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Kaine to Keep Ambitions Secret This Weekend

Don’t expect any announcements from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine this weekend in Southwest Virginia.

An official who can speak for Kaine, who is considering whether to run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D), tells Roll Call that Kaine won’t be making any news this weekend. As Roll Call reported Thursday, Kaine will attend a dinner in honor of ex-Rep. Rick Boucher in Southwest Virginia on Saturday night. Some local Democrats take that as a sign the former governor is inching closer to a bid by staying engaged back home.

“The Governor will not be making any announcements about the Senate this week and he will not be making any news on the Senate race at the event honoring Rick Boucher in Southwest Virginia this weekend,” the official said. “Rick Boucher is one of Governor Kaine’s closest friends and political allies and he was eager to attend this event honoring him long before there was a Senate vacancy in Virginia.”

State Democrats have not been bashful about their hopes that Kaine will run. Ex-Sen. George Allen (R) is expected to prevail in a Republican primary for the nomination, and a 2012 Kaine-Allen matchup in the presidential battleground state would be one of the closest-watched contests in the nation.

Roll Call Politics rates this race a Tossup.

For more from our At the Races politics blog, click here.

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