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McDonnell shows the GOP how to run
McDonnell shows the GOP how to run
Date published: 9/10/2009
WASHINGTON --The late-night hotel desk clerk in Salem--after my long drive from Washington down the Shenandoah Valley--wanted to talk political philosophy. He intended to support Republican Bob McDonnell for governor in November on Madisonian grounds. "I vote both parties, but I don't want anyone having all the control." Obama, in his view, neededThis is the durable tendency of Virginia politics. Since 1977, the political party that has won the presidency has, in every case, lost the Virginia governorship in the next election. This pattern of cussedness is holding, at least McDonnell, riding in a well-worn, 30-foot, blue RV from dairy farm to winery to college campus, recounts how the political environment has changed from a year ago. "The business community," he says, "was the first to recoil" from policies such as "card check"--legislation to allow union organization by signing cards instead of by a secret ballot--and cap-and-trade environmental policies. "But health care now dwarfs previous concerns--handing over the best medical system in the world to the federal government. It affects everyone." Conservatives, he contends, are more activated than at any time since 1993. A young McDonnell campaign worker told me: "We have the enthusiasm Obama's people had last time." Well, not quite. About 50 students greeted McDonnell when he arrived at the James Madison University dining hall. A year ago, some James Madison students waited in line more than four hours to get a glimpse of candidate Obama. But in the low turnout of a nonpresidential election year, any momentum gets magnified, and McDonnell seems to have the intensity advantage.
Date published: 9/10/2009
McDonnell
(posted by
raymaelynn57
, Sep. 10, 2009 3:09 pm)
We will see. We will see.
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