THE DEBATE – AT 8:34 A.M. ET:  One of the most fascinating elements of today's political picture is the debate within the Republican Party.  Should it be a true conservative party, or should it try to be a larger tent, with, theoretically, a greater chance of victory at the polls.

No one symbolizes that debate better than the new governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, who has worked wonders in stopping his state's drift toward the left.  He is a credentialed conservative, who doesn't look back, and he has advice for his party.  From The Politico:

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) described himself Friday as “the tip of the spear” in a “conservative renaissance” that he predicts will soon sweep the country.

Ten months after he and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won their off-year elections, an early warning sign of trouble for Democrats, McDonnell suggested that the national mood is so favorable now that Republicans can win by running as true conservatives.

That itself is a controversial idea.  Remember, in 1980 there were many Republicans who thought Ronald Reagan was too conservative to win, and wanted to surround him with more "respectable" people.  You know, the civilized type, like George Bush the elder.  Indeed, some in the party proposed a co-presidency with Reagan and former President Gerald Ford, to keep Reagan under control.

“So it is the time where you should be unashamed and unabashed to stand up for those principles in the public square, and I really think –if you do that—that you will get the results that you want on Election Day,” he told hundreds of enthusiastic activists at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington. “And then the challenge is to hold your officials accountable to govern like they campaigned.”

That is becoming a big theme on the GOP right – demanding that conservaitve candidates govern the way they campaign.  Governor Chris Christie, elected a conservative Republican governor last year in the Democratic state of New Jersey, has won wide praise from conservatives for sticking to his principles. 

McDonnell’s obviously trying to build up a brand as a conservative reformer with results. And, on Friday, he happily engaged on issues far outside his bailiwick. He went after government’s bailout of General Motors, criticized recent changes to federal student loan programs and blasted the financial reform bill for “regulating Wall Street like never before.”

He saved some of his strongest ire for the new health care law, which he calls unconstitutional.

“We’ve got this one-size-fits-all, big government, womb-to-tomb, Washington-knows-best approach in this Congress that is, I believe, trampling on the 10th Amendment,” McDonnell said. “It’s why we see states like Virginia standing up for the 10th amendment by suing the federal government in federal court over this health care mandate.”

COMMENT:  Don't be shocked if McDonnell, despite limited experience, emerges as a presidential candidate.  The conservative wing of his party is growing in power.  If it can pull off some major wins in November, and even engineer some upsets, it may well name the presidential candidate in 2012. 

September 11, 2010