2008 Elections: Top 10 Losers (Virginia edition)

Losers
1) 2008 Republican candidates. I'll just lump them all together as the #1 losers of 2008: John McCain and Sarah Palin (preside over Virginia ("real" and "unreal" - ha) going "blue" for president for the first time since 1964), Jim Gilmore (Warner wipeout!), Thelma Drake (huh, whuhhappened officer?), Virgil Goode (even if he squeaks out a win, which hopefully he won't, he's still a nasty, corrupt, bigoted loser), etc. Good job turning an 8-3 Republican advantage in the Virginia House delegation into a 5-6 disadvantage (or a 6-5 advantage if Goode pulls it out). Also, good job in taking Virginia from two Republicans in the U.S. Senate in 2006 to none starting January 20, 2009. As Nelson on The Simpsons likes to say, "Ha, haw!"

2) Jeff Frederick. This one's easy, as I can just quote one of the best Republican bloggers in Virginia, "Bwana" of Renaissance Ruminations:

At the RPV, Jeff Frederick has to go. It is not a matter of his policy preferences or ideology, it is a matter of his being unable to do the job he said he would do.  A web page that went live less than a week prior to the election that prominently featured his image on the first page, foolish attacks against Obama, and a general unwillingness to date to embrace new technology.  He ran against John Hager in part by blaming Hager for past losses...time for Frederick to man up and do the same.  Speaker Howell and House Campaign chair Sam Nixon need to either get him removed or isolated, because Frederick has shown what he can do-and it ain't pretty or beneficial.

I would just add that calling General Colin Powell a coward, criticizing the McCain campaign in the middle of an election, "joking" that Obama and Osama bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon" (even Republican Del. Tim Hugo said that "Jeff Frederick was NOT JUST INAPPROPRIATE, BUT WRONG" on that one), etc. puts Jeff Frederick firmly in the LOSER category. Now, let's just hope the RPV keeps this guy on board for years to come. Jeff Frederick is truly the "gift that keeps on giving" - for Democrats, that is! :)

3) The RPV. See the entry for "Jeff Frederick," and extend it to the RPV in general. What a complete fiasco in every way.  I mean, great idea to completely alienate the fastest growing part of the Commonwealth (Northern Virginia) via a hard-right ideological stance as well as a general tone of nastiness and intolerance. Yeah, that's gonna play REAL WELL in suburbia, guys! :)  Note to RPV, not that I want you to succeed in any way, but you're fools if you don't listen to sane, smart Republicans like Tom Davis.

4) 2009 Republican candidates. After this year's wipeout, the complete disarray in the RPV, the tendency for Virginia Republicans to move even further to the right after every defeat, and polling which indicates that "Democrats have a 17-point advantage when voters are asked which party they want to win the governor's race," it's not looking too good right now for 2009 Republican candidates like Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, Ken "Cooch" Cuccinelli, Dave Albo, etc.  No wonder why Democrats (Brian Moran, Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe, Jon Bowerbank, Jody Wagner, Steve Shannon, John Fishwick...) are lining up to take on these losers.

5) The "illegal immigration" issue. Whatever side of this one you're on, the fact is that, politically, it's been a disaster for the Republican Party both nationally and in Virginia. Karl Rove and George W. Bush understand this, as do many other smart Republicans, but I don't see any indication that the Jeff Fredericks and Corey Stewarts of the world "get it" at all. That's fine, keep alienating the fastest-growing demographic in American (and in Virginia) - Latinos. No problem, we'll welcome them with open arms (brazos abiertos) into the Democratic Party. Gracias, Republicans! :)

6) The Virginia Republican blogosphere. As far as I can tell, they never really got behind their candidates this year, simply no enthusiasm for John McCain, Virgil Goode, etc.  Meanwhile, the RPV website - as "Bwana" points out - "went live less than a week prior to the election." Duh. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure why this is the case, but the bottom line is that the Virginia Republican blogosphere has now lost badly in 2005 (Jerry Kilgore), 2006 (George Allen), 2007 (the State Senate and 4 seats in the House of Delegates), and 2008 (John McCain, Thelma Drake, Keith Fimian, and very possibly Virgil Goode). I wonder what Jon Henke - a very smart guy, someone who understands the Virginia Republican blogosphere better than anybody - has to say about this. Jon, are you out there? :)

7) The corporate media. In general, the corporate media's coverage of Virginia politics was - as usual - lame. A few adjectives spring to mind: superficial, inconsistent, sporadic, non-substantive, minimal. For an example of the corporate media's cluelessness, see today's Washington Post article attributing all the success in this year's elections to the "top-down." Of course, as almost everyone outside the corporate media knows, the big story this year was the amazing Obama campaign, which synergistically pulled together the best of both worlds - "top down" and "bottom up" - into a juggernaut the likes of which we've never seen before on this scale. Maybe the corporate media will figure this out in a few years, although by that point, they may all be out of business so it won't matter. Ha.

8) Bill Howell. See NLS for the news from Speaker Howell's 28th House district. That's right: Barack Obama 18,529 - John McCain 18,090. Whoops! Also, see NLS' analysis of Vice Speaker Clarke Hogan's district -- not good news for Virginia Republicans either.

9) Corey Stewart. As Chap Petersen writes on his blog, "This County is now a Democratic County." Barack Obama carried Prince William 56%-43% and Mark Warner carried it 65%-34%. Even Judy Feder, who lost overall by a 59%-39% (20-point) margin, outperformed in this county, where she trailed Frank Wolf by 55%-43% (12-point) margin. Watch out, Corey, the Prince William Democratic Committee is comin' to git ya! :)

10) Fox News, Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, the entire Republican noise machine. This isn't specifically about Virginia, but these guys definitely deserve a place on the "losers" list. Inaccurate reporting, bizarre storylines, pressure to constantly go with the most hard-right-wing and harsh positions on everything, essentially forcing John McCain to pick Sarah Palin rather than someone serious like Tim Pawlenty, Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney, or Charlie Crist. Yeah, that really worked out well. Brilliant!

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