The Virginia blogosphere is abuzz this afternoon with the potential entry of U.S. Attorney John Brownlee into the Attorney General's race. Virginia Virtucon and Bearing Drift are among those who have their takes.

BD brings up a good point about the potential for another round of NOVA v. ROVA griping in a Cuccinelli v. Brownlee race, but I agree that this one is not so clear-cut. Those who argue that you have to be from NOVA to perform well in NOVA are simply ignoring the facts. Was Gilmore from NOVA? Was McDonnell?

The fact is that many folks who live in NOVA aren't even from NOVA. Therefore geography doesn't matter as much there as it does elsewhere in the state and it is easier to win voters over with your message, no matter where you are from.

Brownlee is in an enviable position of not only having spent the last 7 years in the most Republican area of the state, but also being able to transcend his geographic base in a way that, sadly, Jerry Kilgore was never able to do. I think that Brownlee has the ability to do well in NOVA if he can make himself familiar to the GOP voters up there quickly enough.

In any case, it should be an interesting race to watch and this definitely puts the heat on anyone else (Paul Harris?) who might want to get in to make the move quickly.

The Roanoke Times reports that U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia John Brownlee is set to announce this afternoon that he is stepping down from that position effective May 16. There is no word yet what he will do after that, but there has obviously been much speculation that Brownlee is considering a run for Attorney General.

I think that Brownlee would be an excellent candidate for AG and I hope that he decides to run. The press conference is set for 2:30 this afternoon. Based on Brownlee's announcement, we may have more analysis of his potential candidacy later this evening.

On the heels of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling announcing his intention to run for re-election as Lt. Governor in 2009, applicants are already lining up for the 3rd spot on the ticket, that of Attorney General, which will be vacated by Bob McDonnell as he mounts a campaign for Governor.

Below are the resumes of seven of the top Republicans being mentioned for the job of Attorney General. As of today, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli is the only one of them who has declared his candidacy.

On Monday, former AG candidate Steve Baril announced he will NOT be running for AG again, to which I am certain Republicans everywhere responded by immediately exhaling. In all seriousness, though, the announcement does illustrate that the clock is ticking for anyone else who might be interested in running. The longer Sen. Cuccinelli remains the only horse in the race, the easier it is for him to consolidate the support of the base behind him.

While these resumes are not exhaustive, they do attempt to hit the highlights and strengths of each candidate. Simply based on the information provided below, which of these resumes do you, the voters of Virginia, find to be the strongest? Further, is there anything you are looking for in an AG candidate that you don’t see below?

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli
• Member of State Senate since 2002
• Partner in Law Firm Cuccinelli and Day, PLLC, patent attorney
• Court-appointed attorney in hearings for the mentally ill since 1997
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UVA
• Masters in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason
• J.D. from George Mason School of Law
• Married with five daughters and one son

John Brownlee
• US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia since 2001
• Former Assistant US Attorney in Washington, DC
• Former Associate attorney at Woods Rogers law firm in Roanoke
• Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Sam Wilson in Abingdon and Roanoke
• B.S. from Washington & Lee
• J.D. from the College of William and Mary
• Former Army Infantry Officer, Airborne, Ranger, and Major in U.S Army JAG Corps
• Married with two daughters

Paul Harris
• Chairman, Americans for Prosperity – Virginia
• Former member of VA House of Delegates, 1998-2002
• Former Deputy Associate US Attorney General
• Undergraduate degree in Political Science from Hampton University
• J.D. from George Washington University
• Married with three children

Sen. Ryan McDougle
• Member of State Senate since 2006
• Member of House of Delegates 2002-2006
• Founding Partner, McDougle Law Firm, PC
• Former Hanover County prosecutor
• Founding member, Hanover County Child Advocate Response Team
• B.S. in Political Science and History from James Madison University
• J.D. from the College of William and Mary
• Married

David Foster
• Attorney, Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP; Washington, D.C.
• Former Chairman, Arlington County School Board
• B.A. and J.D., The University of Virginia
• Member, Arlington Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Youth Internet Safety Task Force

UPDATE: Delegate Rob Bell and State Senator Mark Obenshain* announced this week that they have removed themselves from consideration for the 2009 Attorney General's race. Bearing Drift has the full text of Sen. Obenshain's email to supporters, which is titled "Not This Time" thus leaving the door open for a future run.

Meanwhile, Bob Gibson has the official word from Camp Bell. Being an expectant father is one of the no-doubt best excuses for passing on a statewide campaign. We here at SST wish Rob Bell and his family all the best.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I am related to Mark Obenshain. I am not aware that this information changes anything about his resume, but I thought it only fair for the reader to be aware of it.

Forgive the Poker analogy, but with Rob Bell apparently folding his hand this week and Ken Cuccinelli sitting on the big blind, time is running out for the other potential players to make their call.

Personally, I think a three-way race between Cuccinelli, Harris and Brownlee has tremedous potential with Cuccinelli as the Social Conservative hero from Northern Virginia, Harris as the Small Government/Business Conservative from Central Virginia and Brownlee as the Pro-Law Enforcement candidate from Southwest Virginia.

Sen. Cuccinelli was in Roanoke last night at the Reagan dinner introducing himself to the folks in Southwest Virginia. As Sen. Ralph Smith pointed out, Ken is an extremely smart guy and a great advocate for conservative principles. In addition, he also seems to already be forming a vision for what he wants to do as Attorney General. He will be tough to beat in a convention and if anyone wants to have a shot at doing it, they'd better make the call soon.

With McDonnell and Bolling taking all the drama out of the up-ticket race, we junkies need some down-ticket action to keep us entertained. We'll see if anyone is willing to take on the challenge.

Well, by now the news that Bill Bolling will not be running for Governor has made about three laps around the Virginia blogosphere. Needless to say, I am as excited as many other Republicans at the potential strength of this ticket headed into 2009.

With this excitement, however, comes the predictable speculation about what the 2009 GOP campaign will look like with Bob McDonnell at the top, Bill Bolling running as an incumbent for LG, and a third member who will try to extend the GOP's hold on the AG's office to two full decades.

Already the idea of a McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli ticket has been trumpeted by many conservative bloggers. The Kenney Brothers, Mason Conservative, Bearing Drift, Too Conservative and many others have already weighed in on the prospect. In addition, we are already seeing a theme develop regarding the "geographic balance" of the ticket.

Lots of questions have already been asked about what this means for the GOP's '09 prospects and many more are certain to arise. My question for the evening is simply this: Is geographic balance overrated when it comes to filling out a statewide ticket? If not, why not? If so, what other factors are more important than the elusive "balance" factor.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Tim Craig's blog has a piece today about Former State Sen. Jay O'Brien's nascent bid for Lt. Governor in 2009.

I find it funny that every time someone brings up Jay O'Brien's name in connection with a statewide office, the first thing they say is something like "but he lost."

For those whose attention spans last only until the next day's headline, this kind of electoral setback might seem a fatal blow. But for those of us who take a longer view, we can find example after example of politicians who have taken their lumps and have returned victorious, much to the surpise of the chattering classes.

Prior to being elected President in 1844, James K. Polk's Presidential aspirations were reportedly sunk after he lost re-election as Governor of Tennessee. Abraham Lincoln lost his first campaign for the state legislature. So did George Allen. Nixon and Reagan lost their first campaigns for President.

What set these candidates and many others throughout our history apart, is that they did not give up after those losses. They did not slink off of the battlefield in disgrace never to be heard from again, but rather they stayed and fought again. And they won.

It is often said that sometimes you learn more by losing than by winning. I say those who write off Jay O'Brien because of one loss are being extremely short sighted. I think his resume is quite impressive and that he could bring a lot to the race. For starters, if the top three Republican candidates in 2009 perform as well in Fairfax county as Jay O'Brien did in his loss, we're likely to sweep those races.

It is way too early to say who should be in front for 2009, but it's also way too early to write anyone off. If Jay O'Brien wants to throw his name into the mix, I say good for him. We need more Republicans with the stones to step back into the ring when they take a punch instead of taking their ball and going home when they don't get their way.

This story is cross-posted at Southwest by Southeast Blog.

Yesterday, Not Larry Sabato announced the results of an online poll asking “If the election for Governor of Virginia were tomorrow, who would you vote for?” The blogosphere had a couple days to vote and the results showed Bob McDonnell as the favorite frontrunner in the 2009 battle for the Governor’s Mansion.

Attorney General McDonnell won overwhelmingly on a democrat blog!! This is impressive. Over 900 people voted in what really was the first poll for 2009.

I know that it isn’t a scientific poll, but this does show a couple things. First, McDonnell has an impressive reservoir of support among Virginia’s leading political activists. For those of us who frequent the blogosphere we see Bob McDonnell visiting often, doing live blogs, interviews, and podcasts. He continues his outreach to the blogs and the media, he has strong connections in NOVA and Tidewater Virginia, and he is doing great things for Virginia. Most importantly, the poll shows that political insiders recognize McDonnell is the frontrunner for 2009.