Marshall coming on strong

Even the Washington Post had to notice (h/t Hirons at VV):

Republicans across Virginia are rallying with surprising vigor behind the U.S. Senate campaign of state Del. Robert G. Marshall, a quirky Prince William County conservative who is challenging former governor James S. Gilmore III for the GOP nomination to replace retiring Sen. John W. Warner (R).

Naturally, Marshall is big news since he wiped out the HB3202 debacle, but as the Post noticed:

. . . even before then, the 63-year-old policy consultant was quietly amassing support, from county committee chairmen in rural parts of the state to Northern Virginia GOP insiders.

Among the folks supporting Marshall – whom some have derided as an unknown – was Pat Martin who is chairman of the Tazewell GOP: “I am supporting Bob Marshall because he is 100 percent pro-life.”

There are few places farther away from Marshall’s Prince William & Loudoun base than Tazewell.

More telling was Gilmore’s response, or lack thereof:

Gilmore declined to be interviewed. His spokeswoman, Ana Gamonal, said the former governor is focused on “defeating Mark Warner in the fall” and did not want to talk about whether he faces a serious challenge at the convention.

That is a huge mistake.  Oliver North tried the same routine when Jim Miller ran against him, and nearly lost the nomination as a result.

Still, given that I think Marshall is a better general election candidate than Gilmore is, you won’t hear me complain!

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal