Deeds Under Excells

We spent 20 Million Dollars on This????

By now you are aware that Virginias next Gov. is republican. It is 11:24 am Nov 4th, the day after the thumping and as we review the numbers the story unfolds. There are 2,516 precincts in Virginia and 2,508 of them have reported the vote. Who knows what the problem is with the 8 precincts still not reporting?

The total number of voters in Virginia is 4,955,755. 1,973,993 people voted. Thats 39.83% of total voters.

There are 4,713,061 active voters in Virginia. 1,973,993 voted. 41.88% of active voters showed up.

The bulk of those who showed up to vote were republican.

McDonnell got 1,157,697 (58.64%) votes and Deeds got 814,068 (41.23%) votes. The republicans won in a landslide while the democrat candidate attracted only minimal interest.

In any statewide race each party has a 35% base. That leaves 30% of the electorate that is open to vote for either candidate based on their appeal and the interest they generate. This 30% is identified as independent. The race is fought out among these 30% of the voters.

For all the money Deeds spent and all the campaign time the democrats put in they won 6.23% of the votes over their 35% base. McDonnell and his campaign captured 23.64% over their 35% base. Expressed in its most simple form: If Deeds had remained in Bath County and walked with his mule in the field each day instead of spending millions of dollars campaigning he would have garnered 35% plus of the vote. His efforts produced almost nothing.

There are 95 counties in Virginia. Deeds won in Alleghany, Arlington, Bath, Charles City, Greenville and Surry. McDonnell carried the remaining 89 counties. In the grand scheme of things some of these counties Deeds won produce few votes. Since there are so few Deeds counties I will list them and their vote.

Alleghany........Deeds...3,188....to...McDonnell...2,017

Arlington........Deeds...36,825...to...McDonnell...19,313

Bath.............Deeds...1,159....to...McDonnell...666

Charles City.....Deeds...1,259....to...McDonnell...890

Greenville.......Deeds...1,425....to...McDonnell...1,283

Surry............Deeds...1,283....to...McDonnell...1,105

Good candidates spark interest, clearly state their values and visions and fire up the voters to support them. Democrats can ill afford to run another Deeds. In many ways it would be better to sit the race out than to tie their party image to this level of loss. Many of our democratic supporters and friends were unwilling to be involved in this race and some of our very best supporters openly opposed Deeds.

The old smoke filled room produced better candidates and without doubt the primary system needs revisions to insure better candidates become the banner candidate. The down ticket damage from a weak candiate at the top of the ticket is huge. Please note that McDonnell's win was a sweep that went thru the entire ticket.

You can hide from the lesson or you can learn from it. Which will it be?

Here's the Spin from Tim Kaine, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine says Democratic losses in Virginia and New Jersey had more to do with local issues than the first-year performance of President Barack Obama.

Exit polling showed support for Obama remained steady despite Virginia's Republican sweep, led by Bob McDonnell's landslide victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the governor's race.

As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Kaine said he will try to figure out why independents who helped Obama win last year voted overwhelmingly for Republicans on Tuesday.

Kaine discussed the election at a news conference Wednesday in Richmond.

In Virginia, many of the young people and minorities who helped make Obama the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1964 didn't vote Tuesday.