Delegate Bob Marshall to run for Warner’s Senate seat

By Matt Dooley
Production Coordinator
Published: January 9, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The General Assembly’s most outspoken and persistent abortion foe on Monday announced his bid this year for a U.S. Senate seat.

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, said in a Capitol Square news conference that his Republican rival, former Governor Jim Gilmore, is too soft on the abortion issue.

“I am the only candidate in this race who will protect - and as is defended by my public record - the right to life of unborn children, period,” Marshall said. “Neither of my two opponents will do that.”

They are running for the seat that became vacant in August when 80-year-old Republican Sen. John W. Warner announced he would not seek a sixth term.

Republicans will choose between Marshall and Gilmore in a June statewide convention in Richmond. The nominee will face former Gov. Mark R. Warner, who is unopposed within his party, in a race that could give Democrats both of Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1970.

Marshall said Gilmore’s support for abortions eight to 12 weeks after conception and his support of exceptions that allow abortions based on the mother’s health makes him unpalatable to socially conservative voters President Ronald Reagan brought into the GOP.

“I don’t condemn him. I just don’t think that with those positions, you can possibly gather the support, the energy, the enthusiasm the dedication of the necessary element of the Reagan coalition to win against Mark Warner,” said Marshall.

Without that organized and committed bloc of the Republican constituency, he said, the GOP can’t defeat the popular and well-financed Warner.

Gilmore campaign spokeswoman Ana Gamonal said Marshall’s summary of the former governor’s positions was incorrect. Gamonal said Gilmore believes abortions should be allowed only through eight weeks, not 12. Beyond that, she said, exceptions should be made only in “situations of the extreme” that put a woman’s life at risk.

Marshall, 63, won his House seat in 1991 and has won re-election eight times since from Prince William County, a fast-growing Washington, D.C., bedroom community that remains conservative, but where Democrats have prevailed in recent statewide elections.

“I have attracted Democrats. I should win in northern Virginia in areas that Republicans lose and Democrats win,” Marshall said.

“This is nothing personal with Jim Gilmore. He and I have done a lot of things together. I talked to him this morning and he was cordial. I told him this is not about personalities, this is just about policy. I’ve never gone negative, I don’t intend to go negative,” Marshall said.

Marshall said would run his campaign, including fundraising, at the same time he manages a full legislative load. As of Monday, Marshall was already chief sponsor of 64 different pieces of legislation. Three deal with abortion, including one to ban it outright in Virginia if the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that legalized abortion is overturned. Another bill would repeal heavy fees levied on egregious driving as part of the 2007 transportation funding law.

“I mean I’ve lifted weights three times a week for 50 years. I’ve got a lot of energy,” Marshall said.

State law bans lawmakers from fundraising efforts during the General Assembly sessions to fund campaigns for state office.

But federal campaign rules trump state laws, and because Marshall seeks a federal office he can raise money during the 60-day session that starts Wednesday. When asked if he would, his reply was instant and unequivocal: “Is the pope Catholic?”

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On the Web:

Marshall’s campaign Web site: http://www.bobmarshall2008.com