McDonnell gathers inspiration from historic site

RICHMOND — Before Bob McDonnell’s swearing in as Virginia’s 71st governor, he headed across town Friday to listen to the inspiring battlecry of the man who was the first to hold the office.

McDonnell visited the historic St. John’s Church for a reenactment of the Second Virginia Convention of March 1775, where Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech calling for the colony to form a militia to fight the British over unfair taxes.

Henry became the state’s first governor a year later.

“This country was personally born by a speech given right on this ground, and I wanted to have my family and friends from around the country be inspired by the words of a former governor as we head toward tomorrow,” said McDonnell, who was joined by fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli and about 100 of their family members and friends.

McDonnell, who will be sworn in on Saturday, faces a $4 billion budget deficit and the realization that profound cuts must be made to core services like education, public safety and health care to balance the state’s budget. But he said those problems were nothing compared to those faced by Henry.

“He came in during the middle of the American Revolution. I’d say Henry and (Thomas) Jefferson had it much tougher than I do,” McDonnell said. “It helps me put that into perspective.”

McDonnell, 55, spent the past week volunteering at food banks and homeless shelters. Bins will be set up at the inauguration, along the parade route and at the inaugural ball to collect canned goods for the food banks and coats for the Salvation Army.

McDonnell had said he would raise only about $1.5 million for the inauguration, much less than the two governors before him.

McDonnell said Friday he was putting the finishing touches on his inaugural address. He’ll deliver it before about 120 family members, including his 93-year old father who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

He plans to take the oath with his hand on a Latin Vulgate Bible that was presented to his great-grandparents on their wedding day in 1876. McDonnell’s oldest daughter, Jeanine, 28, an Iraq war Army veteran, will sing the Star Spangled Banner.

Among other personal touches: McDonnell’s high school, Bishop Ireton, and his American Legion Post 110 from Virginia Beach are two of 47 groups that will march in the parade, along with the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Alumni Association and Hoggettes, of which his wife is a member, and the team’s marching band, and the band at James Madison University, where his youngest daughter Rachel, 21, goes to school.

The expanded parade will spill out beyond Capitol Square into the streets of downtown Richmond.

Meanwhile, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Friday he already had moved from the executive mansion back into his Richmond home.

It may take some time to adjust to life as a civilian, though. Kaine said during a question-and-answer session carried live on the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Web site that he went to the store Thursday night to buy 2 gallons of milk, and even though he thought he was his blue jeans and sweater jacket he was recognized.

“I thought it was really incognito until I heard a woman come on the microphone on the store audio and say, ‘We’re honored to have Governor Kaine in aisle 5, Governor Kaine in aisle 5,”‘ he said.

Kaine continues to serve as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He said he would try to keep his opinions on state matters to himself.

“I care deeply about the state, so there might be a time when I want to say something when I think an issue is of such significance that I want to say something about it. I’m not going to take the veil off in that regard,” he said. “But I do think it’s important not to hover.”

Kaine said he left McDonnell with two pieces of advice: Don’t limit your options and it’s never a mistake to get outside your office.

“I consider Bob a friend. We have different political views on a number of things, not everything,” he said. “But when I put those keys in his hands tomorrow I think it will be one friend putting the keys in another friend’s hands.”