Ben Tribbett has a fascinating article up at Not Larry Sabato. His dual "Weenies of the Year" are two political operatives, one Republican and one Democrat. And, if even half of what Ben says is true (and I have no reason to doubt any of it), Ken Hutcheson (Campaign Manager for Jerry Kilgore) and Alan Moore (head of the Democratic Coordinated Campaign) richly deserve their awards. The part that particularly infuriated me?
...what we should do is imagine a scenario where Alan [Moore] pulls in a minimal job performance.Under that scenario, Democrats should have won both down ticket races. Tim Kaine would have a Democratic Attorney General, and the 24-16 GOP Senate would have a Democratic Lt. Governor breaking the ties. A strong coordinated campaign should have been able to elect Greg Werkheiser and Hilda Barg with Tim Kaine's overwhelming victories in those districts.
That would make the House of Delegates margin 56 Republicans, 41 Democrats and 3 Independents. With special elections now taking place for Preston Bryant and Ryan McDougle's House seats, Democrats would be going in with a chance to reduce the GOP in the House of Delegates to 54 seats.
Instead, the best Democratic opportunities to defeat incumbents Albo and Frederick are gone, and the party is still short of 40 seats in the House. That makes Alan Moore a "Weenie of the Year".
Grrrrr.....
P.S. New Year's resolution for 2006: fight loser political hacks and "resume padding campaign monkeys" wherever they may be found!