In what may be the final nail in the coffin for Glenn Nye the one-term wonder, the Virginian-Pilot endorsed Scott Rigell and ended its four year streak of endorsing Democrats for competitive office.
Nye has been that much of a disappointment.
“His decision not to hold town hall meetings to discuss the health care bill deprived constituents of a chance to engage him in the defining political battle of his term.”
You can talk issues all day long, and maybe the editorial board will agree or disagree. But access IS a pre-requisite. Without it, the press is a collection of writers with a lot of ink grasping at straws. It’s crucial to their existence, and when Nye doesn’t give access to voters, its a small step from denying it to the press. Big Strike! Big enough to be the first thing they mentioned about Nye.
Bearing Drift has suffered the same frustration with Congressman Nye for the past two years. I personally engaged in several efforts to provide Nye with a forum to engage with voters. He just was not interested. When Democrats canceled a forum scheduled during a Democrat breakfast, I advocated opening the podium of the simultaneously scheduled Republican breakfast to him.
He said he wasn’t “prepared.”
After many attempts, Nye finally decided to speak to Bearing Drift recently in a podcast, in the closing weeks of his campaign. Too little too late.
“Worse, he remained coy about how he would vote on the bill, even into the night before the vote and just moments before his staff issued a statement saying he would oppose it.”
Another things newspapers hate is political calculation. They’ll give more leeway to someone voting his conscience than to someone watching the voting board and deciding his vote based on how the Ayes and Nays stack up. Lefties get more leeway than the Right, for sure, but still its there.
“Nye has offered little in terms of vision … and he has shown no willingness to take political risks or assume political leadership on difficult issues.”
Chicken Nye?
That seems to be the heart of the Pilot’s feelings. They proceed to list a number of things they don’t like about Rigell, like that he won’t raise taxes, and a number of things that Nye and Rigell agree about.
But the Pilot realizes that this is an economic election, and a self-made successful businessman is exactly what we need.
His business success and his support from fellow Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor “could provide him with leverage in the next Congress as this country tries to dig out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
Glenn Nye will just have his silence and his last minute decisions on what his principles are prior to voting.
Does this endorsement matter?
Heck yes it does!
How many Democrats will now excitedly rush the polls to vote for someone so lackluster that the Virginian-Pilot can’t support him? How many independents, who don’t follow politics daily like a soap opera, will get their first real impression of the campaigns by the fact that Rigell got the endorsement over an incumbent Nye.
The Pilot endorsed Jim Webb, Mark Warner, Bobby Mathieson, Joe Bouchard, Creigh Deeds, Steve “Who” Shannon… you seeing the trend?
A Democrat failing at what should be the easiest part of his campaign, support in the press, is like a football team losing to the Detroit Lions.
Wrap up the season, Glenn. It’s over.
