Yesterday being the day after the off-year elections, I decided to dig a little deeper into the results to see if there were any interesting sidelights which might better explain what happened. I put my effort into the Virginia election since it was the one that was close, much closer than the pundits predicted, and because of my personal interest being a Virginia native.
Several interesting things went on during the election which were both interesting and, in some cases, downright sordid. While no one can say with certainty that had things been different that the outcome would have changed, I am sure that had these things not happened it would have been even closer in its final result. Let's look at three particular factors individually:
The National Republican Party. I looked at the activity in support of the Republican candidate, Mr. Cucccinnelli, and found something amazing. Compared to the last gubernatorial election, the Republican Party chose to only give one-third the amount of funding this year that they gave in 2009. Bob McDonnell's campaign received received $9 million in funding from the party in 2009 while Cuccinnelli's received a paltry $3 million. Of particular note was the fact that all funding was cut off during the final week when Cuccinnelli was surgin.
Also of special note, most major campaign visits by Republican leaders went to support Christie in New Jersey, who won by a huge margin, but not Cuccinnelli, who everyone knew was in a tight race. Christie was personally requested to come and campaign for the Republican but he refused. A man who everyone knew was going to win big would not support a fellow Republican in a nearby state. To the credit of Conservatives, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio and Ron Paul came to Virginia, but the mainstream, RINO-ish party folks stayed clear. I think
that tells all of us what we needed to know about RINOs.
The Libertarians. Cuccinnelli and Robert Sarvis, the so-called Libertarian candidate, together drew 53% of the vote, a clear majority. But we found out on election day that Sarvis was a Libertarian in name only. In fact, a large part of his funding to get him on the ballot and gain some traction was provided by an Obama supporter, a rich campaign bundler from Houston. The Chicago Way found its way with deep pockets into Virginia. I wonder if all of the Virginia Libertarians have any regrets now? They were had by a trickster.
Dirty campaigning. On election day, robo-calls were made to a large portion of the electorate stating that Cuccinnelli was a supporter of Obamacare. Cuccinnelli, the Virginia Attorney General, the man who was first out of the gates to challenge the legality of Obamacare was painted to many low information voters as being in favor of the disgusting healthcare law. Any one who believed that is, in my opinion, of a mental capacity probably such that they shouldn't be voting in the first place. Sadly, there are thousands just like that in the electorate.
As I mentioned earlier, there is no way to say for certain that the elimination of these factors would have changed the outcome, but I suspect that had a third party candidate not been on the ballot the result would have likely been different. As several people mentioned yesterday, Cuccinnelli was "Peroted", as in Ross Perot's impact on the second campaign by George H.W. Bush in 1992.
I guess the main thing I take from this is that the National Republican Party is indeed at war with conservatives. Karl Rove and the boys are happy with being in second place as long as they have their long armed financial fingers in the pie. And the result in Virginia was the loss by a good man in a winnable race due to the RINO element doing what it always does best: insuring that the Republican Party stays in the minority. After all look at their results. They nominate moderates who continually lose and then try and blame things on conservatives. Now they've lost a key battleground state which could have effectively put a stake in the heart of Obamacare. The only salvation here is that by it being so close the National Republicans look really just as stupid as they apparently are.
An even sadder aspect is this: The Old Dominion, The Mother of Presidents has been taken over, at least for four years, by an Obama true believer, always seeing big government as the answer despite its repeated dismal failures. And instead of electing a man of similar ilk to Governor Pat McCrory of neighboring North Carolina who is turning the Tar Heel State around, they have chosen someone akin to Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland, a champion of tax and spend-ism. I suspect that Virginia voters will soon enough come to regret what they have done.
So Conservatives, wherever you are, use this election as an example of what happens when you let your guard down. Stay on your toes, stay in the game, and never give up. We live to fight another day, just pick your battles well.
Several interesting things went on during the election which were both interesting and, in some cases, downright sordid. While no one can say with certainty that had things been different that the outcome would have changed, I am sure that had these things not happened it would have been even closer in its final result. Let's look at three particular factors individually:
The National Republican Party. I looked at the activity in support of the Republican candidate, Mr. Cucccinnelli, and found something amazing. Compared to the last gubernatorial election, the Republican Party chose to only give one-third the amount of funding this year that they gave in 2009. Bob McDonnell's campaign received received $9 million in funding from the party in 2009 while Cuccinnelli's received a paltry $3 million. Of particular note was the fact that all funding was cut off during the final week when Cuccinnelli was surgin.
Also of special note, most major campaign visits by Republican leaders went to support Christie in New Jersey, who won by a huge margin, but not Cuccinnelli, who everyone knew was in a tight race. Christie was personally requested to come and campaign for the Republican but he refused. A man who everyone knew was going to win big would not support a fellow Republican in a nearby state. To the credit of Conservatives, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio and Ron Paul came to Virginia, but the mainstream, RINO-ish party folks stayed clear. I think
that tells all of us what we needed to know about RINOs.
The Libertarians. Cuccinnelli and Robert Sarvis, the so-called Libertarian candidate, together drew 53% of the vote, a clear majority. But we found out on election day that Sarvis was a Libertarian in name only. In fact, a large part of his funding to get him on the ballot and gain some traction was provided by an Obama supporter, a rich campaign bundler from Houston. The Chicago Way found its way with deep pockets into Virginia. I wonder if all of the Virginia Libertarians have any regrets now? They were had by a trickster.
Dirty campaigning. On election day, robo-calls were made to a large portion of the electorate stating that Cuccinnelli was a supporter of Obamacare. Cuccinnelli, the Virginia Attorney General, the man who was first out of the gates to challenge the legality of Obamacare was painted to many low information voters as being in favor of the disgusting healthcare law. Any one who believed that is, in my opinion, of a mental capacity probably such that they shouldn't be voting in the first place. Sadly, there are thousands just like that in the electorate.
As I mentioned earlier, there is no way to say for certain that the elimination of these factors would have changed the outcome, but I suspect that had a third party candidate not been on the ballot the result would have likely been different. As several people mentioned yesterday, Cuccinnelli was "Peroted", as in Ross Perot's impact on the second campaign by George H.W. Bush in 1992.
I guess the main thing I take from this is that the National Republican Party is indeed at war with conservatives. Karl Rove and the boys are happy with being in second place as long as they have their long armed financial fingers in the pie. And the result in Virginia was the loss by a good man in a winnable race due to the RINO element doing what it always does best: insuring that the Republican Party stays in the minority. After all look at their results. They nominate moderates who continually lose and then try and blame things on conservatives. Now they've lost a key battleground state which could have effectively put a stake in the heart of Obamacare. The only salvation here is that by it being so close the National Republicans look really just as stupid as they apparently are.
An even sadder aspect is this: The Old Dominion, The Mother of Presidents has been taken over, at least for four years, by an Obama true believer, always seeing big government as the answer despite its repeated dismal failures. And instead of electing a man of similar ilk to Governor Pat McCrory of neighboring North Carolina who is turning the Tar Heel State around, they have chosen someone akin to Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland, a champion of tax and spend-ism. I suspect that Virginia voters will soon enough come to regret what they have done.
So Conservatives, wherever you are, use this election as an example of what happens when you let your guard down. Stay on your toes, stay in the game, and never give up. We live to fight another day, just pick your battles well.
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