Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pickin' Up the Pieces

The morning after. Sound thumpin' for the Dems locally, across Virginia, and in New Jersey. Pundits will offer all sorts of reasons and justifications over the days and weeks ahead. Today I will be gathering yard and field signs. We'll be taking it in for recycling and hope you'll do the same... the cardboard signs, as well as the corrugated plastic and sleeves can all be recycled. That's too much BS to pile in our landfills.
While I'll admit surprise at some of the margins, the outcomes of the races are not much of a surprise in to anyone paying attention over the past weeks. The Valley typically runs 65-70% red and the outcome in the House races confirms this advantage continues. If GOP House candidates hadn't campaigned at all, they'd still have easily won.
A least one local whiner has bemoaned the nomination (actually he used his blog to undermine the ticket since the primary) of Creigh Deeds, believing that Terry McAuliffe would have brought energy to the Democratic ticket... I doubt the outcome would have been much different. From my perch, McAuliffe would have divided Democrats and united Republicans even more... if that is possible. True, the Deeds campaign stumbled and missed opportunities, but the stars were aligned for a Republican win in Virginia in 2009 and only major mistakes by McDonnell and friends could have changed the result. Have you heard the rumor that Terry is hinting at a run in 2013?
Actually, the GOP win in NJ is much more surprising than their wins in Virginia. The Garden State is (was?) deep blue while Virginia, despite last year's win by Obama, is at best reddish purple. Virginia voters are greatly impacted by the blowback from across the Potomac... millions of dollars of ads on health care, climate change, card check and so forth affect NOVA and beyond (we get D.C. stations here in the Valley). The net result was a growing frustration with all things government that was a drag on gubernatorial candidates seen as incumbents or surrogates for incumbents.
Running contrary to the anti-government mood was the passage of the meals tax in Rockingham County. The tax will only affect restaurants outside of town limits and 100% of funds raised support schools. Proponents were able to sell the tax as a way to avoid raising real estate taxes and as a tax that would be paid by others such as travelers along I-81. So, a tax was sold as anti-tax?
Looking ahead, several things come to mind. Virginia's budget will present very real challenges to McDonnell, the General Assembly, and to all Virginians. Hopefully, bipartisan solutions can be found. Just as the Republicans used our wonderful system of checks and balances to block some of Governor Tim Kaine's initiatives, the Democratic Virginia Senate will likely block McDonnell if he tries to shift General Fund dollars from schools to build roads.
Ironically, Governor-elect McDonnell's future is now closely linked to President Obama's. The success of each depends on a recovering economy and job creation. For the good of everyone, we should all hope they are successful in that endeavor.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Belle Rose what have i been telling you for the past 4 months. Virginia is NOT blue.Yes you did now the harvest has been reaped.

Anonymous said...

Belle Rose what happened to the come back kid ?

Progressive said...

Anon, why don't you turn the sound down on Fox news, and actually read some of the analysis done on yesterdays election. It's not as simple as you're trying to spin it my friend.

Anonymous said...

Progressive I have been saying Deeds was going to lose for 4 months and he lost by 18 % thats quite a CHANGE from last year when Obama won by 6 % . Virginia is NOT Democrat blue or Progressive blue the voters have spoken. Even several tax payer funded trips to Va by Obama himself couldn't even help the Democrats. Democrats of Va you are now in a growing group of Obama failures. YES YOU DID now you have reaped the harvest thats very simple even for a Democrat to understand.

Belle Rose said...

Deeds was misadvised by his campaign folks. He's not a negative person and his campaign shouldn't have gone that route. And, he allowed Bob M to redefine himself as a moderate, unchallenged. Reminds me of Allen/Terry contest.

Lets see... VA the victor runs as an anti-incumbent moderate. Same in NJ. But in the NY congressional race it was right wing that the Palin, Limbaugh, wingnuts supported... and lost.

Lesson #1... independents voted for change (not for extreme conservatism). Like they voted for change in 06 and 08 and now in 09. They may in 10 which is the lesson for D.C.

Lesson #2... Bob M promised that he would... and he better... govern from the middle and in a bipartisan spirit. If he retrenches to his right wing roots, he will fail and Dems will be back in 2013. We can all hope he learned from the Gilmoron failures. But, Repubs are slow learners sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Belle Rose can i ask you a question ?

Mary said...

The conservatives in the VA GOP will push him to return to taliban bob days. or daze. If he is dumb enough to do that, the independents and moderates who elected him will be pissed.

Anonymous said...

Mary you meant pissed like the independents are with Obama now.