Warner promises coalition made of ‘Radical Centrists’

If elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 4, Democrat Mark R. Warner promises to establish a bipartisan coalition of like-minded moderate lawmakers that he calls the “Radical Centrists.”

When asked which senators he imagines would join his faction of Republicans and Democrats, Warner cited a group that was co-led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the GOP’s nominee for president.

“I go back and look at the Gang of 10 and the Gang of 14,” Warner said. “I’ve spent some time with a lot of these

senators, even the ones that are viewed as more liberal than me. They’re not caught up in the old left-right continuum. I think a lot of the issues we face are not left-right. They’re more future-past.”

The bipartisan Gang of 14 — which was led by McCain and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. — came together in 2005 and successfully hammered out a compromise over President Bush’s judicial nominations that had led Senate Democrats to threaten a filibuster. The Gang of 10, meanwhile, formed earlier this year to propose its own energy plan that includes offshore oil drilling and promoting fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative energy.

Warner, a former Virginia governor, sees the membership of the Senate’s “gangs” — including McCain, if he does not win the White House in his race against Democrat Barack Obama — as a natural fit for his Radical Centrists.

“He would have no heartburn over having John McCain or a John McCain-like senator being an occasional member of a centrist group like that,” said Warner’s spokesman, Kevin Hall. “He’s talking about an amorphous, moveable, bipartisan group, who, depending on the issue, finds common cause to work together.”

Warner’s proposed coalition of Republicans and Democrats would be a “bridge to compromise” on a range of issues that ought to be addressed, but are not necessarily partisan, Hall said.

Warner said the Radical Centrists could seek to expand broadband technology in rural communities, slow Medicare spending and strengthen the weakening U.S. dollar.

“Expansion of broadband to rural communities. Is that liberal or conservative?” Warner said. “I haven’t the foggiest idea.”

As governor, Warner said, he reached across party lines in 2004 to close a $6 billion revenue shortfall by passing a bipartisan budget and tax reform package. If elected, Warner says he would bring to the Senate his philosophy of putting aside partisanship to achieve progress.

Another member of the Gang of 14 is retiring Sen. John W. Warner, R-Alexandria. He also joined the Gang of 10 when it recently doubled in size to become the Gang of 20.

Mark Warner is running against former Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, to fill the seat left vacant by John Warner. According to multiple polls, Mark Warner has a sizable lead in the race over Gilmore.

John Warner has not appeared on the campaign trail for Gilmore, though he has donated $2,000 to his Senate bid. When asked if he planned to endorse either Gilmore or Warner, one of John Warner’s aides sent a written statement from November that said he did not plan to campaign for any candidates in 2008, in keeping with Thomas Jefferson’s quote: “There is a fullness of time when men should go, and not occupy too long the ground to which others have the right to advance.”

More than a year ago, Mark Warner privately mentioned McCain as one of the senators whom he would seek to work with in the U.S. Senate, said Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia politics professor.

“Warner has said this consistently and he said it before it was clear that McCain was going to be the Republicans’ nominee,” said Sabato, who is on leave from UVa for the semester as he visits toss-up states. “Warner is more moderate than many Democrats in the Senate.”

Sabato added that Warner is also aiming to appeal to as many McCain supporters in Virginia as possible. Warner is projected to win with a margin of 60 percent to 65 percent, Sabato said, meaning that he would almost certainly pick up many of McCain’s voters on Nov. 4.

“Mark Warner wants the largest percentage possible in his race for the Senate,” Sabato said. “Mark Warner wants a mandate. He’s saying, ‘I’m a Barack Obama supporter, but McCain has done a lot of good things in the Senate.’”