I notice that former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder is now running for mayor in Richmond ? and indeed is already acting like a mayor-elect. I must say right off the bat that I?ve always been a fan of Wilder. Elected as the first black governor in the U.S. back in 1989, he turned out to be a pretty strong fiscal conservative. More recently, he?s been sharply critical of the current Democratic governor, Mark Warner, saying that he wouldn?t have voted for Warner if he had known the latter would later raise taxes by over $1 billion.

Wilder?s strange career path brings to mind that of Jerry Brown, the former liberal governor of California who ran for president in 1992 as an advocate of the flat tax and later became a popular ? and surprisingly centrist ? mayor of Oakland.