The Jim Gilmore I remember finally resurfaces

You remember him, right? The risk-taker? The fellow willing to throw caution to the wind? The guy who knew the taxpayers of the Commonwealth were taking it on the chin and wouldn’t stand for it anymore?

You know, that Jim Gilmore.

Well, say hello (once again, it’s been a while) to Jim Gilmore, the taxpayer’s best friend (Washington Post, h/t Black Velvet Bruce Li, emphasis added):

Although it’s difficult to know how many people were watching, Gilmore delivered a strong performance by framing it as a contrast between two candidates with differing views of the bailout.

Gilmore came out strongly against the $700 billion plan, arguing in a concise way that it amounted to government run amok. Warner supported the bailout, saying it was needed to prevent economic turmoil. Warner tried to pin the need for Congressional intervention on lax oversight by the Bush administration and “greed” on Wall Street.

Warner noted that both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama voted in favor of the plan, prompting Gilmore to say at one point, “I’m not in this for John McCain, I am in this for the people on the other side of this camera.”

Welcome back, Mr. Gilmore!

Even Tim Crig (author of the WaPo piece cited above) had to admit that “Gilmore found his issue.”  He did add one caveat – “if anyone is still paying attention to this race.”

Sadly, that’s a fair point, but this is still October 6.  The first thing Gilmore has to do is get the base fired up for him.  Given the BVBL was (like me) one of Bob Marshall’s loudest supporters in the blogosphere, I’d say Gilmore’s off to a good start there.

Once again the bailout has shifted the tectonic plates of Virginia politics.  It made Rob Wittman a man of principle, and it made Jim Gilmore the limited-governmnent, low-tax populist that took the state by storm in 1997.  I feel a lot better about having his banner in the hallowed right-hand column.