Pro-GOP Sun Gazette Endorses Mark Warner

By: Lowell
Published On: 7/1/2008 7:41:50 PM

As I semi-seriously asked earlier today, is there ANYONE who doesn't support Mark Warner for U.S. Senate? OK, yeah, there's Jim Gilmore. And there's probably Mrs. Gilmore. And Cooch. And Jeff Frederick. And Bill Bolling. And Bob McDonnell.  And pro-Republican newspapers like the Sun Gazette, which endorsed George Allen over Jim Webb in 2006.  Whoops, so much for that!

There's still plenty of time before the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Jim Gilmore is over. But why wait: This one is such a one-sided affair that it should be over before it begins.

[...]

This one is a no-brainer. Mark Warner gets our endorsement for U.S. Senate.

A July 1 endorsement of Mark Warner by the pro-GOP Sun Gazette for the election in November? Can we say "turn out the lights, Jim Gilmore is D-O-N-E?"  

By the way, this doesn't happen too frequently, so I think it's worth a moment of attention: RK and the Sun Gazette agree on something. :)  Go Mark Warner!

Comments



Almost... (BP - 7/1/2008 10:11:24 PM)
...makes you feel sorry for Jim Gilmore.  Almost, but not quite.


Okay we can't get complacent of course, but will this mean coat-tails up and down? (Used2Bneutral - 7/1/2008 10:15:13 PM)
Or in other words is this so one sided that Mark Warner gets to give meaningful endorsements to the congressional races???? and the presidential???


I wouldn't want to be a Republican on the VA ballot (TurnPWBlue - 7/2/2008 10:05:58 AM)
From some that I've talked to in my staunchly conservative district, GOP voter turnout may be particularly low this year.  Their Senate candidate is going to get trounced, and many are unhappy with McCain as the choice for President (he's not a real Republican).

So, it may not be that Warner will sway voters to check off the Democratic column as much as it's his overwhelming lead that just makes a lot of Republicans and right-leaning voters stay home because they really feel left out.

That said, overwhelming leads this early scares me because Dems can get complacent.  We still need to get out the vote to make sure those numbers hold up when they really matter--election day.  If less active voters decide "heck, Warner's got it sewn up, I don't need to waste my time in line to vote" we lose a lot of the positive momentum Warner would bring to other Democratic candidates.



To some extent, possibly. (Silence Dogood - 7/2/2008 10:13:20 AM)
But you have to look back to 2006 and see how far behind most of our Congressional challengers ran compared to Webb and acknowledge that there are clearly a LOT of ticket-splitting independent/moderate partisan voters in Virginia--even in NOVA.

Warner's the biggest help in districts with a truly vulnerable incumbent or an open seat--this year, that means the 11th District and the 2nd District (the only district in Virginia where our House challenger ran ahead of Webb in 2006).  He may be more helpful for Obama in the other districts, but don't kid yourself, there are going to be a whole lot of McCain/Warner/Republican House voters in Virginia this year.