Election 2005: Winners and Losers

WINNERS

1) Mark Warner:  His prospects for 2008 just shot up tremendously.  Warner backed Tim Kaine to the hilt, and it worked.  In addition, Warner's model of a successful, wildly popular Southern governor who GETS THINGS DONE and reaches across partisan divides likely will be an enormously appealing one for the entire country.  Especially after 3 more years of the disaster known as George W. Bush.  (P.S. Something tells me that Mark Warner could hear the chants of "08 08 08 08!" just about everywhere he went during this campaign.  Something else tells me he didn't mind them one bit, either.)

2) Barack Obama:  He came into Virginia for two major appearances with Tim Kaine - Arlington in July  and Norfolk in late October --  and was received like a rock star.  Obama was a great help to Tim Kaine, and that will not be forgotten here in Virginia anytime soon.

3) Wesley Clark:  He also came to Virginia at least twice, including an appearance with Tim Kaine in Norfolk in mid-October.  Significantly, Clark stressed that we are the party of faith, we are the ones who institute the teachings of the Bible through our policies and heed the words ?love thy neighbor as thyself.?  This dovetailed nicely with Tim Kaine's talk of his own deep Christian faith, a factor that many analysts point to as a key to Kaine's victory this Tuesday.  I agree.  Clark emphasized that Democrats need to rebrand ourselves and speak about our values: freedom, opportunity, patriotism, faith, and community.  He pointed out that today's Republican Party values are those of the ?Gordon Gekko? character in the movie ?Wall Street? -- "greed is good!"  Democrats, in contrast, represent the values of the common good.  Wesley Clark "gets it," and is a force to be reckoned with in 2008.  His support for Tim Kaine in 2005 - standing up for a fellow Democrat -- will NOT be forgotten.

4) Faith and Democratic Values:  I personally am not a particularly religious person.  Raised Jewish, I now consider myself more of an existentialist than anything else.  However, I certainly respect peoples' faith.  And I strongly believe, as Wesley Clark has stated bluntly, that the so-called "Christian Right" is really the "Christian Wrong" - "taking the word of the Good Lord and twisting it to political purposes.?  Over the years, Republicans have skillfully and cynically hijacked the great religion of Christianity to their own ends, while claiming that "liberals" and Democrats were anti-religion.  Frankly, that's crap, but the message has resonated for many years now.  That's why what Tim Kaine did this year in Virginia -- telling his own compelling life story of "faith in action," specifically his work as a Christian missionary in Honduras as a young man -- was so important to his victory November 8.  In large part, that's because Kaine's "faith talk" was NOT just talk, but an integral part of who he is.  And THAT is a big part of the reason why, when the vicious Republican attack machine of Scott Howell went after him, the charges didn't stick.  The fact that people saw Tim Kaine as a man of faith insulated him from the predictable  - and mindless - charges of "liberal liberal liberal."  There are important lesssons to be learned here by Democrats across the nation.

The bottom line here is that Democrats are the party that represents the values expressed in the Gospels - clothe the naked, feed the hungry, support the downtrodden.  Today's Republican Party is the opposite --  an angry, intolerant group straight out of certain parts (the "fire and brimstone" ones, particularly) of the Old Testament  What Would Jesus Do?  Certainly not vote for this Republican Party!

5) The Blogosphere:  Continued to grow in size and influence during the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial contest.  There was even a bloggers' summit in Charlottesville, which was well covered by the "mainstream media."  Speaking of the "mainstream media," they've got blogs now too, such as Michael Shear's at the Washington Post and Jeff Schapiro's at the Republican..er, Richmond Times-Dispatch.  Other notable blogs this election season included Ben Tribbett's "Not Larry Sabato," who made some mistakes but overall did an amazing job.  Waldo Jaquith wrote better and dug into stories better than 99% of journalists ever do.  And Raising Kaine conducted in-depth interviews with candidates, looked in depth at the money connection, explored a wide range of issues, and generally helped "blog Tim Kaine into the Governor's mansion."  Sure, there were problems, including a lack of critical thinking in some cases and one or two instances where a blog passed on BLATANT disinformation, most egregiously that Mark Warner was supposedly "pulling the plug" on Tim Kaine.  Although relatively isolated, incidents like the latter case seriously hurt the credibility of all blogs, which is why a "blogger code of ethics" is probably something that should be seriously considered.

LOSERS

1) George W. Bush:  He came.  He campaigned.  He lost BIG TIME.  Can George W. Bush sink any lower?  His last-minute, late-night appearance in a Richmond airport hangar for Jerry Kilgore was not only pathetic, it was also completely ineffective.  In fact, it can be STRONGLY argued that the defeat of Jerry W. Kilgore had a great deal to do with the 39% approval rating of George W. Bush.  Amazing how in just 10 months, Bush has gone from solid gold to rusting metal.  And, as the Washington Post points out today, this is encouraging a huge schism to open up in the formerly united Republican Party.  So much for ANWR drilling.  So much for cuts to programs for the poor.  So much for Social Security "reform."  So much for a free hand to Vice President for Torture Cheney and his mini-gulag of secret detention/torture facilities in foreign countries.  And so much for Jerry W. Kilgore.

2) Scott Howell:  As far as I can tell, Howell had never lost a signficant race prior to this one.  In Virginia this year, however, Mr. "Black Hands" and "Max Cleland is a Saddam Loving Traitor," finally appeared to overreach with this "Hitler" ad, his Hispanic bashing nativism, and his relentless nastiness and negativity.  Previous to this election, most Democrats would probably have agreed that while Scott Howell was evil and unscrupulous, he also was effective. Now, the "effective" part has taken a major hit, leaving only the "evil and unsrcupulous" part intact.

3) George Allen:  In spite of his lightweight intellect (to put it mildy) and his hard-right agenda -- concealed by a "folksy," "aw shucks," "son of the football coach" demeanor - Goerge Allen has been very popular in Virginia.  Maybe that's because people don't focus too much on his record, except for obsessed political junkies like myself.  That's part of the reason why Allen has actually been talked about as presidential material for the Republicans in 2008.  However, after the debacle of Jerry Kilgore, who Allen backed to the hilt, it would appear that Allen's star has dimmed a bit, while his rival Mark Warner's has increased in intensity about 100 fold!  In addition, the Democrats are now energized and talking about running James Webb or another strong candidate against Allen in 2006.  Watch out, "cowboy!"

4) Reducing the Role of Big Money and Special Interests in our Democracy:  In almost every case in this election season -- with the signficant exception of Tim Kaine -- the candidate with the most money won this year.  Thus, Jeff Frederick ($535,562) defeated Hilda Barg ($528, 687).  Dave Albo ($476,664) defeated Greg Werkheiser ($398,374).  Dave Marsden ($431,761) defeated Michael Golden ($399,517).  Bill Bolling ($2,641,731) defeated Leslie Byrne ($1,202,768).  As Phil Gramm said back in 1996 as he ran for the Republican Presidential nomination, "I  have the most reliable friend you can have in American politics, and that is ready money."  Of course, Gramm lost.  But, this year in Virginia, the candidate with the most money more often than not came out on top.  (In New Jersey, the candidate with the most money -- Jon Corzine -- won as well).  Sadly, the vast majority of this money came from big special interests or partisan political groups, NOT the "netroots" and "small donors."  That's highly unfortunate, in my opinion, although I'm pretty much at a loss regarding what to do about it.

5)  The best candidates. In case after case, the best, most outstanding and competent candidates -- Leslie Byrne, Greg Werkheiser, Bruce Roemmelt, Earnie Porta, Hilda Barg, Lowell Fulk, Eric Ferguson, etc. - lost.  And, if "Taliban Bob" McDonnell ekes out a victory, then BY FAR the best candidate for Attorney General will have lost as well.  Thank goodness Tim Kaine defeated Jerry Kilgore, Chuck Caputo defeated Chris "Anything with a pulse" Craddock, and Dave Poisson defeated Dick "Baby Pesticides" Black, but those victories were too few and far between, in my opinion.  Frankly, there is no excuse for corrupt extremists like Dave "Booze Industry" Albo, Bob "Lesbian Basher" McDonnell, and Bill "Enron of the Insurance Industry" Bolling to be anywhere NEAR public office.  What on earth were people THINKING in those races?!?  Argh.

Any others that I've missed?  I'm sure there are.  Fire away!!  :)

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