http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-06-09-0235.html<snip>
Two Republicans who last year headed state government's budget-writing committees endorsed Democrat Mark Warner for Senate on today. Former Del. Vincent F. Callahan and former state Sen. John H. Chichester said in a conference call they are backing Warner because of how he handled a state budget crisis six years ago.
They said the Republican nominee, former Gov. Jim Gilmore, led the state into a fiscal crisis by presenting rosy economic forecasts as Virginia slid into a recession in 2001.
Callahan and Chichester praised Warner, who was Gilmore's successor as governor, for his handling of the budget shortfall that eventually grew to nearly $6 billion.
Both Chichester and Callahan said they are still Republicans and will remain so in the presidential race, supporting Sen. John McCain. Both, however, have at times been mavericks within their party, and both criticized what they said was the Virginia GOP's slide to the right. "It's extremely distressing that they're on the path they're taking and where it is heading," Callahan said. The party, he said, is bent on becoming "a minority debating society."
"We can't be a party of immigrant bashing and gay bashing or any other kind of bashing," Callahan said. Noting Warner's wide early lead in independent polling, Chichester said the Virginia GOP appears headed for a painful reckoning this fall.
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