of these two days."
By Tim Craig |
July 7, 2008; 11:11 AM ET
| Category:
Election 2008/U.S. Senate
,
James Gilmore III
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Mark Warner
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Tim Craig
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Posted by: NoVA | July 7, 2008 12:18 PM
Sounds like Ana meant priority rather than prerogative.
I doubt Gilmore will have any more luck portraying Warner as a limo liberal than the last election where Webb was portrayed as a Hollowood liberal.
BB
Posted by: Fairlington Blade | July 7, 2008 1:04 PM
$25 a ticket fundraisers barely count as such. That'll get you the gas money for your next stop and some pizza money for your staff.
Gilmore's real offense is the 1990s strategy of attempting to portray Warner as out of touch and using 1980s phrases like limousine liberal.
Posted by: Hector | July 8, 2008 10:35 AM
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Per the candidate's remarks - Welcome to Wonderland, Alice!
Additionally - "that is not the prerogative of these two days." from the campaign spokeswoman.
According to Webster:
Prerogative - 1 a: an exclusive or special right, power, or privilege: as (1): one belonging to an office or an official body (2): one belonging to a person, group, or class of individuals (3): one possessed by a nation as an attribute of sovereignty b: the discretionary power inhering in the British Crown
2: a distinctive excellence
Maybe the two days were 'distinctively excellent?'
Or, maybe time for a new spokeswoman?