Democrats’ luck may be running out

Virginia

This writer, Shapiro, is mostly a Republican tool whose contacts remain the Va. GOP. Collectively they refuse to acknowledge the sea change here in Va.

He twists himself around several times in this piece.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists_news/article/JEFF03_20090502-221411/265428/

Taxes are climbing in recession-wracked Northern Virginia, bulwark of the Democratic ascendancy. A smooth-talking Democratic governor whose part-time assignment as Barack Obama's partisan hitman is yanked back to his day job by the swine-flu scare. The Democratic primary is becoming a sandbox quarrel. Voters tune out or -- to get their fix of sweaty, noisy post-adolescent males -- turn the dial to the basketball playoffs.

No one said it would be easy for Virginia Democrats to win a third consecutive gubernatorial election.

Party fatigue, alone, is a significant obstacle, feeding an impatient, inattentive electorate's appetite for change. But even with such breaks as House Republicans killing expanded unemployment benefits -- and reinforcing the GOP's image as the party that whips the serfs -- bigger events threaten the Democrats' momentum.

This is not to say that Republican Bob McDonnell is blithely skipping toward the governorship.

His fundraising is underwhelming, salvaged by a big handout from national Republicans. McDonnell continues to disappoint ideas-oriented activists by advancing small notions rather than big concepts. And despite his razor-thin victory for attorney general in 2005, it's not clear McDonnell is up to a marquee race that requires that he do far more than fold his arms in television commercials in a scripted attempt to look tough.

In Fairfax County, the state's most populous and among its bluest, and Loudoun County, a former Republican stronghold with a recent preference for Democrats, homeowner taxes are rising. Rates are being pushed up to offset declines in assessments, the foundation of a real-estate tax system that underwrites police, schools and human services.

The beneficiary was Tim Kaine. He struck out time and again on new taxes for highways and health care.* Kaine won big with an early bet on Obama, and was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.


* much more accurate assessment would be that the GOP has uniformly reject and obstructed every single thing Kaine has tried to do.

:rofl:

Anything MAY happen. That doesn't mean it's likely.

:dem:

-Laelth

everyone knows Neptunians are purple, not green.

:dem:

-Laelth