Defining success in politics is often a matter of where you sit and whom you sit with. That was certainly true during this year’s session of the Virginia General Assembly. If you were in the Republican majority in Richmond, passing the transportation bill was a major success. However, if you’re a Democrat, you’re not so sure.

For the most part, the Democratic members of the House and Senate don’t like the new bill, and Gov. Tim Kaine is threatening what he calls major surgery on the proposal. But the bottom line is that for the first time in a generation, the Republican-dominated General Assembly passed a major transportation bill. Flaws and all, that’s a noteworthy achievement.

Where do we go from here? It’s a new game, and the politics have shifted. The fate of the transportation bill is now up to the governor.

The bill involves large-scale borrowing to give the commonwealth’s roads a rapid infusion of cash. However, the big issue isn’t the need for the investment, but rather how the bonds — which extend over two decades — will be repaid. The GOP wants to repay them using revenue in the General Fund. What this means is that as the bonds come due, the interest and principal — think of it as a big mortgage — will be repaid out of the same pot of money that supports education, police and health care.

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This solution could work, but if things get tight down the road, it doesn’t rule out the possibility, even the likelihood, of future tax increases. Another approach, similar to one used by President Ronald Reagan back in 1983, didn’t make it past the legislature. Reagan needed to provide more money for the nation’s infrastructure and did it by increasing the gas tax. This is possibly something Kaine might try to revive.

Then there is the matter of local taxes. Part of the proposal gives localities several options to raise funds for local road improvements. This is not unprecedented, and there are some arguments to support it. However, it seems that the General Assembly, unwilling to tell voters that some modest tax increases to support roads may be necessary, was quite happy to leave that task to the local boards of supervisors and city councils.

The big question now is the politics. Republicans knew that they had to leave town with a transportation plan or face the prospect of heavy losses in November, when Democrats were sure to make transportation their No. 1 campaign issue. In fact, they were counting on it. But now the GOP has gained a strategic advantage and can claim they have a solid proposal for fixing Virginia’s roads.

This strategy has left the Democrats wondering what to do next.

It’s almost a given that the governor’s surgical fixes won’t be popular with Republicans, and a veto is likely. But the GOP can then claim they brought a bill to the table, and the Democratic governor said “No.”

During the session, Kaine did his best to stay out of the debate. But now it’s his turn to make the case for the Democrats — and that’s not going to be easy. Kaine has proven skilled at being the master of the staged event and the focused message. Indeed, he has already taken to the road arguing that the GOP transportation plan is flawed, puts future commitments for critical state services at risk and pushes the burden of raising taxes onto the localities.

It will be a compelling case. But it has to go up against an equally attractive argument that the Republicans have managed to develop a bill that puts billions of dollars into transportation.

The voters may feel that any bill, no matter how flawed, that addresses their traffic woes is a good thing. The governor’s job now is to convince them that he has a better idea.

Examiner contributor David Kerr lives in Alexandria.