Mark Warner and Leslie Byrne Have Been Past Allies!

Lowell has a great post up at RK that gives lie to the Connolly campaign's mendacious claim that there is animosity between Leslie Byrne and Mark Warner. After a hard fought campaign in 1996, there was some bad feeling. But Byrne's main objection was to the way the caucuses at that time were conducted. However, she did endorse and work for Mark Warner.

Further evidence that they patched things up include the fact that in 1999, both Warner and current state Senate Majority Leader, Dick Saslaw, asked Leslie to run against Republican moderate Jane Woods for the state Senate. Both Warner and Saslaw believed that Byrne was the Democrats' best chance to beat the popular GOP candidate. And she did in a very close race.

But hers was the first seat targeted by Republicans during their highly partisan redistricting in 2000.

Warner and Steve Jarding also asked for Byrne's support for Warner's run for governor in 2001. According to Lowell:

3) In 2001, Mark Warner and Steve Jarding (before Jarding was announced as Warner's campaign manager) asked for a meeting with Leslie and Larry Byrne to seek Leslie's endorsement in Warner's run for governor. Warner told Leslie Byrne at that meeting that he believed she had never attacked him, only the process and the way it was handled by the party in 1996. Leslie endorsed Warner and did surrogate work for him, particularly among women's groups. The Warner campaign also asked Larry Byrne to run Fairfax county for them, which he did. In the end, the Warner campaign carried Fairfax by a margin of more than 26,000 votes. In comparison, Warner lost the county in 1996.

4) In 2005, Mark Warner did fund raising for Leslie Byrne and campaigned for her around the state when she ran for LG. The video above shows how Mark Warner really feels about Leslie Byrne, as opposed to the nonsense the Connolly campaign has put out.

And thanks to Lowell and RK, here's the video, so you can see for yourself.



This should put to rest the ridiculous assertions put out by the Connolly camp that there is any bad blood between Leslie Byrne and Mark Warner