Hillarysworld

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Hillarysworld -> National News -> (10/20/09) "Virginia governor race a snapshot of US attitudes" (AP)
Post Info
TOPIC: (10/20/09) "Virginia governor race a snapshot of US attitudes" (AP)
Destiny


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 276
Date:
(10/20/09) "Virginia governor race a snapshot of US attitudes" (AP)
Permalink  
 

This jerk will never stop campaigning, and with our money!  Check out the photo of the two guys clapping and laughing behind ovomit.  They're thinking to themselves, "we can't lose with this clown campaigning for us".

Let's vote them ALL out of office!

Virginia governor race a snapshot of US attitudes

AP
US governors' races test Obama's DemocratsAFP/File – US President Barack Obama (R) speaks at a rally for Senator Creigh Deeds (L) at the Hilton McLean Tysons …
By LIZ SIDOTI and BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writers – Tue Oct 20, 6:34 am ET

PURCELLVILLE, Va. – Just a year after this one-time Confederate state helped elect a black man president, Democrats are desperately trying to hang onto the governorship.

A lot has changed: Loyal Democrats are more subdued than last fall. Republicans are energized. Independents are proving to be ... independent. Voters of all kinds seem disenchanted.

Just like Americans nationwide.

The contest between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds provides a snapshot of sorts — 12 months after America elected Barack Obama as president and expanded Democratic majorities in Congress, and one year before midterm elections in every state.

And the picture, in Virginia as in the nation, is not pretty for Democrats.

Republicans are far more fired up than Democrats, and independents who leaned left just a year ago are tilting away. Frustration over the status quo, fear of the country's direction, and disillusionment about political leaders span the ideological spectrum.

"I'm disgusted by everything. We couldn't be at a worse place in this country," said Maria Taylor, a waitress in Purcellville's small business district. She calls herself an independent and hasn't decided whom to support as Virginia's next governor.

At the nearby hardware store, fellow undecided voter Cary Koppie, a one-man mowing company, is so angry he says he may sit out this election. "They're all a bunch of liars," he said. "You don't know who the heck to vote for anymore."

Two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, polls show McDonnell, a former state attorney general, leading Deeds, a former state legislator, by nearly double digits. After two terms of Democrats at the helm, voters may again be craving change. Every four years since 1997, Virginia has chosen the candidate of the opposite party from the one that controls the White House.

Prospects appear better for Democrats in New Jersey, where embattled Gov. Jon Corzine is in a close race with Republican Chris Christie in this year's other governor's race. Corzine is favored to win; it's a Democratic-leaning state and independent Chris Daggett is sucking support from both parties.

Obama will be campaigning for Corzine on Wednesday and has stops lined up for Deeds, too, before Election Day.

The outcomes won't predict next year's midterm results. So much could change. Jobs could return. Health care overhaul could pass. War in Afghanistan could be winding down. People could feel better about where the country is heading.

But given Virginia's newfound swing-voting behavior, the McDonnell-Deeds outcome will be a key measure of how America feels and, perhaps more importantly, how independent voters are acting ahead of the 2010 elections. Independents will be critical as Democrats try to protect their majorities in Congress and pick up governorships in a number of states.

Here in Virginia, as well as in the wider U.S., Republican crossover voters and independents are breaking from the Democrats, partly because they're put off by Obama's government expansion and expensive policy proposals like health care. The question in Virginia is how they'll split between McDonnell and Deeds — if they turn out at all.

"Neither one of them makes me particularly excited," said Dale Thompson, a gun-shop owner who shuns party labels and thinks "society's a mess." Still, he's supporting McDonnell — "the least evil of the bunch."

Down the street, toy-store owner Bill Lupinacci, 51, a Republican who backed Democrat Tim Kaine for governor in 2006 and Obama in 2008, is undecided — and turned off by both the candidates for the state's top office. "They're spending most of their time on attack ads rather than putting forth their positions on the issues."

McDonnell has been forced to defend his graduate school thesis from 20 years ago that criticized career women, gays and cohabiting unmarried couples. Deeds has drawn criticism for repeatedly refusing to specify how he would raise the $1 billion a year needed to revive critical transportation projects.

The race also is an important test of whether the droves of base Democratic voters — the blacks, Hispanics, unmarried women, young people and first-time voters whom Obama attracted last fall — will turn out and support a Democrat if the president is not on the ballot.

Some are certain not to cast votes this fall because only the most motivated people turn out in off-year elections.

There also are indications that some Virginians who made up the president's diverse winning coalition were enthusiastic Obama 2008 voters, not reliable Democratic Party voters, and perhaps not even Obama 2012 voters, should he run for re-election as expected. That would mean they would be up for grabs come 2010.

Consider Jake Crocker, a self-employed marketing consultant who owns Richmond's Easy Street cafe. He backed Obama and said he'd gladly do so again. But he's voting for Republican McDonnell because he sees similarities to pro-business Democrat Mark Warner, the former governor and now senator. "He's a guy who gets it," Crocker said of McDonnell.

Conversely, Eddie DuRant, an environmental consultant in Virginia Beach who supported Obama a year ago, recently decided to vote for Deeds. DuRant was swayed by McDonnell's graduate thesis, saying, "It appears he has an ultraconservative social agenda that is not in line with what I believe."

Places like Purcellville in Loudoun County, a sprawling swath to the west of Washington, could provide clues to voter attitudes in other swing-voting places in battleground states: Arapahoe County in suburban Denver,Anoka County near Minneapolis-St. Paul, Westmoreland County near Pittsburgh, Jefferson County near St. Louis.

Around here, farmland, country manors and a bevy of loyal GOP voters have given way to shopping centers, subdivisions and a mishmash of Republicans, Democrats and independents in recent years. Loudoun County's rapid growth has changed its politics; the area has become a critical front in statewide elections.

Long a reliably Republican bastion, this is where Democrats first felt the start of a national political sea change in 2005. Their gubernatorial candidate, Kaine, won the county and the race. It proved to be a harbinger for 2006 when Democrats, fueled by huge gains in counties like Loudoun, won one Virginia Senate seat, and 2008, when they claimed the second while voting for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964.

This county and others nearby are expected to push either McDonnell or Deeds over the top — and give important clues about the country's collective state of mind.

___

Bob Lewis reported from Richmond.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_re_us/us_microcosm_of_america



__________________
jdona


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 179
Date:
Permalink  
 

I am leaning toward McDonnell, Deeds just can't articulate himself clearly or won't, as to the tax issue, and that is going to cost him. I don't like either, once again, we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils, and at this point it's hard to figure out which is the lesser. But if we go to McDonnell, at least we can send Dem's a message that we are fed up with their too far left drift, and that most Dems actually do reside somewhere in the middle. And maybe Brazille will end up regretting throwing us all under the bus with her stay home message. We won't stay home, and we also won't vote for her version of the Democratic party.

__________________
ssmith


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 198
Date:
Permalink  
 

As a virginian... and I am now an independent... I will be voting for my very first republican in VA in 2 weeks... I'm voting for Mcdonneld... Deeds is an idiot... I voted for Tim Kaine.. thought and still think he is an idiot..

jdona: I urge you to vote mcdonneld... its a vote agn this dims.. and it will send a strong message agn them

__________________
Ebinger


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 195
Date:
Permalink  
 

Not in VA nor NJ, but I saw a poll that had McDonnell up by 19 points - that poll looked solid, it'd take a miracle for Deeds to win now. In NJ, Corzine is playing very dirty, even for him, and may actually win re-election with that independent draining anti-incumbent votes away.

I have heard others seriously say that Tim Kaine is slow - the WaPo kept printing McDonnell's old college thesis, yet they can never seem to find Obama's. aww

__________________
TBA
Hillarysmygirl16


Administrator

Status: Offline
Posts: 2818
Date:
Permalink  
 

We need this to continue next year during the mid terms.

__________________

4459303562_3f593359a2_m.jpg
Alex


Diamond

Status: Offline
Posts: 1191
Date:
Permalink  
 

ssmith wrote:

As a virginian... and I am now an independent... I will be voting for my very first republican in VA in 2 weeks... I'm voting for Mcdonneld... Deeds is an idiot... I voted for Tim Kaine.. thought and still think he is an idiot..

jdona: I urge you to vote mcdonneld... its a vote agn this dims.. and it will send a strong message agn them



And I can't wait for that message to be heard loud and clear!

 



__________________

Barack/Barry:  If you're NOT LEGIT, then you MUST QUIT!!
freespirit


Moderator

Status: Offline
Posts: 1695
Date:
Permalink  
 

The Dems need to get the message: When you tell the base to "stay home", you had damn well better not expect them to come out in support of your candidate next time around.

I hope everyone in that state votes Republican. I don't doubt he's a hyper-conservative jerk, and those who are more liberal will have a hard time voting for him. But, it is sometimes necessary to swallow the bitter pill in order for healing to begin.

__________________
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.  ~Susan B. Anthony
jdona


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 179
Date:
Permalink  
 

We really don't have a choice on who to vote for, it is trying to choose between two idiots to be honest. I will either vote McDonnell or sit home, I just don't know. I don't like Deeds. I wish McAuliff had of won, at least I like him. But at some point we need to stop cutting our own throats just to send a message to the Dem leadership. Whoever we vote for, we are stuck with for 4 years. This state is in a mess. Neither of the two candidates have a clue how to get us out. At this point, its trying to figure out who will do the least damage, not necessarily who can do the best job. I do think Deeds is out of his league, and I have not heard anything from McDonnell that makes me believe he had a clue either. But at least he will not raise taxes in the middle of a recession.

__________________
ssmith


Platinum

Status: Offline
Posts: 198
Date:
Permalink  
 

Jdona:  I know you are tempted to stay home, but I urge you not to... this is BEYOND Virginia at this point.... the dems in DC will see the higher the margin Mcdonnell wins by, then that Trillion dollar ration-care will NOT go through...

again.. this is beyond Virginia.. Deeds is an idiot, I don't really care for Mcdonneld, except for that he is going to try and NOT raise taxes... but this race has national sway.... PLEASE do not stay home, and vote mcdonelld....

when I will be pressing the button on the voting booth for Mcdonell... I guarantee you I will be saying "F you Obama and your communist cronies!" in my mind... AND it will be vote as a slap against that effing fraud for what they did to Hillary!


Jdona: PLEASE do not stay home and vote for Mcdonneld.

__________________
freespirit


Moderator

Status: Offline
Posts: 1695
Date:
Permalink  
 

People must vote their consciences, of course. But, I disagree that at some point we have to stop "cutting out throats" by voting against Dems. This is the first election since 2008, and we need to send a loud and clear message that the Dem Party must not take votes away from one candidate to give it to another. It is unacceptable for the DNC to rig an election, to run crooked caucuses, and to ignore the will of the majority of the party. They need to learn that lesson, imo.

__________________
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.  ~Susan B. Anthony
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Hillarysworld -> National News -> (10/20/09) "Virginia governor race a snapshot of US attitudes" (AP)
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard