I Like Him. He's One Of Us.

I participated in the bloggers' conference call with Lt. Governor Bill Bolling last night, along with at least a dozen others, including Norm (who proved to be a great moderator) over at One Man's Trash, Romeocat at Cathouse Chat, Jim Bacon at Bacon' Rebellion, Too Conservative, Elephant Ears, and NOVA Townhall.

Let me get the policy stuff out of the way first because my real goal was to get a measure of the man.

Bolling is a good conservative. From the notes I took, he's right on all the issues that matter. He spent the most time talking about the transportation budget impasse in the legislature but also touched on illegal immigration (he rightly believes that Republicans need to separate legal from illegal, that we need to create conditions that allow for more legal immigration while, at the same time, we need to stop the illegal migration across our border), he is going to push to have the same-sex marriage amendment passed, he favors the energy bill but will push for off-shore exploration of natural gas, he favors repeal of the death tax, and he was disappointed that the legislature wasn't able to stop the abuse of eminent domain.

The Lt. Governor believes the Republican Party will be viable in the future as long as its candidates get before the people of Virginia and express their honest views about conservative values and principles. Which is right.

As for Bill Bolling the man, here is what I observed -

• He was on time, which in my world is important. I attended a meeting not long ago and a Regional Vice President was late to arrive. When he came blowing into the room, he asked, "What did I miss?" The President looked at him and said, "Your presentation on the subject of punctuality." The call with the Lt. Governor was scheduled to start at 6:30. Mr. Bolling came on the line at 6:33.
• He was friendly and congenial. Some banter; not a lot. I didn't detect any speeches or "bullet point" responses to questions. He was rather matter-of-fact in his delivery.
• His demeanor (over the phone of course) reminded me of that of Dick Cheney. He went through a laundry list of legislation he favored, another that he opposed. He was straightforward, rather business-like. Confident. At times rather too business-like for my tastes (I had a bottle of wine in front of me and knew, when I popped the cork at 6:49 and took a swig, he was losing me) but he had a lot of ground to cover in a short time.
• I detected very little passion. The only time I got a sense of commitment - drive - was when he was addressing the transportation mess that is currently before the state legislature. His voice rose when he said, "I am absolutely convinced that we do not have to raise taxes" in order to solve the transportation problem. He needs to do more of that.
• On the Ability to Lead question, the jury is still out. Bill Bolling is the head of the Republican Party in Virginia and yet, it seems to me, when it comes to the budget showdown that is approaching, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith is carrying the torch and doing the heavy lifting. In the conference call, as I listened, I heard a man who knows the issues, who says he is working overtime to get legislation passed, etc. but I didn't detect any call to arms. Any fire in the belly (John Nance Garner once said, "You've got to bloody your knuckles!") When asked if he was going to run for governor next time around, he said - matter of factly - yes. And he said his goal for now is to be a good Lt. Governor, whatever that means (I was reminded of Alben Barkley's description years ago of the position of Vice President - that it wasn't worth "a bucket of warm spit") and that opportunity will pave the way to his campaign to win in 2009. At least he said it in so many words. What I didn't hear was a recognition that, being the leader of the state party, Bill Bolling needed to take the conservative cause to the people to win hearts and minds. He's going to be in Abingdon to talk about health care and he's going to be in Wise to talk about the pharmacy school and the law school and he's going to be in Marion and Wytheville to talk about education. Good. Those are the kind of things that politicians do. But leaders have higher goals. A broader scope. A vision. He needs to be shouting from the rooftops the fact that the government is going to grow by 19% in 2006 when the budget gets approved, growth that is harmful and unsustainable. He needs to be pounding the pulpit about natural gas exploration and clean coal resources and the sanctity of marriage and about lawlessness disguised as an immigration plan. About poverty and the loss of job opportunities in whole regions of the state. Instead he addresses each topic as if it were an agenda item.

Still, this was a conference call. With a bunch of bloggers.

If this were a job interview, I'd invite Bill Bolling back for a second round. He's right on all the issues that matter. He's impressive to listen to. He's articulate. I'll bet he's a nice guy. First interviews don't amount to much other than to allow for first impressions. I came away favorably impressed. I hope to hear more.