Stupid Stuff Said About Brian, Creigh, Terry

Brian: He has a slight Massachusetts accent (yeah, he grew up in New England, like Mark Warner did, big freakin' deal). He lives in Alexandria (also, like Mark Warner does...horrors!).  For both of those reasons, he simply CAN'T win, certainly won't "play" south of northern Virginia (yeah, let's never run anyone from northern Virginia ever again; only people from outside NOVA need run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination - brilliant!). Also, Brian Moran's supposedly a liberalliberalliberalliberalliberal. Aside from the obvious fact that there's nothing wrong with being a liberal (right wingers have worked pretty effectively at demonizing that word, and that's really sad), Brian happens to be a former prosecutor who voted to override a veto of the "triggerman rule" on expanding the death penalty. Hmmmm...except that he received an 89% rating from the Virginia National Federation of Independent Business.  Hmmm...except he received a 69% positive rating from the vehemently pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. So much for that theory!

Creigh: He lost before, therefore he'll lose again. Sort of like when Mark Warner lost the first time he ran (or as he says "got the silver medal"), then ran in 2001 and won, again in 2008 and won (whoops, gotta wait a few more weeks for that result to be official - ha). I've also heard that Creigh isn't a good public speaker (didn't prevent Dubya from getting elected!) and that he "lacks gravitas" (you mean, like "Taliban Bob" or Jim Gilmore have "gravitas?" ha).  Plus, what's "gravitas" exactly; I like Creigh, find him to be very intelligent and a strong leader. Sorry, but Thomas Jefferson's not available this time around. :)

Terry: He's not from Virginia (no, he's only lived here for nearly 20 years - about the same as Mark Warner when he ran against John Warner in 1996).  He's really good at raising money, and somehow that's a BAD thing. (Yeah, raising orders of magnitude more money than "Taliban Bob," and being able to use that money to run a superb coordinated campaign next year and ensure that NO DEMOCRAT LOSES for lack of money, that's a horrible thing.  Heh.)  He's a Clintonite (yeah, let's drum all of them from the party and see how that goes - brilliant strategy, oh yeah!). He didn't do much as DNC chairman (no, only rebuilt it from near total bankruptcy and ineffectiveness into a top-notch organization where Howard Dean could take over and launch his 50-state strategy...). He never had any involvement in Virginia politics (besides traveling all over the state - including currently for Barack Obama - for the Democratic Party and giving Tim Kaine a check for $2.5 million in late 2004, no he hasn't done much). He can't win (no, spending several times more money than "Taliban Bob" won't help at all - much better to be outspent 2:1 or 3:1 like some of our previous candidates - ha).  He doesn't have any real interest in being governor (no, he has NOTHING else to do with his life - snark).  He doesn't know why he's running for governor (no, just to be Virginia's top economic booster, to grow the economy, to invest in the Commonwealth's infrastructure, and to get important things done). He was involved with some sort of bad stuff with a company called Global Crossing (yeah, that's why Howard Kurtz of CNN reported that McAuliffe sold his shares years before there was "any hint of trouble with the company," thus clearing him of any possible wrongdoing).

The bottom line is that these are three excellent Democrats. They all would be infinitely better than "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, who is from the extremist wing of the Republican Party.  That's a no-brainer. The real questions for voters in 2009 will be pretty simple: 1) who has the best chance of beating Bob; 2) who's the strongest leader; 3) who can relate to "people like you" (and who can you best relate to after seeing them and meeting them); 4) who has the best ideas for the future of Virginia; and 5) did I mention beating "Taliban Bob?" :)  That's what I want to hear about, not all the stupid stuff listed above.

P.S. One more - I'm convinced that all three of these guys can win votes in all parts of Virginia. Many of the comments I've heard on this subject have been absolutist ("Candidate X can't win south of...fill in the blank") and I think they're dead wrong.  Same thing as saying that "Taliban Bob" won't win votes in NOVA - of course he will.

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