"After ducking a re-election fight for U.S. Senate to run for governor in 1989, Paul Trible struggled to establish credentials as a prospective chief executive.

At a debate in Williamsburg with his rivals for the Republican nomination, he couldn't even list the governor's four basic constitutional duties.

It came as no surprise that Trible -- now a chief executive of a different sort: president of Christopher Newport University -- lost the primary.

There may be a lesson in the decline and fall of Paul Trible for another politician attempting a fast one for governor: Terry McAuliffe.

The restless former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, an A-list talking head and friend of Bill and Hillary, McAuliffe may be a man with too much time and money on his hands.

From his manse in McLean -- that duchy of sixand seven-figure-a-year come-heres fatted at the federal trough -- McAuliffe is plotting a bid for the 2009 Democratic nomination for governor.

This is unwelcome news for the two announced candidates: Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds, both loyal, lower-profile Democratic soldiers -- guys who don't have Wolf Blitzer on their speed dial.

It's bad enough that Moran and Deeds now must fret about a multimillionaire schmoozer trying to buy the nomination. They also should worry what it suggests about state Democrats; that at the worst possible occasion -- an election for governor, the main event in Virginia -- they could become synonymous with the we-centric politics of the Clintons.

A McAuliffe candidacy would mean excitement, assuming the nomination contest doesn't become a knife fight. That might be unavoidable, since Moran and Deeds have what McAuliffe lacks: Virginia credentials.

They've been prosecutors. Both have been legislators for more than a decade. They understand Virginia's issues and quirky politics; Deeds, especially. In 2005, he lost for attorney general by just over 300 votes. It was the closest statewide election in Virginia history.

McAuliffe isn't trying to earn his spurs as much as buy them.

He's pledged $100,000 to help the state party pay for its new headquarters in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom. He again opened his home for a fundraiser last weekend for the neighborhood Democratic committee, an event attended by Moran. McAuliffe is traveling the state for Barack Obama. At stops in Roanoke and Ashland, Deeds staffers recorded McAuliffe's remarks.

This is opposition research on a fellow who could have much to answer for: A trial balloon for governor of Florida in 2005 -- punctured, well, because he doesn't live there. His $18 million profit on a $100,000 investment in Global Crossing, a giant telecom that collapsed in 2002. Plundered, gone-bust businesses are now even less fashionable.

Here's guessing McAuliffe sits for a crash tutorial in Virginiana from lobbyists and business executives. He's hired a Kaine operative and may bring on another. McAuliffe can't enter the campaign hiding out, much as Sarah Palin has. Can't you hear McAuliffe in a debate: "And I can see Richmond from my house."

It wouldn't be the first time a small-bore movie star parachutes into state politics. Some have been winners: Chuck Robb, John Warner, George Allen. But the losers, such as Ollie North, are a reminder that all that glitters sometimes isn't even fool's gold." (Jeff Schapiro, Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 6, 2008)