If you're Rep. Glenn Nye (D? - VA 2nd/Anthem), you can't be too happy right now. First, check this out from Crew of 42:With Rep. Glenn Nye sitting five feet from her as she took the lectern and seated one person away as she waited to speak, State Sen. Yvonne Miller of Norfolk laid out the problem that is Glenn Nye...Next, watch the following video, starting at the 17:30 mark, as Democratic blogger Vivian Paige lets Nye have it. Sample quote: "You run as a Democrat, you have to vote like a Democrat, and Nye is getting exactly what he deserves when he votes against the Democratic Party on the major issues...health care, the budget, cap and trade."
[...]
...Miller — who at 75 is the longest serving woman in the Virginia Senate — pointedly told all: "You can't out a Republican...," and, "If you are a Democrat running as a Republican the Democrats will not vote..." Miller's speech was clearly tailored for one person and one person only on the stage. That person was an increasingly uncomfortable looking Nye who politely but unenthusiasticly clapped as Sen. Miller pounded on. No one else sitting beside her was in need of this carefully and pointedly worded dissertation.
Ouch.
As if all that's not bad enough, see VB Dems or just talk to or as Kyle Blankenship, who also witnessed Yvonne Miller's dressing down of Nye. The question at this point is whether Nye's inclination to vote with the "red team" on key issues (economic recovery, clean energy and climate change, health care reform) will gain him more votes next November among Republicans and Independents than it will lose him among "the base." My guess, based on the reaction we're seeing from Democratic activists and a long-time Democratic stalwart in the State Senate, is that he'll lose more votes than he'll gain. Is there any reason to think that Nye's "Republican Lite" strategy will turn out well for him?
h/t and great job by the excellent Crew of 42
