GOP Gains in Old Dominion
As I was busy with papers and classes for the past few days, I didn’t much time to look at (much less comment on) Tuesday’s election returns until today. While I am disappointed that the Governor’s reform agenda was defeated in California, my current “home state,” I am pleased that Republicans made gains in Virginia (my immediate past “home state”).
Four years ago, when President Bush was at his highest level in public opinion polls, Democrats won two of the three constitutional offices in the Old Dominion, losing only the Attorney General’s race. This year, Republicans held onto the Attorney General’s office and picked up the Lieutenant Governor’s seat as well, losing only the race for Governor. Not bad considering the Republican president is currently at his lowest level in opinion polls. Guess the president’s drop in popularity didn’t have much bearing on the Virginia elections.
And there’s some irony in the Virginia elections. Jerry Kilgore, the only Republican to win a statewide race in 2001, defeating Democrat A. D. McEachin for Attorney General, is the only Republican to fall short in statewide balloting this year, losing to Democrat Tim Kaine by just under 6 points, a margin nearly identical to Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Earley’s loss four years ago to Democrat Mark Warner.
With the election of Bill Bolling as Lieutenant Governor and Bob McDonnell at Attorney General, Republicans can be pleased that they did a bit better in the Old Dominion than four years ago. Still, it would have been nice to have won the Governor’s chair as well. Oh, well, you can’t have everything.
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I guess you have to find something positive amid all the rest of the Republican woes and poor showings at the polls. Good for you Suzy Sunshine!
Comment by gaycowboybob — November 11, 2005 @ 1:48 am - November 11, 2005
Oh, GCB, you do make it easier to prove that leftists lack a sense of humor. By historical standards, the GOP didn’t do all that poorly. The left attempts to make the elections out to be some big Democratic blowout. So, with tongue firmly planted in cheek and relyng on the facts of the election return, I show them as a GOP victory.
(Sometimes, when dealing with leftists, we do have to spell things out.)
Comment by GayPatriotWest — November 11, 2005 @ 2:16 am - November 11, 2005
The woman who ran as lt. governor for the Democrats was possibly the most liberal person to ever run for a major office in Virginia. She was out spent by several hundred thousand dollars. And yet she got 49% of the vote. The attorney general’s race is heading to a recount.
I’m wondering why you didn’t mention the delegate races. One incumbent Republican, Dick Black, who obsessed over banning gay adoption and foster care, lost by double digits. Bob Marr, who attacked his independent opponent for taking money from a gay Republican, is headed to a recount because he lost by about 40 votes. Chris Craddock, who ran an extremely anti-gay campaign to defeat the GOP incumbent in the primary, lost the general election after making controversial remarks about gays and Africans.
In one sense, the Republicans made gains, but extremist viewpoints took a big hit in Virginia. I wish you had focused on that.
Comment by Carl — November 11, 2005 @ 3:11 am - November 11, 2005
Carl–I didn’t know the details about the delegate races. Your stories bear out what I learned in working in Virginia politics in the 1990s. In the Old Dominion — at least in its urban and suburban areas — antigay doesn’t play.
From what I’ve read about the statewide campaign, it seems that Kaine ran on local issues while Kilgore attacked Kaine on the death penalty. From my experience in Virginia politics, I saw that Republicans win when they run on Virginia issues and lose when they appeal to extremists.
Republicans need to learn from their successful gubernatorial candidates–George Allen and Jim Gilmore who were each elected with a higher percentage of the voter than either Warner received in 2001 or Kaine this past week. Had Kilgore followed their lead, we might have seen a GOP sweep in the commonwealth this past week, instead of settling for two out of three.
Comment by GayPatriotWest — November 11, 2005 @ 3:46 am - November 11, 2005
The reason Kilgore lost was most likely because he didn’t find an issue that resonated with voters, the way Jim Gilmore did with ending the car tax. Kilgore started strongly, but he faded because he was squishy about the massive tax increase Mark Warner foisted on the state. Bolling, on the other hand, ran on a platform of returning the state’s massive tax surplus to the voters. That’s why he won. And the Virginia legislature was elected to a 59-41 Republican majority.
That said, I hope this election scared some sense into the Republicans occupying the White House and Capitol Hill. Although, the recent stupidity about refusing to cut spending says otherwise.
Comment by V the K — November 11, 2005 @ 5:43 am - November 11, 2005
I should also say that I don’t think these races were seriously affected by Bush. I think the people in Virginia, as in most states, can separate national from state matters. Virginia is booming right now and people felt that Mark Warner’s policies were a reason why. Since they knew a Democrat governor would be kept in check by a Republican legislature on most issues, they took a chance on Kaine. I think that the politics of fear concerned some of them to the point where they almost felt they had to split their tickets. The districts Black and Marrs represented were considered fairly safe for Republicans, so I think voters were trying to send even the entrenched incumbents a warning. Kaine also talked about urban sprawl, which helped him rack up big totals in Northern Virginia. And Kaine had better ads. When I saw one of the debates I wasn’t impressed by either candidate, Kaine seemed defensive and Kilgore seemed desperate, but in Kaine’s ads he knew all the touchy-feely promises to make.
I have to admit that I’ve never really seen the Mark Warner appeal. He’s a smart man, obviously, but he seems robotic to me. I kept hearing that Kaine was a bad knockoff of Warner, but to me Kaine seems slightly more genuine and unlike a lot of Democrats, he seems to talk about faith because he’s actually a religious man, not because he thought it would get votes. If I lived in Virginia I could see myself being tempted by the way his campaign was run – a humble, simple man who wanted to help keep progress in Virginia. Meanwhile, Kilgore ran ads talking about Kaine not wanting to give Hitler the death penalty. For whatever reason, Kaine did connect with people. I mean, he even won Virginia Beach, Pat Robertson’s home base, which Warner never won. I grew up in the South and I remember a time when Catholics were not too popular on a political level. I never thought I’d see one elected governor, outside of Louisiana. I just hope that Kaine keeps his word and does not follow the liberal line on abortion or gun control, the 2 big reasons so many people hate Democrats.
If anyone wants to see how various openly gay candidates did in the elections, including some Republicans, here you go.
http://washingtonblade.com/2005/11-11/news/national/gay-pols.cfm
Comment by Carl — November 11, 2005 @ 8:02 am - November 11, 2005
Very interesting about Virginia but I have seen not seen a post mortem on the NJ gubernatorial race. There was a time when Doug Forrester was ahead of Corzine. Then a few days before the election I read that conservatives would probably sit this one out, (payback for Brent Schundler?) When are we going to learn the importance of the ¨R¨after the name. Apparently the disaster that Jim Jefford´s defection caused still hasn´t set in yet. All in all, elections in 2006 will be a real uphill battle in most sectors. Dems made gains in Bucks County, PA. That should tell us something.
Comment by Roberto — November 11, 2005 @ 9:24 am - November 11, 2005
By historical standards, the GOP didn’t do all that poorly.
“…didn’t to all that poorly” and “did well” are different things last time I checked. And in a pretty Red state, that has significance.
Comment by gaycowboybob — November 11, 2005 @ 11:31 am - November 11, 2005
GCB, the only thing significant about this election in terms of the GOP’s prospects is that when the Democrats run on issues of concern to voters and the GOP doesn’t, the Democrats win. And right now, on the national level, the Democrats don’t seem as interested in the issues as do their Virginia counterparts.
And once again, since you seem to lack a sense of humor, you didn’t get the point of the post.
Comment by GayPatriotWest — November 11, 2005 @ 12:09 pm - November 11, 2005
I got the point of the post, which wasn’t funny, especially when you have to edit the “humor” from my reply.
[ Our point is proven; you lack a sense of humor. --Ed.]
Comment by gaycowboybob — November 11, 2005 @ 12:40 pm - November 11, 2005
Roberto, I think the problem with New Jersey was that Forrester was an unappealing candidate. In many ways. And the ads he ran involving Corzine’s ex-wife were extremely inappropriate. Most of his campaign seemed to assume that people would just reject Corzine if he was painted as a corrupt Democrat.
Comment by Carl — November 11, 2005 @ 1:08 pm - November 11, 2005
Never, in #10, I no longer live in the Commonwealth, so didn’t get to follow the campaign, but from the national coverage of the VA race, it does seem that Kilgore ran a largely negative campaign–which has more bearing on the Democrats in ’06 than it does for the GOP.
People want to vote for something. Kilgore didn’t give that to them.
Comment by GayPatriotWest — November 11, 2005 @ 8:21 pm - November 11, 2005
My perspective.. for what its worth.
Northern Virginia is beginning to look more like a blue state than a true Southern state. Not by voting patterns, but by its culture and values. When you have a tax-happy Fairfax County spending $500,000 on program for ILLEGAL immigrants, yet every road in the county is gridlocked during daylight hours… something is wrong.
There is something to the fact that Virginia and NJ vote for Governor together. They are both beginning to look like each other. And that isn’t a compliment to Virginia.
Comment by GayPatriot — November 12, 2005 @ 7:32 am - November 12, 2005
Kaine is more conservative than any of the Republican governors elected in New Jersey in recent years. At least on the issues that matter to most social conservatives.
Comment by Carl — November 12, 2005 @ 4:12 pm - November 12, 2005
Program on the emergence of civilization.
“14 species of large animals capable of domesitcation in the history of mankind.
13 from Europe, Asia and northern Africa.
None from the sub-Saharan African continent. ”
Favor.
And disfavor.
They point out Africans’ failed attempts to domesticate the elephant and zebra, the latter being an animal they illustrate that had utmost importance for it’s applicability in transformation from a hunting/gathering to agrarian-based civilization.
The roots of racism are not of this earth.
Austrailia, aboriginals:::No domesticable animals.
The North American continent had none. Now 99% of that population is gone.
AIDS in Africa.
Organizational Heirarchy
Heirarchical order, from top to bottom:
1. MUCK – perhaps have experienced multiple universal contractions (have seen multiple big bangs), creator of the artificial intelligence humans ignorantly refer to as “god”
2. Perhaps some mid-level alien management
3. Evil/disfavored aliens – runs day-to-day operations here and perhaps elsewhere
Terrestrial management:
4. Chinese/egyptians – this may be separated into the eastern and western worlds
5. Romans – they answer to the egyptians
6. Mafia – the real-world 20th century interface that constantly turns over generationally so as to reinforce the widely-held notion of mortality
7. Jews, corporation, women, politician – Evidence exisits to suggest mafia management over all these groups.
Movies foreshadowing catastrophy
1985 James Bond View to a Kill 1989 San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake.
Many Muslims are being used like the Germans and Japanese of WWII::being used to hurt others and envoke condemnation upon their people.
They can affect the weather and Hurricane Katrina was accomplished for many reasons and involves many interests, as anything this historical is::
1. Take heat off Sheenhan/Iraq, protecting profitable war machine/private war contracts
2. Gentrification. New Orleans median home price of $84k is among the lowest in major American cities, certainly among desirable cities.
Our society gives clues to the system in place. We all have heard the saying “He has more money than god.” There is also an episode of the Simpsons where god meets Homer and says “I’m too old and rich for this.”
This is the system on earth because this is the system everywhere.
god is evil because of money.
I don’t want to suggest the upper eschelons are evil and good is the fringe.
But they have made it abundantly clear that doing business with evil (disfavored) won’t help people. They say only good would have the ear, since evil is struggling for survival, and therefore only the favored could help.
The clues are there which companies are favored and which are disfavored, market domination being one clue, but they conceal it very hard because it is so crucial.
I offer an example of historical proportions:::
People point to Walmart and cry “anti-union”.
Unions enable disfavored people to live satisfactorly without addressing their disfavor. This way their family’s problems are never resolved. Without the union they would have to accept the heirarchy, their own inferiority.
Unions serve to empower.
Walmart is anti-union because they are good. They try to help people address and resolve their problems by creating an enviornment where there are fewer hurdles.
Media ridicule and lawsuits are creations to reinforce people’s belief that Walmart is evil in a subsegment of the indistry dominated by the middle and lower classes.
Low-cost disfavored Chinese labor is utilized by corporate america to maximize margins. They all do it. Only WalMart gets fingered because they are the ones who help, and those who seek to create confusion in the marketplace want to eliminate the vast middle class who have a real chance and instead stick with a lower classes who may not work otherwise. So they dirty him up while allowing the others to appear clean.
The middle class is being deceived. They are being misled into the unfavored, and subsequently will have no assistance from their purchases with corporate america.
I believe the coining of the term “Uncle Sam” was a clue alluding to just this::Sam Walton and WalMart is one of few saviors of the peasant class.
Amercia is a country of castoffs, rejects. Italy sent its criminals. Malcontents.
Between the thrones, the klans and kindred, they “decided” who they didn’t want and acted, creating discontent and/or starvation.
The u.s. is full of disfavored rejects. It is the reason for the myriad of problems not found in European countries. As far as the Rockafellers and other industrialists of the 19th century go, I suspect these aren’t their real names. I suspect they were chosen to go and head this new empire.
Royalty is the right way to organize a society. Dictatorships and monarchies are a reflection of the antient’s hierarchical organization.
Positions go to those who have favor with the rulers, as opposed to being elected.
Elections bring a false sense of how the world is. Democracy misleads people.
Which is why the disfavored rejects were sent to the shores of America::To keep them on the wrong path.
Jesus Christ is a religious figure of evil. These seperatist churches formed so they could still capture the rest of the white people, keeping them worshipping the wrong god.
And now they do it to people of color, Latinos and Asians, after centuries of preying upon them.
Since Buddism doesn’t recongnize a god, the calls are never heard, and Chinese representation is instead selected by the thrones.
It was set up this way. Perhaps dyanstic thrones had a say, but maybe not.
Budda was the Asian’s Jesus Christ::: bad for the people. “They came up at the same time for a reason.”
Simpson’s foreshadowing::Helloween IV special, Flanders is Satan. “Last one you ever suspect.”
“You’ll see lots of nuns where you’re going:::hell!!!” St. Wigham, Helloween VI, missionary work, destroying cultures.
Over and over, the Simpsons was a source of education and enlightenment, a target of ridicule by the system which wishes to conceal its secrets.
Jews maim the body formed in the image of “god”, and inflicted circumsision upon all other white people, as well as the evil that is Jesus Christ.
I think about how Jews (were used to) created homosexuality among Slavics, retribution for the Holocaust.
Then I think of the Catholic Church and its troubles.
What connection is here between Jews and the Catholic church???
If it is their sinister motives that’s behind the evil that is Jesus Christ are they being used at all?
Perhaps it is them who are pulling strings.
Their bondage in Egypt proves their disfavor. The Jew leaders decided to prey on the up-and-coming Europeans to try to fix their problems with the ruling elite, a recurring aspect of their pathology.
I believe Islam is the one true religion, and those misled christians who attack “god’s” most favored people will pay for it dearly one day.
Comment by grandpa stole bets — November 16, 2005 @ 8:51 pm - November 16, 2005