Karma 1, Conservatives 0
By: Chris Guy
Published On: 5/19/2007 11:10:16 PM
In order to keep Democrats and Independents from voting for their party's nominee for Senate, the 28th District GOP had a "firehouse" primary today. In order to vote, you had to sign a pledge that you would vote for the eventual winner this November against the Democratic nominee, fmr. Delegate Albert Pollard. Conservatives finally thought they had a fool-proof plan to keep out any moderate Chichester-esque Republicans from representing them in Richmond. There were 3 conservative candidates to choose from in John Van Hoy, Jon Myers, and Joe Graziano. But then, just a few weeks ago, along comes John Chichester with his candidate of choice, Richard Stuart.
Despite giving money in the past to Mark Warner and Albert Pollard(!), claiming to be politically pro-choice, and not ruling out raising taxes....Stuart sent out mailers calling himself a life-long conservative who's 100% pro-life and 100% anti-tax. Long story short, Stuart won today's GOP primary.
Gosh! Who would have EVER thought that Republicans were so easy to manipulate?! I guess you learn something new every day. And by something, I mean nothing.
UPDATE: The comments over at Virginia Virtucon are pricless. Infighting, conspiracy theories, and a thank you from John Van Hoy (even though the site endorsed Myers for the primary).
UPDATE 2: According to BVBL, many of Van Hoy's supporters thought the polls closed at 7pm instead of the usual 5pm. The mailer that his campaign sent out doesn't mention the hours that the polls were open til. And Van Hoy was Chairman of the Stafford Co. GOP? Wow.
Comments
Van Hoy's comment is priceless (Lowell - 5/20/2007 6:52:28 AM)
"...I give them my thanks and only wish I were a better
oritor." Yeah, and a better speller too. How about "
orator?" Or how about just "public speaker?" Ha.
True story (Chris Guy - 5/20/2007 5:52:43 PM)
I once saw an ad for something called a 'Grammer Checker'.
Probably Van Hoy's campaign manager trying to make an extra buck.
Ah...primaries...the democractic process!!!!! (Dianne - 5/20/2007 7:35:58 AM)
Thanks for the information, Chris, on the 28th's outcome. In reading Virtucon, it looks like the more reasonable commenters are glad that there was a primary and not a caucus, which they themselves describe as undemocratic!!!
Maybe they read Lowell's diary in January? Just kidding.....http://raisingkaine....
Chris, what is your analysis (Lowell - 5/20/2007 7:43:25 AM)
of what Stuart's victory means for Albert Pollard's chances? Thanks.
Theoretically (Chris Guy - 5/20/2007 5:50:27 PM)
Stuart is a great general election candidate. His backyard is the Northern Neck, which is also supposed to be Pollard's strength. If Chichester can get his supporters to vote for Stuart the way they voted for him in the past, Pollard's in serious trouble.
But there are already rumblings of a third party challenge on the right. And even in a two man race, Pollard is a great campaigner and the GOP base is ticked off. If Van Hoy won, I'd say this a Dem pick-up. But right now, it's too close to call.
Chris, ditto on Lowell's question. (Dianne - 5/20/2007 9:31:34 AM)
What do you think Stuart's nomination will have on Pollard's chance of winning?