Virginia is called the Mother of Presidents, and George Will thinks that Virginia Governor Mark Warner, has a fair shot to win the White House back for the Democrats in 2008.

In 2001, running a campaign that sponsored a stock car and stressed gun rights, Warner was elected governor by five points. But, on a recent visit to Washington, he impatiently insisted that his victory was about "more than bluegrass songs and NASCAR races."

Indeed, his success is evidence that Virginia, although it has not voted Democratic since 1964, might be the place for Democrats to start if they really are determined -- as they had better be -- to compete in the South, broadly defined. [...]

As the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington continue to grow and perhaps become more like Philadelphia's liberal-leaning suburbs, Virginia could become one of the states -- Arizona and Colorado are others -- that may soon be fully transformed from reliably Republican to more or less regularly competitive. [...]

Virginia is the last state to forbid governors to serve consecutive terms -- Warner has proposed changing that with a state constitutional amendment, under which he would remain ineligible for a second term -- so in 2006 he will be unemployed. That is a good condition for a presidential aspirant: Nixon was out of public office in 1968, as was Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Ronald Reagan in 1980.

In 2008 the man who should be Time magazine's 2004 Person of the Year, Karl Rove, will be gone, and Democrats will be trying to erase the Republicans' 2004 popular vote winning margin of 2.9 percentage points. That was the smallest margin ever for a president's reelection. Warner will be on the short list of those who might be "Kerry plus 2.9."

Mark Warner is a horrible Governor. He won by 5 points, because he made political promises like: "I will not raise taxes. I will not raise taxes. I will not raise taxes." He promptly went out and passed the largest tax increase in Virginia history, and then had the nerve to say that he never made the promise in the first place.

Warner called the idea of letting the voters decide on a tax increase (ala voter referendum) "extremely irresponsible". A month after his massive tax hike passed, it was revealed that Virginia actually had a budget surplus. But the damage was done, and Warner balked at the suggestion of rolling back the tax hike.

George Will mentions that Warner's push for an end to term limits would not benefit him. But he doesn't tell you that Warner has made it perfectly clear that he wants a successive term should the limit be lifted. This fall Warner said that his "effectiveness" was limited by his not being able to spend two years running for re-election.

If a pathological liar and a sleazy bastard is the candidate they want, then Warner fits the bill (and then some). But George Will shouldn't be so quick to assume that Warner could even carry his home state, much less the South.