It was never close.
As the polls indicated throughout the entire campaign, Governor-elect Bob McDonnell maintained his large and comfortable lead until the final votes were counted Tuesday over Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds.
Up until the very end of the campaign, where the Deeds camp shot-off mundane press releases about Pat Robertson and the “right wing”, they paid very little attention to what this campaign really was all about: jobs, the economy, taxes, transportation, and energy.
And they were punished for it.
McDonnell, however, ran a very straight-forward campaign about creating jobs and improving the economy in the commonwealth.
The real question now, with the margin of victory as large as it is, will McDonnell have a mandate?
Clearly Democratic State Senators who live in conservative districts will have to consider it. After all, they are the only ones who can stand in the way of McDonnell’s proposals.
With the House clearly locked-up for the GOP, it will be the Virginia Senate, with its current narrow Democratic majority that can only act as a check on the McDonnell policies.
However, given that nearly 60% of Virginia voters WANT McDonnell’s policies, it will be very tough for Democratic Senators who stand for election in 2011 to act as obstructionists on every one.
Even Sen. Creigh Deeds, one such senator who lives in a conservative district, seems to understand this.
“I congratulate my opponent, Bob McDonnell, and I look forward to maintaining my longstanding record of reaching across the aisle and working together to create workable solutions for the challenges we face,” said the defeated Deeds. “I wish tonight’s results were different. But now is not the time for bitterness, or retreat into our partisan corners—it’s time to overcome that disappointment with our determination to build a better Virginia, together.”
It will be interesting to see if Deeds follows through on that promise. He certainly didn’t run the positve campaign he said that he would.
The next few weeks will be interesting as there will be at least two Senate seats that Republicans have to hold to maintain a small minority of 21-19. If they can maintain that narrow margin, all it will take is one Democratic Senator to occasionally vote with the GOP and Lt. Governor Bolling to break the tie.
So, despite McDonnell’s impressive victory, the battle for Virginia continues…and it’s currently in the Virginia Senate.
Cross posted at The Washington Times – Virginia Battleground.
