So, Virginia went back into the red column last night as it elected a Republican governor again. I haven’t been paying much attention to the coverage today, but I have read all sorts of reasons for the win. Of course it is being said that it is a repudiation of Obama, (that was a given), a pendulum swing back to the hard right, yada, yada. I’ve also read and heard that this means the Democrats need to continue to veer off to the left.
It is actually much more simple than that. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate, actually was a very weak candidate and ran one of the stupidest races I’ve seen in a long time. It has been apparent in these parts that he was destined to lose for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong, McDonald, the winner and the Republican is no great candidate, but he at least didn’t appear stupid on the trail.
As to that veering leftward by the Democrats. That doesn’t work here. The only reason we’ve had two Democratic governors in the last 8 years was because both Warner and Kaine realized that Virginia is nothing if not conservative and both appealed to that.
Bottom line, just like the National big picture Democrats, the Virginia Democrats prove yet again, that the worst enemy they have is themselves.
