Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

Republicans are having all the fun these days of having a wide-open presidential nomination contest—OK, guys named Tom and Duncan are likely to drop soon but they still have a Mitt, a Fred, a Rudy, a Ron, a Mike and a John—and now folks are lining up to take on Jim Gilmore.

Jim, the first to drop from the presidential lineup, is by far the front-runner for the right be become the serious underdog to Democrat Mark Warner, another former governor looking for a 2008 Senate seat.

Now a Chris and a Bob are looking seriously at getting in with Jim for a convention battle to see who gets to take on MarkNotJohn.

Chris Saxman, a delegate from Staunton, is little-known outside of GOP circles but has few of the negatives people might attach to Jim Gilmore if they recall the split he helped engineer between Senate and House Republicans during his governorship.

Bob Marshall, a veteran delegate from Prince William County, is better known as perhaps a truer conservative than mighty conservative Gilmore. Marshall is also mulling a Senate bid and notes that Gilmore is not held in high esteem by conservatives for saying he would allow abortions during a woman’s first trimester.

“I’m just looking around,” Marshall said the other day. “I like Jim. I’ve worked with him, but his hands-off first trimester abortions, that’s not going to enthuse anyone.”

“Is it possible for me to do this? I think so,” Marshall said.

Is Gilmore a pure enough conservative for party activists? That question will be knocked around Friday night and Saturday at the GOP’s Advance in Arlington. There’s nothing like a little competition to keep a party kickin.