For anyone who still isn't tuned in to the June 9 primary election - or to this year's Virginia gubernatorial, LG, AG and House of Delegates elections - you really might want to check this article out. The title, "Va. Gubernatorial Race Becomes Proving Ground for Evolving GOP," gives you the flavor of what's at stake, not just in Virginia but also nationally, for Republicans and Democrats, Michael Steele and Tim Kaine, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, etc.*"The Republican Party Version 2.0 -- the Obama Era model -- rolled into southwestern Virginia coal country Saturday full of pluck and optimism about a governor's race that will be a barometer of its hope for a national revival."
*"A lot of people have said the road to the resurgence of the Republican Party goes through Virginia and New Jersey" - Bob McDonnell
*"Steele's appearance gives an early hint at what is sure to be a contest fought as intensely at the national level as on the ground in Virginia. Rivalries don't come any more claustrophobic than this: Steele, the head of the Republican Party and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, dueling with Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Party and governor of Virginia."
*" In some ways, the stakes are as high for Obama as they are for the Republicans, with the race "behaving a lot like the first midterm election of a new president's term," said Frank Atkinson, a Republican lawyer and author of 'The Dynamic Dominion,' a book about Virginia politics."
*"Virginia's gubernatorial race, along with New Jersey's, could amount to early referendums on Steele's leadership of the Republican Party..."
*"'Without doubt, the Republican Party will try to use these elections as a way to reestablish its brand and prove its viability,' said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.)"
and finally
*"'He's got more coming,' Steele told a woman who praised his criticism of Obama."
Is that enough to get you interested? If not, it should be. I urge you to vote on June 9, get involved to support the Democratic Party's nominees this summer and fall, and help to ensure that Republicans can't point to Virginia as the first step in their "resurgence." Thanks.
