And there’s this from Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics: “On the whole, it is a good thing to reach out, entertain the legislators, get to know them,” he says. “Ask Mark Warner; he used the mansion well to get what he wanted from the General Assembly. But positions and party lines have hardened since then. McAuliffe is doing what Obama has been criticized for not doing, yet I doubt it yields very many additional votes on the big-ticket items.”