Vote for Mark Warner (D-VA) for United States Senate

Readers, please forgive the Hokie Guru's extended absence (FBS is hopelessly out of date). I've been away for a while because I had to complete the final project to complete a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech. I graduated on May 9, 2008. It took me five years to complete the course work, but I can officially say that I am a graduate alumnus of the Center for Public Administration and Policy (http://www.cpap.vt.edu), part of the School of Public and International Affairs (http://www.spia.vt.edu), a cluster school in the College of Architecture and Urban Affairs (http://www.caus.vt.edu), at Virginia Tech. Amen. The Hokie Guru is ready to get back to Virginia Tech football.

We do not normally talk about politics on FBS because our mission is to replace Bryan Stinespring, the hopeless (or hapless... whatever floats your fricking boat) offensive coordinator for the Virginia Tech football team. The best blogs for Virginia politics are Not Larry Sabato (http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com), Anonymous is a Woman (http://anonymousisawoman.blogspot.com), and Raising Kaine (http://www.raisingkaine.com). Politics is their business and I'm a regular small donor to their blogs; they are good at what they do. I just have to get my word in today because Mark Warner has had a significant impact on Virginia Tech.

Today, the Hokie Guru officially endorses Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat running for the United States Senate (the seat being vacated by John Warner). Mark Warner had to clean up the budgetary mess left by James "Fiscal Destruction" Gilmore. You can see more about Gilmore's antics in this excellent Washington Post editorial right here (Gilmore is a serious douchebag): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061401445_pf.html

The Hokie Guru also notes that Mark Warner has a comprehensive energy plan. James "Fiscal Destruction" Gilmore would like to "drill here, drill now." Their differences are very real on energy policy (and taxes, foreign policy, blah, blah, blah). You can see more about their positions on energy policy in the Roanoke Times: http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/166314

More importantly, however, the Hokie Guru notes that without the support of Mark Warner, Virginia Tech would not be part of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), an elite Bowl Championship Conference (BCS). David Teel from the Daily Press (Newport News, VA), wrote a story in today's paper showing the huge impact that Mark Warner had on making Virginia Tech's ACC dreams a reality (Mark Warner worked with our most bitter rival, the University of Virginia)... selected quotes from the news story are below:

"A couple of people in Southwest Virginia said, 'Hey, you know Tech's trying to get into the ACC,'" Warner recalls. "The first time I heard it, I think, I was in the middle of budget battles or whatever, so it wasn't like I was smart enough to leap on it.
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"(But then) it hit me that this was something that was much bigger than sports. This was in a lot of ways about economic development for Southwest Virginia. … It just seemed to make such good sense."
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Warner explored every conceivable angle, calling friends such as North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and Miami President Donna Shalala to promote Tech and the economic effect of its rabid following.

But the focus of Warner's politicking was Charlottesville, home of U.Va.

"President Casteen was always supportive (of Tech), but his board got a little wobbly," Warner says, referring to the university's Board of Visitors, members of which are appointed by the governor.

"I had to refresh the memory of some board members that they serve at the pleasure of the governor," Warner says with a smile. "That this was not about U.Va. versus Tech, ... it was in the best interest of the state.

"After a few candid conversations with a couple of board members, I think they understood. And the board stood solid."
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"There had to be two or three different times where we thought it was dead," Warner says. "We got some good breaks. I'd love to claim it was some great master plan, that this all was some carefully executed strategy."
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"As governor, you're called some good names and some not-so-nice names," he says.

"But even during the worst part of the tax debate, I wasn't called as bad ... names as I was on some of the (Virginia) message boards: 'Raise my taxes, but don't let the Hokies into the ACC.'"

And now that he's running for the Senate?

"Many times, I hear 'You're a blankety-blank Democrat, but I'm still going to vote for you because you got our Hokies into the ACC.'
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"I much better appreciate now the level of the (Virginia-Virginia Tech) rivalry."

And the financial effects regarding Virginia Tech's inclusion in the ACC boggle the mind (for more, please see David Teels story in the Daily Press at http://www.dailypress.com/sports/college/vt/dp-spt_tech_0622jun22,0,1551379,full.story). Excerpts are below:

For the 2003-04 academic year, the Hokies' last in the Big East, Virginia Tech reported $38.9 million in athletics revenue on U.S. Department of Education disclosure forms.

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For 2006-07, the university reported an ACC-best $65.5 million.That's $10.9 million more than any Big East school — Louisville took in $54.6 million — and a 68-percent jump in three years. Credit, in part, the ACC.

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For example, Virginia Tech's share of conference television contracts and NCAA basketball tournament appearances was $11.7 million in 2006-07. The most the Hokies ever received from the Big East, Weaver says, was $5.1 million, with the norm about $2.5 million.

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ACC membership also fueled donations to the Hokie Club, Virginia Tech's athletics fundraising arm.In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, six days after the invite from the ACC, the club collected $14.4 million. Three years later, the amount was $24.7 million, a 72-percent increase.

While off-Broadway programs such as swimming, golf and soccer often determine a school's Directors' Cup ranking, the franchise teams of football and men's basketball always dictate athletic department solvency and image.

Here again, the ACC has elevated the Hokies.

In four Big East basketball seasons, Virginia Tech was 17-47 in league play and never sniffed the NCAA tournament. In four ACC seasons, the Hokies are 31-33 in conference play, better than Virginia and fifth-best overall.

Virginia Tech advanced to the second round of the 2007 NCAAs and is among the two teams — North Carolina is the other — with winning ACC records the last two years.

"If you're going to coach in Virginia or North Carolina and you're not in the ACC, you're at a tremendous disadvantage recruiting because the ACC is not a tradition, it's a culture," coach Seth Greenberg says. "Being in the ACC gives us a chance to compete on a level playing field in our geographic footprint. It's bigger than we realized in terms of the impressions it has on kids."

The ACC has also energized basketball fans, generating routine sellouts at Cassell Coliseum, a rarity in the Big East days.

"If we were winning … in the Big East, would the energy and ownership be the same?" Greenberg says. "I don't think it would be, because our alums work with Carolina grads and Duke grads and N.C. State grads. And most of our students grew up watching the ACC.

"Those ticket sales and the ACC's superior television contracts have turned Greenberg's program from a financial liability to asset. Virginia Tech reported a $600,000 shortfall for men's basketball in 2003-04, a $3.9-million profit in 2006-07.

Virginia Tech football has used the ACC move and subsequent championships to redefine its recruiting base. Rather than scatter to Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, Hokies coaches now mine the talent from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta.

"Most of our recruiting is within a five-hour radius of Blacksburg," Beamer says, "and that (means) more kids come with their parents in a car for a weekend visit. When recruits have to fly, we can (by NCAA rules) only pay for the kid, so most times he comes by himself.

"I'd much rather sit here on a Sunday morning with a kid and his parents talking about Virginia Tech. It's better for us in the long haul when the parents are involved in the recruiting process."

In 2008, the Hokies could have up to 21 players from the Carolinas and Georgia, including potential starters such as Sergio Render, Dorian Porch, Josh Oglesby and Stephan Virgil. In 2003, Virginia Tech had four players from the Carolinas and Georgia.

Football's bottom line also has soared since joining the ACC.The $40.6 million in revenue Virginia Tech reported in 2006-07 ranked 15th nationally and towered over the conference — Clemson was next at $32 million.

That's a 68-percent increase from the Big East farewell year of 2003-04 and translates into a $14-million-profit.Weaver attributes the windfall to sales of club seats and luxury suites, and says that much of that money went to payments on the $79 million the university borrowed to finance two football stadium expansions.

The Lane Stadium improvements were planned long before Virginia Tech entered the ACC, but Weaver and Merritt believe interest in the conference spurred suite and ticket sales. Further, current construction can be traced directly to ACC affiliation.

The $22-million basketball building? A partnership with the town of Christiansburg on a $14.5-million swimming complex? Neither would have broken ground were the Hokies still in the Big East, Weaver says.

When Mark Warner said that this would improve ecomomic development in Southwest Virginia, well, he know what he was talking about. The loyal fans of Virginia Tech will spend a lot of money in Blacksburg, VA now that we are part of the ACC. We will pump a lot of money into Montgomery and Roanoke Counties in Virginia and will spend a lot of money on Virginia Tech/ACC merchandise.

Mark Warner's thorough understanding of the important policy issues of today and his performance as governor will make him the best candidate to represent Virginia in the United States Senate. On November 4, 2008, the Hokie Guru urges a vote for Mark Warner. This should be a no-brainer because he got us into the ACC.