VA-GOV 2017: Utter Panic and Doom (General election: Nov 7th)

[Maxwell]

Perriello all the way! Reminder: Northam was this close to flipping parties.

[Maxwell]

Northam has never lost an election and he was elected statewide with 55% of the vote, the highest of any Democrat in 2013. His military and medical background is also a huge plus in Virginia especially in the Hampton Roads area. I don't really see how Perriello is remotely a stronger candidate than Northam.

Northam's 2013 opponent was a total loon who really should've been beat by much more. The feeling at the time was less "wow Northam's really electable" and more "wtf why isn't Northam campaigning more this kook is waaaay too close for comfort."

[Maxwell]

Even before Northam was the "annointed one" I was very reluctant in my support of him because I thought he was a potential turncoat and representative of a Virginia Democrat that doesn't really represent the state anymore. I think Democrats need these kind of primary fights - the GOP had so many primary fights and now they control almost every lever of power imaginable. Why are Democrats so afraid of any sort of contest?

[Maxwell]

A reminder to people calling Perriello "conservative" - he was in an R+5 district. I think standing for some of the things he stood for was pretty brave considering that.

[Maxwell]

ShadowofTheWave is just a troll who keeps appearing as different annoying characters.

[Maxwell]

Perriello is zooming left on guns, calling the NRA nutjobs and promising to push gun control as governor.

Bad idea. Virginia loves their guns.

Didn't Governor McAuliffe recently sign some gun control? His numbers seem to be fine.

Yep, last we checked, Governor McAuliffe has a 53% approval rating.

[Maxwell]

Donald Fing Trump is President of the United States. this comment is nothing.

[Maxwell]

yeah, NARAL or any pro-abortion group endorsing Northam is not shocking. I'm waiting until any sort of union backs Northam, then I'll be worried.

[Maxwell]

A reminder that Ed Gillespie, the "moderate Nice Guy FF" candidate who has spent his entire career as a GOP hatchetman, is still a huge turd sandwich

[Maxwell]

A couple of my friends dragged into going to the Tom Perriello / Bernie Sanders rally at GMU tonight. The crowd was made up of the exact white latte liberals you'd expect to show up to this kind of rally.

I gotta say, it reaffirmed my position that I'd be happy voting for Perriello in a GE, and he is a good guy. However, his platform is pretty shallow in my opinion, and he really does play up a lot of cliches about 'resisting' and being 'progressive', and that still seems quite disingenuine to me. I do think he's doing himself and the party a favor by not poisoning the well with Northam, and that kind of strategy won't turn Clinton voters off from him. I would not at all be shocked if he holds Northam's margins in Fairfax and Loudoun to single-digits, which could give him a path to victory.

Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, said nothing new and regurgitated his stump speech from the presidential campaign, and he even falsely stated that Perriello supports his free tuition college plan, when in fact, Perriello is only in favor of making trade school and community college debt-free. And my god, some his supporters really do act like members of a cult.

Interesting to hear you say that. Here's a video he did for the campaign where he stands against pipelines, another video with him in Southwestern Virginia where he discusses a variety of issues. Look, I think it's fair to say he's not discussing these issues in much depth, I understand. But for a political campaign, from what I've seen, I think Tom is trying to be substantive and talk about a platform that is unique and aims at people that aren't just the usual Democrats.

[Maxwell]

Northam is a fine guy but the idea he's some unambitious, completely sincere person is just ridiculous. The guy thought about switching parties for crying out loud!

[Maxwell]

to his credit, Northam is running a very strong campaign.

[Maxwell]

One thing I think the Perriello did is light a fire under Ralph Northam's bum - and I'm very appreciative of that regardless of who wins the primary.

These two candidates are inspiring one another to do their best work.

[Maxwell]

I'm generally in agreement with "the centrist Dem method has failed", but you have to pick your battles, and Virginia is a state where muh centrist Dems have been successful. Maybe in a pretty unequal way, considering the top offices are controlled by Dems but the legislature and congress are controlled overwhelmingly by Republicans.

[Maxwell]

Perriello and Northam have been remarkably civil for a very contested primary, and I think it's a testament to how good a guys they are. Truthfully, despite Northam's previous and present fiscal views, I think he would be a good Governor of Virginia. and I'm sure many Northam people think the same of Perriello. I think Perriello would be a better Governor for a few reasons but I'm sure Northam people think differently (and I agree with the idea that Northam would be better on some of the local issues, though not all, especially those related to DOMINION POWER) and that's good.

This is not a race to get angry about or pout IM NOT GONNA VOTE FOR SO AND SO over.

[Maxwell]

I find it hilarious that Gillespie got Gillespie'd!

Not to mention that Democratic Primary turnout was substantially higher than Republican primary turnout - which I'm not sure if that's a normal thing or not.

[Maxwell]

Trump's penchant for nicknames has now infected the Ralph Northam campaign -
 meet ENRON ED

[Maxwell]

I'd be very sad if Gillespie managed to win. But I don't think he will - whether he loses by 2 points or by 10, I think he'll lose.

[Maxwell]

ugghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


it would've been better if Northam if had literally put the ad on his twitter page and endorsed it whole heartedly and started running on that message.

it's such god damn amateur hour from someone who has been in politics forever and should have known better.

[Maxwell]

Holy...

https://twitter.com/Alex_Roarty/status/926242913545269248


Disastrous.

Pretty sure the Sanders cultists want Northam to lose so they’ll have something new to whine about.

oh come on

Gillespie is everything i hate about politics. everything. Despite my obvious annoyance for Northam and his mediocre moderate hero politics I felt this close to donating $25 to his campaign.

[Maxwell]

what i worry about is that the green areas are just burning election day democratic votes rather than being genuine upward momentum.

i really can't extrapolate from this and want to wait til election day before seeing stuff, but, ya know, here we are.

[Maxwell]

I've never heard of MS-13 until I heard GOP candidates screaming about. Are they not a big gang in Oklahoma?