The latest Cook Report rankings are out, and it's pretty good news for Virginia Democrats overall. According to Cook, right now two Democrats - Rick Boucher and Gerry Connolly - are considered "likely" to retain their seats. Another one - Glenn Nye - is considered to be a "lean Democratic" seat. The one I'm most worried about is in the 5th CD, where Tom Perriello is considered a "toss up." Other than that, Virginia's House of Representatives Democratic members (Jim Moran, Bobby Scott) are safe. In addition, one Republican - Frank Wolf - is not considered completely "safe," with Cook ranking him as "likely" to retain his seat. Overall, Cook has 36 Democrats nationally rated either "toss up" or "lean," compared to 12 Republicans in those two categories. If that holds true, we'll see Republicans gain 24 seats in the House of Representatives next November. That wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be disastrous either as mid-term elections go. We'll see, but for now, the #1 priority is simply for Democrats to get stuff done, specifically the stuff they ran on in 2008 and won a mandate to pass. Health care reform. Climate and clean energy legislation. Comprehensive immigration reform. Getting the economy on track. Getting us out of Iraq. Dealing with the huge deficits - budget and trade - we inherited from 8 years of Republican profligacy and ineptitude. Etc., etc. C'mon guys, let's get it done!
P.S. One more point. Democrats need to turn out next November in a lot higher numbers than they did this November. If not, I think we're going to be much worse off than the Cook Report currently indicates.
