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

[publicunofficial]

I'd like to take this time to remind people that Ralph Northam threatened to join the Republicans in 2009 before he was talked out of it.

[publicunofficial]

I've always liked Perriello, but I'll be volunteering for Northam. 

Any reason?

[publicunofficial]

Another point: If Perriello wins the Governor's race, he is immediately my hands-down favorite for 2020.

[publicunofficial]

Perriello was one of the few Democrats that went down actually fighting in 2010 and never hid his support for President Obama. For that reason alone he has my support.

People will say "That was dumb of him because he ended up losing". But Glenn Nye tried the exact opposite strategy in a more D-friendly district than Perriello's, and got absolutely crushed while Perriello lost by about 3 points.

[publicunofficial]

Perriello was one of the few Democrats that went down actually fighting in 2010 and never hid his support for President Obama. For that reason alone he has my support.

Perriello was brave to do that, I remember how everyone else was running away from Obama that year. I've wondered why he hasn't run for anything else, glad to see he's coming back. This is great news! Perriello 2017.

It's not like he vanished off the face of the Earth. He ran CPAC for a while, and replaced Russ Feingold as an envoy to the Congo.

[publicunofficial]

I am genuinely curious as to why Perriello is considered progressive.

Less progressive and more populist, which is what I think the base really wants more than anything. I would kinda compare him to Jon Tester or Sherrod Brown.

Also, dude ran CAP.

[publicunofficial]

Perriello seems like a great candidate. If this guy can unseat Virgil Goode while still maintaining some fairly progressive views, then he should be able to crush almost any Republican.

You make it sound like Virgil Goode was a strong incumbent in a heavily R district, as opposed to a racist PoS in a GOP-leaning but not totally out of reach district.

[publicunofficial]

Good. A bitter democratic primary can only help Gillespie.

Perriello personally calling Northam to let him know he's entering the race doesn't scream "bitter primary" to me.

[publicunofficial]

Eh, nowhere near a bad enough remark to make me reconsider.

[publicunofficial]

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

Separately, what do we think Trump’s approval rating will be in VA on election day? I’m gonna guess 35% ish.

[publicunofficial]

Team Northam feeling the heat.

Yeah, after reading this I'm definitely behind Northam. Perriello seems like Tulsi Gabbard 2.0.

??

[publicunofficial]

Ben Pershing of the National Journal has a noteworthy observation:

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[publicunofficial]

Long 538 Perriello profile is somewhat newsy: Our Revolution may endorse Perriello soon, per Jeff Weaver. Perhaps even Sanders himself.

How much of a boon will that be in a state Hillary beat Bernie in by 30 points?

It's pretty hard to spin having the endorsements of both Bernie Sanders AND John Podesta as being a negative.

[publicunofficial]

Confederate monuments are basically the world's biggest participation trophies.

[publicunofficial]

Perriello should run for Warner's seat if he retires (hopefully) in 2020.

Warner'll only be 65 in 2020. He's not going anywhere unless he gives up the seat to run for POTUS.

Assuming he loses the in primary (or in the general), his best bet might be to carpetbag into one of the NOVA districts.  VA-05 isn't happening again for Democrats unless they control redistricting outright, and the state would have to do a full Arkansas 2012 for that to happen by 2021.  Connolly and Beyer in VA-11 and VA-08 are both older than Warner and if Comstock holds on next year (unlikely but far from impossible), he could run for VA-10 in 2020.  Any of those CDs would be safe for him for a long time and he is young enough to eventually be Speaker of the House if he wants to.

Similarly, if Northam loses the primary, he is the best possible candidate for VA-02 in 2018.  VA Dems should draft him into it right away.

Fingers crossed for "Virginia gets a 12th district in 2022 and the seat that comes out of it is a NOVA to Charlottesville gerrymander"

[publicunofficial]

Perriello is too good for the spineless bureaucrats of NoVa. Sad!

Oh well, best wishes to Northam.

[publicunofficial]

If Northam loses this, it'll be because Gillespie excited racists while Northam excited nobody.

[publicunofficial]

Also preparing my "Don't Blame Me, I Supported Perriello" signature.

[publicunofficial]

Also preparing my "Don't Blame Me, I Supported Perriello" signature.

No one cares.

You cared enough to reply. Sorry you keep supporting boring losers over the smart choice.

[publicunofficial]

Also preparing my "Don't Blame Me, I Supported Perriello" signature.

No one cares.

You cared enough to reply. Sorry you keep supporting boring losers over the smart choice.

Every race cannot be turned into a proxy war over the last Democratic presidential primary.

I agree, I just support whoever I view as the best candidate. Northam could've taken the stage with Bernie 100 times and it wouldn't have made him any less of a limp candidate.

[publicunofficial]

Welp.



So much for that black turnout.

[publicunofficial]

Dems worried about black disengagement, particularly those under 40.

Great News for Gillespie, though ideally blacks would come out and actually vote for Gillespie rather than abstaining.

Why would they ever?

[publicunofficial]

Well if Northam lost at least we have a reason. Party infighting! I'll give GOP one thing at least all the fight ends when the General election starts.

Yes, blame the leftists and not, y'know, Northam's wet fart of a campaign.

[publicunofficial]

The VA Dem strategy:

1) Nominate whichever bland sh**theap of a politician that manages to climb to the top of the state establishment, regardless of electability.

2) Pray that the NoVA margins are big enough.

[publicunofficial]

The VA Dem strategy:

1) Nominate whichever bland sh**theap of a politician that manages to climb to the top of the state establishment, regardless of electability.

2) Pray that the NoVA margins are big enough.

True, but what's an alternative? Nominate "bold progressive"? He/she will lose, it's Virginia, not California. Nominate energetic, but not so popular (after all, he lost the primary to "bland sh**theap") candidate like Perriello? No guaranties it will work better..

I'm curious: When was the last time a bold progressive got the D nomination for a major election in Virginia, and lost terribly?