Virginia Moves Toward Romney

Real Clear Politics ^ | Sept.2,2012 | Salena Zito

[Hojczyk]

Wanda Snead wants the same thing for her family, her community and her country: “Someone who will take charge of this mess that is happening in our economy and get the country moving again.”

Snead, 56, and her husband, Sam, 64, run a real estate company in this charming Northern Virginia town at the base of Shenandoah National Park, where majestic Skyline Drive meanders down to North Carolina.

They have owned the company for more than 30 years. In 2009 they had ten agents and two offices; today they have three agents and one office.

“We are very fortunate and blessed to be able to keep our doors open still, but it has been a struggle,” she said. Housing keeps America’s economy going, she said, and “Obama has clearly never understood that.”

Snead and her husband are not fanatical Republicans. They are independent voters who, for the first time, have a political sign in front of their business along John Marshall Highway, which runs through the center of town.

Armando Torres, 53, a Democrat from Bristow in suburban Northern Virginia, is a master electrician and engineer; he also owns a small property-management business.

“We have just been devastated, not only in this economy but in the decisions we have to make for our future,” he said.

Torres works as an electrical engineer during the day, then runs his own business after punching out. He worries about his employees every minute of every day: “It’s gotten to the point where I am not bringing in enough to make payroll, which means I am either laying people off or borrowing money.”

He and his wife, Kim, said Romney has their full support in November.

“It is vital that he wins,” Torres said emphatically.

[Hojczyk]

Salena is a great election reporter....I hope she is on John Batchelor tonight

[fhayek]

Virginia, Ohio and either Iowa or Wisconsin. That where it will be won or lost.

[MissMagnolia]

Here in the Old Dominion, it’s not so friendly to Obama/Biden these days. :-)

[Walkingfeather]

My political friend says he sees no ground game or energy for romney in VA is that correct?

[going hot]

Zero’s corner is shrinking daily.

[Andrei Bulba]

Pet peeve time, is it possible for an article to GET TO THE POINT? Every writer nowadays thinks I want to read about the Sneads and Shenendoah Valley’s geography before finally addressing the article headline: Virginia Moves Toward Romney. Did it ever get there, I gave up.

[MissMagnolia]

The primary situation got really mucked up here with only Romney & Paul on the ballot and that left a sour taste in a lot of mouths. Ryan has been here twice in the last week or so and getting good crowds - folks really like him. I suspect that the Romney campaign has been leaving VA to McDonnell, Cuccinelli, Bolling, etc. but will be making more personal appearances now that they have more campaign funds and it’s closer to November.

Biden has not been doing so well here (local business refused a visit) and Obama got turned down by UVA for an on-campus visit. Obama pretty much has to go to a college environment or a black area (Bobby Scott’s district, etc.) to get the kind of turnout he needs to be seen as still ‘popular’. The Allen/Kaine Senate race is going to start heating up the politics around here pretty quickly, too. From talks I’ve had with folks (small business owners, etc.) a lot of the preppy-type Obama voters are staying quiet about their votes come November. but I don’t think they’ll be pulling the lever for him again.

[Dilbert San Diego]

And let’s hope that George Allen wins election back to the Senate.

I still can’t believe how the MSM manufactured that controversy about “macaca”. George Allen said macaca, and the Washington Post and others ran front page stories, defining macaca for us, and telling us that it was an ethnic slur. The whole thing was manufactured. But it was enough to defeat Allen in 2006.

Virginia is a battleground state. Let’s hope it comes through.

[Dilbert San Diego]

And let’s hope that George Allen wins election back to the Senate.

I still can’t believe how the MSM manufactured that controversy about “macaca”. George Allen said macaca, and the Washington Post and others ran front page stories, defining macaca for us, and telling us that it was an ethnic slur. The whole thing was manufactured. But it was enough to defeat Allen in 2006.

Virginia is a battleground state. Let’s hope it comes through.

[dps.inspect]

Ohmygosh, know what you mean... seems like most of these writers see reporting the news as their opportunity at writing prose... like getting the romanic setting just right before giving the low-down. I give up on a lot of articles just because I don't have time to read through the fluff, or I get bored with their regurgitation of all the facts for the 30th time before getting to nut of the thing.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I would add Florida to the list. If Obama carries Florida, it will make it that much tougher for Romney, as he would have to carry more of the battleground states.

We have to know that it’s unlikely that Romney gets all of the battleground states. So it will come down to which ones go his way. I think Florida is a key one since it has so many electoral votes.

[ScottinVA]

I strongly believe my beloved Old Dominion won`t repeat its 2008 error, America. Sorry for Virginia OD`ing on the kool-aid last time around.

[TonyInOhio]

My political friend says he sees no ground game or energy for romney in VA is that correct?

Anecdotes are poor measures of conditions, so I hope your friend is incorrect. I believe the Romney campaign will do whatever it takes to win Virginia, as I see no plausible path to victory for Romney without winning the Commonwealth.

[Reily]

Emphatically don't agree !
The Romney people are very aggressive here in Northern Va.
Phone calls (every other day it seems!), ringing doorbells (twice...once with a Romney sign in my yard!)....and speaking of that Romney sign....I got up one morning and there it was! They didn't even ask ! It pissed me off for awhile, I was by no means a Romney supporter in the primary. In fact I was still mad about how the Va GOP-Elites had slanted the playing field for Romney. To me that does show aggression and a desire to win. Something I never saw when McCain was running!

However Romney won, he got a plurality or a straight win even in primaries where they didn't stack the deck. He is the only viable alternative to ridding us of the Zero plague. Romney is at least unambiguously an American and loves this country, he has actually done “things” ,more then just trolling for votes. I still think he is among those GOP candidates that would simply do a good job of “managing our decline”, and that's not because they are bad people, its the only thing in their idea horizon to do. I have said this many times before if our rush to disaster is slowed down to 200 mph and decelerating rather then the current 1000 mph and accelerating we can still turn this around. I think Romney is a "manager" capable of doing the "deceleration". The Paul Ryan selection gives me particular reason to think so. An incremental improvement is better then no improvement and certainly better then continued damage!

[JLAGRAYFOX]

You folks gonna be surprised, big time!!! Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, New Hamshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, all going for Romney/Ryan on November 6, 2012. Potential for Romney/Ryan: New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington State. Obama and Democrat Party. loss by a landslide!!!

[bgill]

It apauls me that Virginia, Washington’s home state, voted for the usurper.

[rickomatic]

I’d like to believe your prediction for a Romney landslide including Washington State. But, unless you live here you have no idea of how many incredibly naive and stupid leftists continue to keep us a one party state. and of late, if the votes are not there on election day, the machine manufactures them. I don’ t expect this year to be any different.

[RKBA Democrat]

This article doesn’t really say anything. Doesn’t reference a poll or anything olther than an interview with a couple of people.

I’m here, in VA, and let me tell what I see: indifference. The ads have been going for months. I see few signs or bumper stickers. No one wants to talk about the election. Its really kind of weird to tell the truth.

In my neighborhood with 150 plus homes I went around both Thursday and Friday and counted signs and bumper stickers. The results:

Zero yard signs. None. Nada.

2 bumper stickers for hussein.
1 bumper sticker for Rick Santorum
2 bumper stickers for Virgil Goode (my house).

That’s it. In going around town I’ve seen maybe a total of 40 signs/stickers for hussein. 12 or 13 for willard. And that’s it. As compared to 2008 its really something to behold.

[Reily]

In my NOVA neighborhood:

Zero yard signs for Zero
5 or 6 for Romney

and like I said before we keep getting phone calls
Maybe the RR campaign thinks the tipping point for Va is NOVA and maybe the Norfolk-Newport News-Hampton Roads areas.
I would like to hear if they have had similar experiences like I have had.