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Tim Kaine: The man who closed Virginia's rest stops.

While going to Richmond over the weekend for the state high school basketball championships, I thought some about . . . rest stops.

You’ll recall that in the final year of Tim Kaine’s governorship, he closed most of them as a cost-saving move.

It was also an unpopular move, and both candidates for governor at the time vowed to re-open them — and the eventual winner, Bob McDonnell, did just that.

Now that Kaine appears to be moving closer to a Senate bid next year, I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons that Kaine brings to the race.

One big con is an actual con — as in convict. You’d think that his attempt to send convicted murderer Jens Soering (infamous for his role in a double murder in Bedford County in the ’80s) back to Germany would play right into the hands of George “I abolished parole” Allen. Kaine can’t do much to turn that one around.

Another con for Kaine will be those rest stops. That may not be the biggest issue in the world, but it’s one that the public can sure understand.

Except . . . is it possible that Kaine might be able to turn the closing of the rest stops to his advantage? The federal budget will surely be an issue in 2012; politicians always like to say they’re prepared to make “tough choices” — even if they’re not. But is this a case where Kaine can say “see, I really did make tough choices; I did the unpopular thing and closed the state’s rest areas.”

Is it possible the rest stop closing  might give Kaine some street cred on spending? Or does the fact that McDonnell found the money to re-open them completely undercut Kaine’s position and make him look bad on the issue? Or will they matter at all?

Feel free to pull into the “comment” space below and relieve your self of your thoughts on the matter.

– Dwayne Yancey