Do you wish McAuliffe had been nominated instead?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I *MAY* ramble about this a lot someday, and I may or may not have a lot I want to say about the subject, but one of the fundamental problems of the Deeds campaign was that they spent way too much time trying to make him into Mark Warner 2.0.  Which, although Ben may disagree, doomed them from the start.

I do, naturally.  The Deeds campaign had a lot of issues, but trying to be Mark Warner wasn't one of them.  If anything, they didn't do a good enough job of following Mark Warner's path to victory in 2001.  Warner was able to hold on to NOVA, while at the same time keeping much of Southwest Virginia.  If Deeds had been able to appeal to moderates the way Warner did, and stay positive while doing so, he would have done significantly better.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

I wonder what a Moran-McDonnell map would have looked like as opposed to the Deeds-McDonnell map.

Flip Fairfax, Bath, and Allegheny.

[Lunar]

I *MAY* ramble about this a lot someday, and I may or may not have a lot I want to say about the subject, but one of the fundamental problems of the Deeds campaign was that they spent way too much time trying to make him into Mark Warner 2.0.  Which, although Ben may disagree, doomed them from the start.

I do, naturally.  The Deeds campaign had a lot of issues, but trying to be Mark Warner wasn't one of them.  If anything, they didn't do a good enough job of following Mark Warner's path to victory in 2001.  Warner was able to hold on to NOVA, while at the same time keeping much of Southwest Virginia.  If Deeds had been able to appeal to moderates the way Warner did, and stay positive while doing so, he would have done significantly better.

Yeah, maybe Meg Whitman should copy Arnold's approach to the Hispanic community in California and talk about her experiences as an international bodybuilder moving to a new country without speaking English. 

You can't just sit there and copy campaigns from bygone eras and expect things to work out.

I of course exaggerate the nature of the problem, we're gonna hear a lot more about how inept his campaign was in the coming weeks.  Deeds wasn't exerting enough control and was deferring to authority.  And, of course, his natural hesitance towards 110% sending  his Obama love out publicly was a mistake too.  If you're going to try and nationalize the debate by talking about abortion instead of jobs, might as well bring the president in.  A lot of people who approved of Obama didn't end up voting for Deeds.

[Landslide Lyndon]

If McAuliffe was the candidate and he lost to McDonnel by a 10-point margin, then we'd have a thread asking if a moderate rural Democrat like Deeds would have done better. And most would have pointed to the 2005 Attorney General race as evidence of Deeds' electability.
Hindsight is always perfect.

And by the way, if the VA and NJ races were a referendum on Obama, then how can we explain the fact that both Deeds and Corzine trailed their opponents, often by wide margins, since February, when Obama still had 70% approval ratings?   

[Lief 🗽]

Deeds ran a crappy "Warner-style" campaign anyway. He spent pretty much the entire last two months running ads about McDonnell's thesis, calling him some far-right winger, despite the fact that the part of the state Deeds was trying to win by running as a DINO agreed with most of the thesis. Couple that with the fact that he completely ignored NoVA and continually distanced himself from Obama, who remains popular in NoVA, and that results in a humiliating loss. His campaign pissed off everyone and won over no one.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

No way, but he would have had the Clinton Machine running a decent campaign at least.

[The Age Wave]

No. Deeds was great on the issues, he just got swept up in a Republican wave fueled by the negative opinion of the national Democrats.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

No way, but he would have had the Clinton Machine running a decent campaign at least.

The Clinton machine that got 35% of the vote in the primary last year?

[Lunar]

No one could ever accuse Terry of running a negative campaign, at least.  the man oozes positive energy

[JohnnyLongtorso]

No one could ever accuse Terry of running a negative campaign, at least.  the man oozes positive energy

He oozes something, but that's not it.

[tmthforu94]

No. Deeds was great on the issues, he just got swept up in a Republican wave fueled by the negative opinion of the national Democrats.

1. Democrats are still more popular nationwide than Republicans.
2. President Obama has positive approval ratings in this state.
3. Deeds couldn't excite Obama's supporteres enough to get them to the polls.
4. There was no Republican wave. We lost the New York race. There was a tight battle in Maine for gay marriage. And New Jersey only went Republican because they have an awful Governor.

[Alexander Hamilton]

No. Deeds was great on the issues, he just got swept up in a Republican wave fueled by the negative opinion of the national Democrats.

1. Democrats are still more popular nationwide than Republicans.
2. President Obama has positive approval ratings in this state.
3. Deeds couldn't excite Obama's supporteres enough to get them to the polls.
4. There was no Republican wave. We lost the New York race. There was a tight battle in Maine for gay marriage. And New Jersey only went Republican because they have an awful Governor.

Tmth, remember, there was no Republican period in NY. Hoffman doesn't count as a Republican.

[Lunar]

No one could ever accuse Terry of running a negative campaign, at least.  the man oozes positive energy

He oozes something, but that's not it.

You can ooze multiple things.  C'mon, you have to give Terry credit, he is INSANELY positive. 

[Badger]

No. Deeds was great on the issues, he just got swept up in a Republican wave fueled by the negative opinion of the national Democrats.

1. Democrats are still more popular nationwide than Republicans.
2. President Obama has positive approval ratings in this state.
3. Deeds couldn't excite Obama's supporteres enough to get them to the polls.
4. There was no Republican wave. We lost the New York race. There was a tight battle in Maine for gay marriage. And New Jersey only went Republican because they have an awful Governor.

^^^^^^^^^^^ this. THANK you for not drinking the MSM conventional wisdom kool aid, Tmth. :-)

[Magic 8-Ball]

Yes, with the caveat that he wrestle another alligator.

[Vepres]

He would've lost more gracefully than Deeds FWIW.

[pogo stick]

Hell No. McDonnell will be VA's greatest Governor since, George Allen.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Hell No. McDonnell will be VA's greatest Governor since, George Allen.

You mean greater than Jim Gilmore?