Immediate Change Needed in the Campaign

Senator Deeds is the far better prospect for Governor. If he met with each and every voter prior to the election, there is no doubt he would carry the state. That is the man his supporters know and respect. That is the man Virginia has yet to meet this campaign.

Why? For one, because the campaign has not focused on introducing Creigh to Virginians. Instead, it has spent a lot of time introducing us to Bob McDonnell. Isn't there some rule about mentioning your opponent's name? For another, the campaign has never built momentum and consistently suffered intolerable hesitance. What was that long pause following the primary? And another, from day one of this race the Democratic base has not been engaged, going back well before the primary. Democrats thrive in the role of underdog and fade with successes of governance. Odd. The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) has done very little to leverage the last eight years of success.

On the other hand, Republicans languish in leadership roles (remember Gilmore?), as told in a metaphor on the long primary trail:

“As Senator Deeds tells it, the Republicans are like the dog chasing a bus and finally catching it. Once they are elected they prove time and time again that the dog adds nothing to the bus. But, the dog's been chasing that bus so long, it just can't let go. That dog just gets dragged along getting beaten up. The truth is that the dog can't swallow the bus; the dog doesn't believe in the bus. The dog doesn't believe that government is the tool that we use to improve people's lives. Certainly government can't do everything, but it is the tool we use to level the playing field; to make sure everyone has an opportunity.” – RK post, July 2007

But here we are and Lowell has invited observations on the state of the campaigns. To now, I have heeded the advice that if you have nothing good to say, say nothing. But this morning, the Wall Street Journal has fired a volley at the Virginia situation. The best that can be said about this article is that it is on page A4 where it is less noticeable. It begins:

”The White House is stepping back from lending its heft to the bellwether gubernatorial race in Virginia, party strategists say, seeking to conserve its political capital and avoid close association with a candidate who might lose.” – WSJ

Some time ago, the parallel of Deeds’ to the 1977 campaign of Henry Howell was drawn in the last paragraph of a Blue Commonwealth post. What wasn’t mentioned in that post was that while Howell won the nomination, he suffered a whopping defeat in the general election (56/43). The parallel seems on track. Meanwhile, the down ballot Democratic candidates have no coattails to grab and are left to their own devices. Fortunately, this disassociation with the statewide campaign is working to the advantage in some races for delegate. Yet while there are some very effective coordinated campaign organizers, they cannot overcome the deluge of out of state money the Republicans are lavishing on candidates in their favored districts.

So a fellow who, at age 34, either wrestled with demons that should have been cast down in his more formative years or who did not have the character or intellectual integrity to challenge the views of his professors will now bring his uninformed concepts of governance to bear on our state. The lineup may include the singularly unaccomplished, witch hazel groomed, incumbent Lieutenant Governor. Plus there is the prospect of a rigidly impractical Senator Ken Cuccinelli who has promised as Attorney General he will sue the federal government at every turn to solve all of our problems. Why, oh why didn’t Jeff Davis and his pals think of that? I am sure it would have worked out just fine. Does anyone catch the irony of a conservative ideologue counting on the courts to carry the state’s battles?

Republican victories this year will be a direct result of the void of leadership in the DPVA rather than convincing rhetoric. That void allowed the Democratic primary to wander into detrimentally negative territory. That tinge of Rovian influence has subsumed focusing on issues that resonate and introducing Senator Deeds to Virginians. It has driven away the national party. It didn’t have to be this way, but there are still some three weeks to refocus this campaign on the more qualified candidate and away from handing the state executive branch and a larger House of Delegates majority to the Republicans. The focus should be on letting the electorate meet Senator Deeds. That takes leadership and money and a positive message. I’m sure the DPVA can find the money.