Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Very interesting, Mr. Bond...
Tim Bill and Bob. Sounds like the cast of a perverted childrens show.
So what does this election really mean? Is it an indictment of Bush? Well, I'd attribute a couple tenths of a percent to that, but nothing more. I think this is really more an indictment on the slate of candidates the Republicans put forward, and proof that Mark Warner has a bright future in politics.
Deeds (as I've said, a fine and decent man) really needed a better base to work from. If he'd done slightly better in ANY part of Virginia, he would have won. Bristol, Winchester, or even Buena Vista would have done it. I'm actually amazed that he did as well as he did. To come from nowhere, be outspent, and still have amazingly low name recognition ratings, he put up one hell of a fight. Fewer than 2000 votes out of nearly 2,000,000 cast. That's a crushing way to lose. There's still a sliver of hope for Creigh, through the possibility of absentee ballots that still might be out there and the obvious recount that's coming.
I really think that Kaine pulled the rest of the party up. But most of his support comes from Warner. Take away his strong support from the public and these races would have easily been a GOP sweep, from the Gov's race to the Delegates. This has to be seen as a plus for his presidential aspirations. He's well funded, wildly popular in his home state, can energize his base, and appeals to the middle. His stock is seriously on the rise.
Take a look at just one obscure county from the last three elections. Henry County, tucked all the way down there in Southside, went 56% for Gilmore in '97. Warner won it with 60+ in '01, and Kaine took it with 51%. Kaine dominated in his strongholds, and took some surprising moral victories where you'd think Kilgore would have walked away with the vote.(read: SWVA and Shenandoah Valley)
Virginia's voters think we're better off than we were four years ago, and in the eyes of Virginia's voters, Tim has some big shoes to fill. Let's hope for Virginia's sake they're still thinking that way four years from now, because I really don't want to go back to where we were when Governor Jim left town.
So what does this election really mean? Is it an indictment of Bush? Well, I'd attribute a couple tenths of a percent to that, but nothing more. I think this is really more an indictment on the slate of candidates the Republicans put forward, and proof that Mark Warner has a bright future in politics.
Deeds (as I've said, a fine and decent man) really needed a better base to work from. If he'd done slightly better in ANY part of Virginia, he would have won. Bristol, Winchester, or even Buena Vista would have done it. I'm actually amazed that he did as well as he did. To come from nowhere, be outspent, and still have amazingly low name recognition ratings, he put up one hell of a fight. Fewer than 2000 votes out of nearly 2,000,000 cast. That's a crushing way to lose. There's still a sliver of hope for Creigh, through the possibility of absentee ballots that still might be out there and the obvious recount that's coming.
I really think that Kaine pulled the rest of the party up. But most of his support comes from Warner. Take away his strong support from the public and these races would have easily been a GOP sweep, from the Gov's race to the Delegates. This has to be seen as a plus for his presidential aspirations. He's well funded, wildly popular in his home state, can energize his base, and appeals to the middle. His stock is seriously on the rise.
Take a look at just one obscure county from the last three elections. Henry County, tucked all the way down there in Southside, went 56% for Gilmore in '97. Warner won it with 60+ in '01, and Kaine took it with 51%. Kaine dominated in his strongholds, and took some surprising moral victories where you'd think Kilgore would have walked away with the vote.(read: SWVA and Shenandoah Valley)
Virginia's voters think we're better off than we were four years ago, and in the eyes of Virginia's voters, Tim has some big shoes to fill. Let's hope for Virginia's sake they're still thinking that way four years from now, because I really don't want to go back to where we were when Governor Jim left town.
