2008 Elections: Top 10 Losers (Virginia edition)

By: Lowell
Published On: 11/6/2008 2:24:43 PM

Every election cycle brings "winners" and "losers." This one was no exception. With that, here's my list of the top 10 losers coming out of the 2008 elections in Virginia (Top 10 "winners" list was published earlier). Please note that these are not in any particular order, and also that there are many other losers not listed here.

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!


Comments



Another loser (TheGreenMiles - 11/6/2008 2:44:24 PM)
The fossil fuel industry (and candidates who supported it). As usual, voters were told that only Big Oil and Big Coal could solve our energy problems. But this year in Virginia, like in PA and Ohio, that dog didn't hunt.


Really? (tx2vadem - 11/6/2008 6:01:52 PM)
I thought I heard both Obama and Biden say they support investment in clean coal tech.  

The oil producing states may have so isolated themselves by opting for majority Republican representation.  And Texas really shot itself in the foot after they adopted Delay's redistricting plan.  But coal is still a big player in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia.  I doubt AEP and Dominion are not going to get a seat at the table.  Wasn't Rick Boucher the one helping to draft the Cap & Trade Program in the House?

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.



YES! regarding #7 (Karla - 11/6/2008 3:15:19 PM)
I thought the same thing when I saw the Post headline about Tim Kaine 'creating' a New Dominion.  Kaine gets mad props for sure, but how can WaPo ignore the bottom-up in Virginia?  Kaine can't create the army that worked their behinds off for Barack Obama in Virginia.

Then again, I never believed in the 'auteur' theory of history, either.



Item 10 (Dave N. - 11/6/2008 3:17:30 PM)
The GOP noise machine is, after all is said & done, probably (unfortunately) winners in this. How? Because with President Obama, they will be the voice of the opposition. With a D in the White House and Congress under D control as well, these blowhards will likely get an increased audience as the 46% who didn't vote for Obama will need a place to vent their frustrations.


I think Goode and Drake are so terrible they should have spots of their own! (proudvadem - 11/6/2008 4:37:56 PM)
This must have been a hard post, Lowell.
You could have gone up to 15, or even 20 losers.


Congressman Nye, Congressman Nye....I LOVE the sound of that!!!!!



Yes, it WAS hard! (Lowell - 11/6/2008 5:20:38 PM)
But actually, the "winners" was even harder.  A nice problem to have, for a change... :)


Even Though It's A Virginia List... (BP - 11/6/2008 5:30:30 PM)
...for sentimental reasons, I think you should include Dick Wad(hams).  By losing another Republican senatorial campaign, this time in Colorado, he's earned a place in our hearts.    

I hope he'll come back to Virginia to help out with the Republican campaign for governor next year.



Excellent point! (Lowell - 11/6/2008 5:51:53 PM)
Dick Wad(hams) is always a "loser" in my book. Ha. :)


Joe Lieberman didn't make the list? (tx2vadem - 11/6/2008 6:08:54 PM)
He'll lose his chairmanship for sure.  And he may be kicked out of the caucus.  I don't think even after that he would switch to the Republican Party.  The Republican Party is a rarity in New England these days.  

Oh and high hopes for 2009, really?  I think turn out will be low as usual and that helps Republicans.  Plus, a lot can happen in one year.  



Oops, Virginia edition, my bad (tx2vadem - 11/6/2008 6:18:06 PM)
n/t


Right, I haven't done a national edition (Lowell - 11/6/2008 6:20:42 PM)
...at least not yet.  If I do, Lieberman's high on the list! :)


Biggest Loser both in VA and Nationally (tx2vadem - 11/6/2008 7:00:24 PM)
Anti-Intellectualism


Susan Kellom (ThinkBlue - 11/7/2008 12:54:02 AM)
Giant loser for putting control over her fiefdom ahead of winning the election and building the party. Alexandria Dems have the worst run committee in NoVA.


But in spite of the roadblocks (Ron1 - 11/7/2008 1:30:41 AM)
Alexandria Democrats writ large, led by the great field organizing of Katharine McFarland and Sabine Horner on the west end, did phenomenally -- we basically matched Arlington in spread and turnout, and increased our performance at the top of the ticket by an additional 10k votes (spread) over 2004.

Obama/Biden were +80k between all of us communists in Arlington and Alexandria, +~240k in all of NoVa.

Thanks for letting us camp out on your patio for the last month. O.U-F.t.ADC may proceed!



I suspect that Limbaugh and Hannity (relawson - 11/7/2008 8:10:15 AM)
Will become even louder and more annoying.


You forgot to include Brian (world shaker) Kirwin in the list (Bill O. Rights - 11/7/2008 8:42:35 AM)
One can't make up a list like this, displaying the incredible talents of the RPV without mentioning the dolt who runs BORING DAFT and has lost loads of Republican races as a self proclaimed "CONSULTANT" without mentioning Brian Kirwin!  

You can see Kirwin's fingerprints all over Thelma Drake's loss!  Mismanaged, bungled, lost opportunities, lies, distortions, all the watermark of Killer Kirwin's touch!

And that website? Talk about out of touch with reality.  Shaun Kenney?  Gimme a break!  Its a Hall of Fame of Virginia Republican LOSERS!

Like his self bought little ad says, "Larry Sabato look out"!  
http://www.rourkpr.com/politic...  

That's right Larry, if anyone is going to knife you in the back, it'll be little Brian!  WATCH OUT!

Can't have a list like this in Virginia, and leave out self proclaimed Republican Political Consultant Brian Kirwin!   Marty Williams screams from the political graveyard!