Wilder Lays Down Endorsement Marker For VA AG

The Hotline has learned that ex-VA Gov/Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder told a major VA paper today that his endorsement in the AG's race would be determined in large measure by what each of the candidates, state Del. Bob McDonnell (R) and state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D), tells him is their position on one of Wilder's signature achievements as governor -- the commonwealth's '93 restriction on handgun purchases to one per month. [JONATHAN MARTIN]

Deeds is wasting no time, and has scheduled a meeting to discuss "one-gun-a-month" with Wilder this Friday, according to longtime Wilder confidante/ex-VA Dem chair Paul Goldman. Goldman said he had also been in touch with McDonnell's camp, and that they were working on scheduling a date to meet.

Then a member of the House of Delegates, Deeds, representing a rural, western VA district, voted against Wilder’s proposal. McDonnell, representing suburban VA Beach, supported the legislation. The issue came to the fore of the AG's race last week when the NRA announced their support for Deeds, and said it was in part because of his opposition to "one-gun-a-month."

Goldman said that Wilder was concerned not just about Deeds' '93 vote on the issue, but also by what he described as a pledge Deeds made to the NRA to use the power of the AG's office to reverse the law. Goldman: "Most people thought the law was pretty well established." Goldman also noted that in no campaign since the law’s passage has a Dem AG candidate expressed support for repealing the measure.

It is worth noting that the House Maj. Leader in VA in '93 was another pro-gun Dem. from western VA who opposed one-gun-a-month, Richard Cranwell. Cranwell, now out of the House, was installed by Gov. Mark Warner (D) as state party chair earlier this year. Cranwell is credited for introducing Warner to Dave "Mudcat" Saunders and thus helping craft Warner's now-well known "rural strategy" in the '01 gov. race.

What this all adds up to is a story much bigger than one down-ballot election endorsement by one ex-Governor. It represents the considerable challenge -- some would say the balancing act -- a Dem like Deeds has running in Red Virginia. Here is his pickle -- does he risk burning a much-coveted and rarely-granted Dem NRA endorsement to secure Wilder's blessing or does he stick to his guns, as it were, and cede the invaluable endorsement of the nation's first and only elected black governor to a Republican? Maybe he should consider, WWMD. What Would Mark Do?