Jerry W. Kilgore

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Jerry W. Kilgore.

Jerry Walter Kilgore, (born August 23, 1961), a Republican, is a former Attorney General of Virginia. He was born August 23, 1961 in Kingsport, Tennessee. Kilgore earned his bachelor's degree from Clinch Valley College (now known as the University of Virginia's College at Wise) and his law degree from the College of William and Mary in 1986. He has a twin brother, Terry Kilgore, who is currently a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was defeated by Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine in the 2005 race for Governor of Virginia.

1 Career
2 Criticism
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

During 1987 and 1988, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Kilgore was Secretary of Public Safety under Governor George F. Allen from 1994 to 1998. He was elected Attorney General of Virginia in 2001 by a wide margin after successfully painting his opponent, Democrat Donald A. McEachin, as in favor of gun control. Jerry W. Kilgore easily won his primary challenge against Warrenton Mayor George Fitch to become the 2005 Republican nominee for Governor of Virginia. He ran against Lt. Governor Tim Kaine, the Democratic nominee, and state Sen. Russ Potts, a pro-choice Republican running as an independent candidate. Kilgore refused to debate Potts throughout the campaign, at times leaving Kaine and Potts to debate only each other in his absence. Early in the race, Kilgore showed solid 10+ leads in the polls, but Kaine steadily closed the gap and ultimately defeated Kilgore by a margin of 52% to 46%.

Kilgore is known for his socially conservative views, especially on issues such as gun control, religion, and supporting pro-life initiatives. Kilgore is also critical of Governor Mark Warner's fiscal policy, particularly the 2004 budget which included substantial tax increases, such as a sales tax increase, an increase on taxes for home sales, and a cigarette tax that rose from 2 cents to 30 cents. Kilgore garnered national attention for his opposition to the Herndon day-laborer center, and he has traditionally held the view that laws regarding illegal immigration should be enforced stringently.

[edit] Criticism

Kilgore's 2005 campaign was at times criticized for first taking steps to avoid debates: it would agree to debate only with Kaine (excluding Republican turned indepedent Russell Potts), and only if the footage could not be aired in campaign commercials. Additionally, his campaign was criticized for airing ads related to a purported "gas tax" proposal by Tim Kaine that never actually happened according to The Virginian-Pilot. He was criticized for failing to agree to limit negative ads to 50% of his campaign's advertising as Kaine did at their only major televised debate.

His campaign also aired a television ad which featured a man whose son had been murdered by a man currently on Virginia's death row; the father expressed doubt that the sentence would be carried out if Kaine were elected and alleged that Kaine would not even have authorized the execution of Adolf Hitler based on an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch [1]. The negative reaction to the mention of Hitler combined with Kaine's pledge to carry out the death penalty and explanation of his personal opposition as arising from his Catholic faith helped to neutralize what many observers thought would've been a potent issue for Kilgore.

Kilgore was also attacked by his own party for refusing during a debate to answer whether or not he would make abortion a crime. This apparent public moderation of his previously open and hard-line stance on abortion troubled many of his conservative supporters.

In trying to explain how a solid Republican could lose a traditionally Republican state by such a large margin, commentators have cited numerous key factors.

Commonly cited accolades for Kaine's effort included: 1) Kaine's association with the state's popular Democratic Governor Mark Warner and defense of Warner's 2004 budget priorities, 2) Kaine's "response ads" to Kilgore's death penalty advertisements, which featured him personally speaking to voters about his religious convictions, 3) Kaine's relentless in-person campaigning across the state, and 4) Kaine's opposition to tax increases.

Commonly cited problems with Kilgore's campaign included: 5) a backlash over several highly-personal death penalty ads that Kilgore's campaign ran in the fall, 6) the relatively low poll numbers of current President George W. Bush at the time the election, and 7) a bitter division between the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican party over tax and spending priorities.