The Mud Starts Flying in the Virginia Governor’s Race

In a race that had been two Mr. Nice Guys debating one another, the mud has now started flying between Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia gubernatorial race:

Virginia voters are getting their first taste of negative campaigning, with attack ads out from both major-party candidates. Does this mean the largely collegial race for governor is over, and the mud will start flying?

Perhaps. It all depends on whether the ads move the poll numbers. If there is a backlash to either Democratic nominee Ralph Northam’s “Enron Ed” ad, which lambastes Republican nominee Ed Gillespie for his former life as a lobbyist, or to Gillespie’s old-fashioned scare ad dinging Northam on sanctuary cities, look for the messaging to change.

If the data say the ads are working, look for a lot more mud to be splattered across your TV screen.

For political junkies who’ve observed this low-wattage campaign from its beginning, the attacks are a kind of tonic. At last, the candidates are dropping the nice-guy routine and going for each other’s jugulars.

It’s just like old times.

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