Matt Glazer on Mark Warner (yesterday in Austin):

[PDittie]

Go read the whole post at Matt's blog...

Warner was dynamic. He presented a plan that focused on his ability to work across the aisle on issues of fiscal responsibility, education, and even gun rights and safety. He is a balanced budget, revenue neutral, pay as you go Democrat. He is not a deficit hawk, but he is a deficit reducer. His fiscal policy is sound and caused for amazing leaps in infrastructure development in rural Virginia and one of the most stable and fastest growing economies in the nation. His fiscal policy alone helped garner him an approval rating of 80% in a red state.

The issues that peaked my interest the most were his education policy and “in-sourcing”. His education policy was based on incentives and creating higher and realistic standards for students and teachers. With his improvements African American and Hispanic students in advanced placement classes rose to nearly 25% each. Graduation levels rose to approximately 90%. Teacher pay increased for those working in the most deprived school districts and he did this while maintaining the growth of the economy.

His policy on in-sourcing is an idea that I have read about but never heard from a candidate--rural development to allow for a transition from industrial jobs to white collar jobs. National Public Radio (NPR) recently highlighted a work from home model that is conducive to this rural/ex-urban development.

Warner took it one step further by expanding broadband internet connection to the rural parts of Virginia and the areas that needed a transition from coal jobs to high-tech jobs. The goal is to create incentives for companies and corporations to shift work to previously untapped parts of the country instead of outsourcing.

[PDittie]

1. Philip Martin of BOR has more:

http://www.burntorangereport.com/showComment.do?commentId=2125

Listening to Mark Warner, I felt that something could be done. I felt like Democrats could be the opportunity party. I felt like we had solutions to offer. I felt like we we could run everywhere and talk to everyone - all while bringing people together.

Mark Warner is a Democrat for every town, city, and state. He talked about things in a logical way, connecting passion to compromise and ambitious vision to common sense. His results in Virginia are incredible, too - the list of what he's done for the public schools and the tax system there are jaw-dropping. He knows how to lead, he knows how to follow through, and he knows how to get results.

Very, very impressive.