Did Kerry make a mistake by not going after Virginia?

[sg0508]

Mark Warner made it a point that Kerry could have won the state had he put time and energy in there.  Warner is a smart man and he says it as it is.  He knew the demographic movement favored the democrats and he criticized the campaign for not going after the Old Dominion.  The final margin proves that it was winnable.  You're telling me that Kerry couldn't move the state 4 points? Nonsense. 

It's also a very good example of how Kerry's campaign (like Romney's) was inept.  Rather than forcing Bush to sweat in many of his 2000 states, he allowed the Bush camp to play offense on many of the Gore states while Kerry played defense for much of 2004 and it proved to be just enough to get Bush the 2nd term.  Romney basically repeated the same mistake.  If you remember, John Edwards was LIVID after the loss about the way the campaign was run.  He thought the campaign should have been expanded to at least 7-8 additional states to get Bush out of the bluish states from 2000.

It was a huge error and in the end, it may not have been enough to carry VA in 2004, but it would have forced Bush to play defense.