Paper: DC MetroRail expansion to Dulles Airport could affect VA Senate race

One of the nation's most-watched Senate races next year could be affected by what would appear to be a local transportation issue in Northern Virginia, a Washington newspaper posited Wednesday.

The Washington Examiner said in an op-ed that former Virginia Gov. and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine's electoral prospects could be hampered by cost overruns of the planned extension of Washington's MetroRail to Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. Kaine is running to replace retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D) and will likely face former Sen. George Allen (R), also a former Virginia governor who has had his own share of stumbles over the years.

But Kaine was governor when the agreement was made to use revenues from the Dulles Toll Road to build a new transit line to the airport, the newspaper said Wednesday. And with plans now calling for an underground station to be built, the Examiner says the tolls commuters in the crucial northern swing portion of the state pay could go up, which might bring down Kaine's poll numbers.

"Both presumptive nominees have a lot of baggage," the op-ed said. "But while Allen is dragging his behind him, Kaine's baggage is out front — waiting for him to trip over it.

"Virginia voters are familiar with Allen's widely publicized use of the term 'macaca' ('monkey') to describe an Indian-American Webb volunteer caught videotaping one of Allen's 2006 campaign appearances," the article continued. "In contrast, one of Kaine's top 'accomplishments' as governor is about to blow up in vote-rich Northern Virginia. It was Kaine who handed over the paid-for, revenue-producing Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority without bothering to ask the General Assembly for its approval.

"Thanks to Kaine, Dulles Toll Road commuters are now facing steeply escalating tolls that will reach as high as $10 one way by 2020," the article says.

The newspaper points out the the MetroRail expansion is being managed by appointed rather than elected officials.

"No other mega-transit project in the country relies on such an unfair funding mechanism," the article states.

Plans call for the first leg of the Dulles expansion, which has been informally dubbed the Silver Line, to open in 2013, just as Virginia's new senator would be taking office. The second leg of the route, which would go to Dulles Airport, is currently scheduled to open in 2016.

Recent polls show Kaine and Allen in a dead heat, though Allen faces opposition in the Republican primary, so he is not totally assured of being the GOP nominee.