Posted on 01/10/2014 4:05:20 AM PST by Perdogg
Ai yi yi - I am with you on that one.
I work across the street from the capitol and I am already annoyed with the all inconveniences I have had to deal with for the last two months. The next 4 years will be unbearable.
I’ve met Howie and he seems to reflect my values so I’ll be voting for him at the convention as well.
Gillespie is running to make sure Warner wins reelection.
I agree, it would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to elect a Conservative US Senator in Virginia.
Virginia is a center-left state that will, just like America, continue to move Left in coming years.
The problem is that the Republican leadership, including Gillespie, is also center-left.
He supports almost every Democrat policy initiative, just with a slightly lower budget and a slightly slower rate of implementation.
I'm sorry, but slow motion political suicide is not acceptable to this Conservative anymore.
We have been compromising with people like you and Gillespie for more than a hundred years.
Where did compromise get us, even since Obama was elected?
National health care, homosexual marriage, massive debt, and, within a few months, some form of Amnesty, which Gillespie avidly supports.
I think many Conservatives are beginning to understand that, demographically and politically, we have been defeated.
I plan to keep “fighting” with words, but your center-left political strategy is irrational and self-destructive.
If the GOP cannot offer me Conservative candidates, I will stop voting.
An uninspired entry. But as of yet there are no other candidates worth a damn in the race (Poltics1 has Liartarian Savris considering a run to help out Warner) so I’ll decline to join everyone in taking a giant dump on Ed Gillespie at this time.
Yep. Not a fan of party hack Gillespie, but given that he’s the only person willing to run that has name ID (and he’s not politically toxic like Oberweis in Illinois), I’d hold my nose and support him.
Unfortunately I think we’re still unlikely to beat Warner or even have a real contest, but that’s not so much the fault of Gillespie as it is the fact that Virginia has become a left-leaning RAT state at this point. Electing that scumbag McAwful was the last straw for me (and I don’t buy the “silver lining” stuff about it being “close” due to Obamacare... McAwful should have NEVER been a viable candidate in the FIRST place!). Not to mention RATs currently hold all the other statewide offices in Virginia.
Weird how Virginia and West Virginia have essentially switched sides since 2000. It was a shocker when Gore lost West Virginia, that was thought to be safe RAT at the time due to the influence of the coal miner unions. And Virginia in 2000 was more reliable GOP held states that had never been one-party RAT like neighbors. It hadn’t had a RAT governor since the semi-decent (at least compared to other RATs) L. Douglas Wilder.
I think it’s hyperbolic to call VA “left-leaning” because McAwful won with a sub 48% plurality thanks to the Soros-backed liartarian spoiler. Rather it has gone from a GOP-leaning state to a tossup (horrid rats like McAwful win tossup states all the time) due to the NOVA moonbat contingent that will vote for anything with a D.
Warner’s curbstomp victory over another former RNC head (and Governor!) in 2008 was the only truly shocking result. I am not optimistic about beating him either but I’m glad someone is at least trying, I could have seen the bastard getting a total pass based on his “popularity”.
Random news, ARK Lt. Governor Mark Darr (R) resigns to avoid impeachment over using campaign funds for personal expenses.
That's a total of 5D, 0R for their statewide offices. Illinois is considered "safe RAT" and yet it has far more Republicans in statewide office (two RINOs and 1 conservative) than Virginia. A state that elects 100% RATs to statewide offices in election years other than RAT landslides like 2006 and 2008 is not a "toss" or "swing state", IMO.
Compare Virginia to a real "tossup" that can go either way (Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, etc.), and you'll find numerous Republicans holding statewide office in those states. I think Virginia has gone the way of its liberal neighbor Maryland (pockets of GOP voters, occasionally a decent Republican slips in and wins a major office, but otherwise continually elects horrible RATs)
Most states have more than 3 statewide constitutional posts.
Herring of course didn’t actually win. The rats won a real majority in exactly 1 of those 3 races, stole another, and won the top job only because of a spolier. Republicans have the House and US House Delegation.
Maryland doesn’t have close races.
Darr wasn’t a politician, but should’ve known better (and it was considered serious enough that the GOP majority in the legislature was going forward with impeachment). The good news is that Gov. Beebe cannot appoint a Democrat to the vacancy. It will require a special election or may go unfilled until next January.
Well, one thing this election did was break the “opposite party in the White House wins” streak. I believe McAwful will live up to his name as Governor and we’ll probably take back the office in 2017 (I’m leaning to Mark Obenshain to do the honor, as he would’ve done had the AG race not turned out so dubious). Tying both Northam and Herring to McAwful over the next 4 years is paramount, as one or the other will be the Dem nominee for Governor (and better for us, if both decide to fight for it — which has cost us before when our side did it).
One thing is clear, the VA Dems won’t be able to maintain this lopsided control indefinitely. They’ve just happened to be the beneficiaries of subpar GOP candidates and internecine battles.
That is fortunate.
I hope there is a special, a year is a little long for a post to go unfilled. In IL of course the LT can’t be replaced at all due to a state constitutional oversight. NY either, though the rats got around that with a court order.
AR law says a special election must occur within 150 days of the vacancy. They’ve held two within the past 2 decades, in 1993 when Jim Guy Tucker became Governor (and Huckster won the special, though it was initially only intended to be a placeholder until his Senate run in 1996, since he didn’t expect Tucker to be forced out as Governor) and 1996 after Huckster moved up to Governor (and won by Win Paul Rockefeller).
There are already two prominent GOP officeholders in the running, either of whom would be favored over a Democrat.
A cursory glance at some articles indicates the legislature may come up with an alternative to avoid an expensive special election. It makes sense that the President Pro Tempore of the State Senate should be elevated to the position (especially given that there’s less than a full year left in the term). A special election would make sense if 2 or more years were left.
Maryland and Virginia have the same track record now -- both have elected precisely 1 Republican governor for a single term in the last twelve years, over four election cycles (Virgina: McDonnell, Maryland: Ehlrich), and then the RATs retook the Governor's office again. Both McDonnell and Ehrlich were pretty decent guys. O'Malley took back the governor's office with 52% in Maryland, hardly a landslide.
RATs have dominated all the recent U.S. Senate races in both states. When it came to open Senate seats, Steel ran a competitive race in Maryland and George Allen ran a competitive Senate in Virginia. Gilmore was buried in Virginia and Maryland's other Senate seat (Mikulski) has had an entrenched RAT forever.
The Lt. Governor, Attorney General and Comptroller RATs in Maryland were entrenched incumbents running for re-election, so it can't be compared to competitive races for those open seats in Virgina.
Overall, Virginia's record in the past decade has been far closer to its neighboring Maryland than a middle of the road state like Ohio, Florida, Nevada, or Wisconsin. All of the latter four examples have elected numerous Republicans as Senators and Governors in the same amount of time. I'm not happy about it, but nevertheless those are the cards we've been dealt. If I was a strategist for the RNC, I'd spend much more time and attention on the latter four before I'd spend resources in a state that keeps electing horrible socialists whether it's a good year or bad year for the GOP.
Here’s some comparabile numbers:
Nevada
President (R) 1 time (2004)
Governor (R) 3 times (2002, 2006, 2010)
Senator (R) 2 times (2006, 2012)
Ohio
President (R) 1 time (2004)
Governor (R) 2 times (2002, 2010)
Senator- (R) 2 times (2004, 2010)
Florida
President (R) 1 time (2004)
Governor (R) 3 times (2002, 2006, 2010)
Senator (R) 2 times (2004, 2010)
Wisconsin
President (R) 0 times
Governor (R) 2 times (2010, 2012)
Senator (R) 1 time (2010)
Virginia
President (R) 1 time (2004)
Governor (R) 1 time (2009)
Senator (R) 1 time (2002)
The only “swing state” with a track record as poor for the GOP as Virginia is perhaps Wisconsin, though the difference is Wisconsin has had a decade of electing RATs and is now trending right-ward in the last election cycle (with the exception being its 2012 presidential vote), and Virginia has been electing RATs for the last decade and is now trending even more leftward in the recent election cycles (with the exception being a narrow win for a GOP governor in 2009). Other than that, Virginia’s sparse example of a GOP “win” was when RINO John Warner was re-elected over a decade ago in 2002). Wisconsin shows much more recent promise for the GOP with Ron Johnson beating a powerful RAT incumbent in 2010, and Scott Walker taking back the Governor’s office in 2010 and then soundly defeating a recall attempt in 2012.
My money is on all four the above states performing better for the GOP in 2014 as well. Virginia have had a reputation as a “conservative” state in the past, but sadly it is now become further left than any of the above states.
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