RPV Convention This Weekend

For coverage of the RPV convention this weekend, see Bearing Drift and the Bob McDonnell blog. Also watch the upstreaming video of all the action by clicking above.

What's at stake this weekend, as 10,000 or so Virginia Republicans gather at the convention center, is nothing less than the future of Virginia Republican Party after several rough years, both at the state level as well as nationally. Against the backdrop of two Democratic U.S. Senators, a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives delegation, a State Senate in Democratic hands, a dwindling Republican majority in the House of Delegates, a victory for Barack Obama in Virginia last November, and a party in disarray ideologically and just about every other way, Virginia Republicans certainly have their work cut out for them.

This weekend, they will be selecting a new party chair to replace the ousted (in a coup, essentially) Jeff Frederick (the choices are acting RPV chief Pat Mullins and attorney Bill Stanley). In addition, Republicans are going to be selecting their nominees for lieutenant governor (candidates are current LG Bill Bolling and also SWVA lawyer Patrick Muldoon) and attorney general (candidates are U.S. Attorney John Brownlee of Roanoke; state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax; and former Arlington School Board chairman Dave Foster). Finally, they're going to be coronating the newly "moderate" (but previously far-right) Bob McDonnell as their nominee for governor.

Leading into the convention, which begins tomorrow, the Pilot Online reports, "signs of a discord persist," as "some conservative activists will hold their own banquet a few miles away in downtown Richmond." Over at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jeff Schapiro writes about "allegations of dirty tricks in the nominating contest for attorney general," a party that "has suffered from infighting for the past year," and also one that needs "to pick up some badly needed cash for its treasury."

Personally, I'm rooting for Ken Cuccinelli to be the Republicans' pick for AG, as I believe he's the candidate that's easiest for us to defeat, and also the one who will facilitate our ability to label the entire Republican ticket as "extreme" (which it most certainly will be with McDonnell, Bolling and Cooch as the nominees). I also hope for some serious fireworks on the choice for party leader, with the end result hopefully being a divided party and a Jeff Frederick clone as head of the RPV. We'll see if Virginia Republicans are smarter than that, but their track record the past few years provides no sign that this will be the case. Stay tuned.