There’s nothing quite like a D consultant giving an anonymous interview 2 days before an election, undercutting the D candidate and writing the headlines for Fox News.
They do it every fucking time.
Shit, the Republicans make every single minority sound like a criminal or terrorist. I don’t have a problem with the ad. This was a dream the kid was having and Charlottesville was in Virginia. I would imagine minorities are running scared there.
Meanwhile Gillespie is running for governor and running an ad about his position on a Federal bill which he has no input on, will not vote on and has nothing to do with him. Same as sanctuary cities, there are non in Virginia, but he’s making a huge deal about it.
And Northam played right into his hands on that one. Which is basic politics 101…as a candidate you don’t waffle on your stance in the final days of a campaign. It gets you no votes and chases away voters leaning your way. Doesn’t matter what the issue is…waffling becomes the issue.
I hope Northam wins, but its not looked like a well run campaign from a distance. We aren’t going to win big in 2018 by taking a stance that we are afraid of “galvanizing” right wing votes. We need to clearly stake out our ground, and when they go full racist whistling like Gillispie did, shout them down. Galvanize OUR voters.
Let’s see what happens. I think Northam holds on. Not going to waste emotion on this until after the event.
“I watch Virginia with great worry in part because of [Gillespie’s] dog-whistle politics … but also because the Democrats, the top of the ticket … are not able to run on big political and economic change,” Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, a Clinton campaign veteran who says Democrats must embrace left-wing populism more, told TPM during a Thursday conference call. “It doesn’t feel like they have learned the lessons from ’16.”
And then Tim Kaine (D-Loser) illustrates the point:
"Kaine said a Northam win “would send a good signal to Democrats going into 2018 that in a bellwether state people are embracing quality over demagoguery” and “bode well for the politics of 2018.”
Kaine was the Democratic VP who couldn’t Mike beat Pence in the VP Debate.
Dems desperately trying to pull Gillespie over the finish line.
Yes, you read that correctly.
What a bitch it is for the Democrats when they have nothing fake to offer, and are exposed as run of the mill racists.
“democrats” have a darned sight more to worry about than which backside gets to keep a chair warm in Virginia.
It Turns out that the “party” and the “DNC” (Don’t Nothin’ Count) were and are a whole lot more messed up internally than anyone thought.
And the first thing they try to do (In true Republican fashion) is to try to kill the messenger.
HAY SUCKERS!! I have a message for ALL OF YOU!!
My Countdown clock reads 365 days until the 2018 election.
Unless you REALLY want another two years of what’s gone on in America since noon on January 20,
you all had better pull your heads out. Stop dissecting everything and everybody over WHAT WENT WRONG in 2016 and start trying to fix WHAT CONTINUES TO BE WRONG IN 2017 with what fancies itself as the other most important “Party” in American Politics.
Because this morning, I STILL don’t think the “democrats” could win a national election in America today given 365 YEARS.
Virginia is one election.
Unless you live there, WHO CARES?
There are Senate and House Seats of greater importance, and once again, the “democrats” are chasing their tails to the point of exhaustion. When that happens AGAIN, as it has with other state-related races, the “democrats” will have yet another raft of excuses for self-immolation that prevent their “leadership” from fixing the persistent problems they have that will LOSE them the election in 2018, and most likely in 2020 as well.
If all this sounds slightly familiar, it’s because I was saying this from mid-2015 all the way thru until Election night 2016. You remember that, Right? When the “democrats” were sure to win?
Nothing has changed for the better.
No, Nothing.
And until it does fundamentally change, the only logical expectation is that things will get worse.
The only question left to Americans then is how much “worse” can America survive?
Why do Dems feel like this has to be a slam-dunk win? 50% plus one still give him the Gov’s mansion, the bully pulpit on, among other things, health care, and the ability to veto nut job legislation if the Ds can’t score in the General Assembly on the scale we need.
He’s making a huge deal out of it because it is a political winner for him. Most voters don’t know that he has no say over federal bills, or they know but don’t care if it makes him sound “tougher.”
I’ve watched this race closely. Northam is headed for a bigger win than McAuliffe in 2013. Warner won by less than a point. T-Mac won by under 3 points. So anyone who said that this race would be a blow out was being unrealistic.
The average of the latest 13 polls is N+3. The average of the last 6 polls is N +3. The average of the last 3 polls is N+4. And I’m sure GOP pollsters will throw in a few more surveys to bring that rolling average back down to…you guessed it…3 points.
What Dems have going for them is a much more juiced and energized base vote that is turning out early, particularly in NOVA + Richmond + a strong downticket, something VA has rarely had. Northam will also be helped by the national news cycles of the last week, as they are all anti-GOP.
As for the cultural stuff, I don’t think a Gillespie win or loss changes what the GOP will do in 2018. What Gillespie has done is not run a Trumper campaign, but rather an old fashioned Rove/Atwater/Bush style campaign - look slick and corporate and go hard on cultural touchpoint in ads. The ads, though, have a bit more of a Breitbart style, less subtle, unapologetically racist feel to them.
Gillespie is basically figuring out how to package a Trumper toned message for a candidate that doesn’t quite look or sound like a Trumper.
A VA Dem win is important for Dem morale, for 200k people who will get Medicaid expansion, to have an extra AG to provide pardon proof prosecutions vs. Trump, and it will have an important impact in how the GOP calculates their ability to survive voting for unpopular policies. IMHO, a Northam win will have a psychological impact on the tax debate, because VA is a state that will get screwed by the GOP tax plan. If the GOP believes that Dems can actually not choke an election away and win elections that polls say they’re supposed to win, that will temper how extreme the GOP gets in DC.
In addition, thanks to the late sabotage by the Bernie crew (and yes, I do believe this was tacitly supported if not more so by Bernie Sanders himself) against Northam, a Dem victory will embolden Tom Perez and actual registered Democrats who are loyal to Obama and Clinton to hit back at far left saboteurs who tend to be pro-Bernie. I’m talking about the noisy group who is not interested in winning like Konst, Zogby, Turner, Our Revolution and other related groups. I think Tom Perriello is providing the right model for 2016 Bernie supporters to follow. He has worked very hard for Northam and the D-ticket and might end up being a difference maker along with T-Mac to get the D ticket over the line.
If the Dems win in VA, T-Mac will become a top tier Presidential candidate, and will be a very strong one.
The Democrats’ slogan should be “We’re ALL in this together!” And that means no circular firing squads, no placing of individual agendas above the unifying agenda that the party works out. (Could the party do a better job of working out that agenda? You betcha.)
Troll.
Mark Warner is a Democrat, not a Republican, but often can be confused with one.
I think VA Dems do have this attitude. At the national level, less so.
Dear God no. No more Clinton cronies, please.
with progressives furious at Northam’s caution and moderation…
Whatever needs to be done to throw an election, EmoProgs will make sure it happens.
And as far as Gillespie supporters being racist: these people are the original snowflakes. Don’t like being called a racist? Maybe you shouldn’t be supporting the racist candidate. Seems logical enough, right?
Right, because we need more bib-dribbling and spoon-clanging self-described “progressives” who are identical to their right-wing adversaries. Be prepared to fund them entirely then, because we wouldn’t want “Clinton cronies” to pollute the pristine land you all occupy.
It’s difficult to repeatedly shoot yourself in the feet without eventually screwing up your mobility. Good work, Dems.
Ah yes, the obligatory “Dems in Disarray” piece. Pfft!