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

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http://thehill.com/homenews/news/312769-former-democratic-rep-will-run-for-virginia-governor-report

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The coronation of Ralph Northam has come to a screeching halt lol.

Hopefully Northam ends up winning the primaries.


*** mod edit (6/14/2017): changed title again for general election in Nov

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Aides to Warner and Kaine say that both Senators still back Northam.

Well, they are both centrist Democrats (Warner, moreso), so I'm not surprised.

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

I think this is his only real selling point over Northam, personally

"Vote for me for Governor so that I can run for President in 2020!"

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Periello voted for the Stupak amendment and was endorsed by the NRA, I don't think he will be successful in outflanking Northam on the left. Women's group and gun control orgs will obviously line up behind Ralph.

Virginia is a pretty centrist/center-right state, so if you are a progressive, be prepared to be disappointed.

Remember, one of our Senators is Mark Warner. Virginia is nowhere near as progressive as Maryland.

Of course, as a centrist, I have no issue with this.  

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Go Perriello! I'm hoping for an upset here in the Dem primary, and it'd be great to see "fiscally conservative but socially liberal" Ralph Northam go down.

What kind of fiscal conservative is Ralph Northam? Is he really that conservative on fiscal issues, or is he just conservative by Democratic standards? I'd assume the latter.

I hate the term "fiscal conservative" in general: It's so vague.

I just assume that Northam is a conservative democrat.

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Northam welcomes Primary Challenge. Amazing man. Go Northam.

Kudos to Northam. Very classy!

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

Bad idea. Virginia loves their guns.

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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.

It was EXTREMELY weaksauce, and was basically crafted by lobbyists from the NRA. It did put a couple extra provisions for important things like background checks, but at the cost of repealing a lot of the work done against the gun lobby by AG Herring.

And that is why McAuliffe's approvals weren't hurt by the agreement.

This isn't Maryland.  

Thank God.

If you are in favor of super-tough gun laws, please move to Maryland instead of NoVa.

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Would Northam be considered a Conservative Democrat?

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Fundraising this year: Perriello $1.1M, Northam $340k.

Money doesn't determine a race alone (*cough* 2016 election *cough*), but things could get tighter than what we expected.

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Perriello foot in mouth..

http://wavy.com/2017/02/15/democratic-candidate-apologizes-for-sept-11-comparison/

What a f***ing idiot.

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Perriello is off to a good start but I still think Northam has the edge. Northam should no well in the economically centrist NOVA suburbs. I personally prefer Gillespie, but if a democrat is going to win, I'd rather have Perriello over Northam. Also think Northam is the stronger candidate since he can run up the margins in battleground NOVA.

I'm also likely gonna vote for Gillespie if he is the GOP nominee.

If Corey Stewart somehow is the nominee, I'm voting Democrat.

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

Donald Trump != Tom Perriello

Not everyone is made out of telfon.

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If Perriello loses, it won't be because of this. Northam was never going to be beaten in the primary IMO.

The general election is Likely D until proven otherwise. Gillespie is not a bad candidate, but I think his absolute best-case scenario is a 5000 vote loss or so. A Republican win here would be a big upset and terrible news for Democrats. But like I said, I don't think it will happen. Northam should be the next governor of VA.

While I like Gillespie, I feel that his chances would have been better if Clinton was president.

Northam, McAulliffe, and other Democrats have been capitalizing on the controversy and unpopularity of Donald Trump. For example, they participated in the women's march and spoke out against the travel ban from the baggage pickup terminal of Dulles International Airport

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As a Virginian, I have no idea who I will vote for yet in this race assuming it become Northam vs. Gillespie.

I having a feeling I'm gonna end up voting for Northam, but who knows? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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I mean I'm obviously supporting Fightin Tom (normal AAD) but a guy voting Republican when he was a generic upper middle class voter rather than an active politician seems like a dubious attack tbh.

Agreed.

He's a man who was a conservative Democrat and became slightly more liberal throughout the years (abortion, gun control).

As someone who has had an Independent voting record that isn't confined to one party (I even voted for Mark Warner for Senate and Barbara Comstock for Congress in 2014, which was the first election I voted in), I have no issue with Northam on this.

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Northam is a symbol of upper-middle class democrats, which is awful.

Perriello is also an upper-middle class Democrat. There are a lot of them in Virginia. Get over yourself.

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Northam got the endorsement of NARAL

This seems like quite a blow to Perriello.

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I feel like Northam seems to focus on social issues far more than Perriello.

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Northam is a symbol of upper-middle class democrats, which is awful.

Perriello is also an upper-middle class Democrat. There are a lot of them in Virginia. Get over yourself.

However unlike Northam, he isn't symbolism for the worst of the democratic party, those like yourself.

Oh christ we will never beat Trump if we create an "ideology purity test" for blue dogs an no-liberals yes progressives/Bernie's wing deserve a bigger seat at the table right now heck even maybe the drivers seat in 2020 but we shouldn't try to purge conservative dems like Manchin (who drives me nuts btw) or Northan

You realize the guy you are talking to is a user with a socialist flair and a quote from Salvador Allende in his/her flair who tends to call people to the right of his/her political views "human trash".

It's a lost cause.

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This could get interesting...

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Oh Lord.

http://www.fauquier.com/prince_william_times/governor-hopeful-corey-stewart-taking-heat-for-the-term-cuckservative/article_6fe0376a-10c4-11e7-b909-db18779cb941.html

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Yeah also let's try not to turn literally every single Democratic primary into a proxy battle for Sanders/Hillary pls

I mean I'll be really pissed if "SOSHUL LIBRUL/FISCULL CONSERTIVE" Ralph Northam wins (more so than when Perez beat Ellison, even), but if he does it won't be because Hillary Clinton secretly wants to punish Sanders voters or whatever.

LOL too late.

There's a bit of that vibe as well in the New Jersey Gubernatorial primaries on the Democratic side.

[Deblano]

Bernie Sanders endorses Perriello

And the Northam vs. Perriello race gets even more tense....

[Deblano]

It may be another proxy battle between Sanders and Clinton. Reliving the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

Tom Perriello has some good ideas, but he may be too anti-gun and anti-military to win in Virginia. The Democratic primary is Lean Northam at this point.

We'll see. I think Northam can do well in the rural areas of Virginia, but Perriello could do well with the anti-gun NOVA suburbanites that have flooded Virginia over the past couple of years.

However, Ed Gillespie probably wants Perriello as the Democratic opponent in this open seat. RGA would pour money into this race, and yes, Republicans can still win Virginia despite it being an off-year in Trump/Pence-era politics.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/bernie-sanders-endorses-tom-perriello-236858

Tom has to be the most gun friendly Dem, He has an A rating or something from the NRA & no1 is anti-military, some people just don't want to see money abused in stupid wars & soldiers killed for no good reason.

VA is a Likely D at this point & it will be very hard for the GOP to win in 2017 & Tom has been doing better than Ralph in the polls. And he has support from Podesta, Obama staffers & Sanders & his supporters - Essentially both wings - Let's see if he win now, because if he still can't, then it's difficult to see him having a good future in politics !

Perriello seems to have renounced his pro-gun past a few years ago. Still, I can see him being attacked as flip flopping on that issue.

Both candidates are being attacked for being "flip floppers" and not being "true progressives".