Other than stating the obvious; that shifting demographics (primarily in Northern VA, or NOVA as we call it) have given Dems an upper hand in recent elections, VA voters while independent and well informed can sometimes be easily fooled.

 

Take for example Mark Warner. He is still very popular and will likely win election as Senator. Yet when he ran as Governor, he ran as a conservative and gave us the largest tax increase in VA history in the name of "fiscal responsibility" and the usual Dem buzzword...."investing". It's also important to note that Obama runs on a campaign of "hope and change" and the end to partisan bickering, yet when Mark Warner was a keynote speaker at the Dem convention he was bumped from prime time to an earlier spot because he wouldnt Bushbash. To his credit, he did talk about unity and bi-partisanship in solving some of our problems. Virginians should take note that the party of "hope and change" called his speech "disappointing" and "a missed opportunity".

 

Our current Governer...Tim Kaine ran exactly like Warner did (as a conservative moderate) and won by again fooling the voters into thinking he was conservative although his history in Richmond  was anything but. Within 3 weeks of taking office, he tried to push through yet another round of massive tax increases and spending. I dont think Obama was talking about having Kaine as his running mate, I think he was consulting Kaine and Warner on how to fool the electorate.

 

When taken in total, Obama has successfully hidden his far left stance on issues aided by the press and an emotional electorate. Consider that in VA, Democrats who win statewide or Federal elections generally hide their liberalism as moderate to conservative. Unfortunately, this works extremely well as evidenced by the polling. If Obama's true nature had been exposed, he would lose this state by 10 plus points, yet he has successfully fooled many into thinking he is a moderate.

 

And finally on a personal note, I find myself in the same position I did in the last Governor's race. I liked Kilgore, but much more preferred Bill Bolling (the Lt. Gov.) or Bob McDonnell (Att. Gen.) and many working on the campaigns felt the same. Kilgore lost and was probably helped by the bottom of the ticket, just as McCain is being helped by the bottom of his. We had more excitement for the bottom of the ticket than the top openely lamenting the wish for a ticket reversal.....sound familiar to anyone ?

I hope if the GOP ticket fails that Sarah will seek the nomination in 2012.

 

More specifically, GOP take note....you don't win by outspending the spender's, or by populist rhetoric. You win by running as conservatives and BEING conservative. Why do you think the Dems work so hard in VA to disguise themselves as such ? Notice that it works.