Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell non-committal on Thursday about a presidential run in 2016

Although non-committal on Thursday’s monthly call-in radio appearance on WRVA in Richmond, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is no doubt ‘getting a feel’ for how feasible a McDonnell 2016 ticket for president really is.

After McDonnell finishes his term as governor, there will only be two political seats open that would be a ‘step up’ from that of governor: Mark Warner’s current seat in the U.S. Senate and the presidential void that will be open come 2016.

Although it probably wouldn’t be an uninteresting race, a Warner-McDonnell head-to-head for the U.S. Senate would probably end in Warner’s favor. The latter has the so-called “incumbent advantage” and middle-of-the-road enough for most Virginians to approve of his job performance.

When asked about whether Gov. McDonnell was thinking about becoming a presidential candidate in 2016, McDonnell responded, “That’s a long way away. I’m not doing anything other than trying to be a responsible governor right now.” If only some of his Republican colleagues (i.e., Ken Cuccinelli) had the same sense of public responsibility…

McDonnell may be perfectly sincere, however, when he says that his thoughts are on his job as governor of Virginia for the time being. After all, McDonnell has now gone into a “my transportation bill really isn’t so bad” defensive posture.

During his radio interview on Thursday, McDonnell pointed out that the Virginia transportation bill that was passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by McDonnell will “pump billions over the next five years into road maintenance, rail and mass transit through increased fuel, sales, and vehicle taxes and fees.”

The interesting aspect of this argument is that it is precisely the amount of spending that has so many Virginians skeptical about the “landmark” transportation package, not to mention how the money is being generated in the first place (i.e., increased fuel, sales, and vehicle taxes and fees).

Virginians DO get the big picture, which is why so many Virginians were outraged that a tax is being placed on hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles! Do you want climate change’s worst effects to ravage our planet?! Wait McDonnell, don’t answer that.

For all of McDonnell’s attempts to toe a relatively moderate policy line, the sad part is that America’s conservative voters don’t seem ready and willing to reward his political methods, throwing rose petals out for political demagogies like Ken Cuccinelli while shuttering the attempts of principled conservatives like McDonnell.