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