Now that we beat them, let’s not become them
Last night as many Virginia Beach Republicans were riding an emotional rollercoaster that ending in victory for Ron Villanueva, a few candidates had their signs and literature for the next election ready to go.
See, I have a slight problem with that. Election night is for the candidates, their families, their supporters and their volunteers. It’s their moment. Prospective candidates for future elections who try to step on that spotlight I think do so in very poor taste. Wait until morning. It won’t destroy your future if you let the current campaigns dominate the present.
Which brings me to what I’ve told most people for the past month: I think 2009 was 1993, and I’ve been saying so all year. That means we Republicans are ripe to have a 1994.
That ain’t good.
1994 for the rest of the nation was a great year. 1994 in Virginia and Hampton Roads wasn’t exactly stellar. The supremely vulnerable Sen. Chuck Robb won. Congressional Democrats across Hampton Roads won easily. Tom Davis defeated Leslie Byrne in the 11th, our sole pickup in the Gingrich Revolution, and a seat we no longer hold.
My memories of 1994 are full of a crowd of Republican candidates all anxiously and viciously destroying each other to win a nomination, and once it was won, the wounds didn’t heal at all (Ask any Democrat if they’ve seen how much fun that is lately.)
So, if we Republicans treat McDonnell’s victory like Allen’s victory, and go into 2010 like we went into 1994, we’ll be stuck with Nye and Perriello and Connelly while the rest of the nation has winning Republican campaigns.
Let’s think this time around. Now that we’ve beaten Democrats, let’s not make the mistakes they made in 2009 or the ones we made in 1994.n
Category: Campaigns and Elections
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I, for one, am counting on a repeat of 1994
In 1994, we had terribly weak candidates. Our candidate for Senate was Oliver North, who was still tainted by Iran-Contra and extremely controversial. He was probably the ONLY Republican in Virginia that year who was less palatable to the voters than Chuck Robb. Our candidate against Owen Pickett in VA-2 was Jim Chapman, who was also a poor candidate with no experience in public affairs and an unappealing demeanor. In addition, VA-2 at the time still included all of Norfolk, which included a sizable black population who were reliable Democrat voters. Pickett was defending a more swing district than the current VA-2, which is much more Republican and would have been held by Thelma Drake last year but for the Obama tidal wave combined with a weak Republican presidential candidate for whom the party had no enthusiasm.
Next year we will have a stronger candidate in VA-2 in Scott Rigell, who will be running in a more Republican-leaning district. There will be no Senate election. I expect VA-2 to be part of the national Republican sweep.
Really. Thelma Drake didn’t lose because of Obama or McCain. She just sucked and was a terrible candidate with a terribly run campaign. I hope Scott Rigell isn’t trying to imitate her, or he definitely will lose.
I love it when people have strong opinions and then hide behind their anonymity.
NMJ, what exactly do you know about running political campaigns? Have you ever managed a winning congressional campaign? How about a campaign for city council? Ever manage one of those? It’s hard for us to determine whether your opinion matters when we can’t determine if you have any credibility.
[...] being the dominant party, and I believe this point was best stated by Brian Kirwin’s post at Bearing Drift, when he said, “Which brings me to what I’ve told most people for the past month: I think [...]