Elephant Ears

This blog is dedicated to the political happenings in the Valley and Southwest Virginia. As the the name implies, this blog will have posts based on what is heard by this elephant's (GOPer's) ears. It is also a great treat to get while at the county fair or a carnival.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Fallout

Now the question is whether the GOP will view this loss as that they lost or that the dems won.

In Virginia the question is whether our party will see this loss as a result of Allen's statement or general problems within the party.

Later I will have a list of some things we can try to fix the next time around.

posted by GOPHokie @ 2:00 PM  

7 Comments:

  • At 11/08/2006 3:33 PM, Blogger Jackson Landers said…

    Go moderate and run a positive campaign. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most conservative and 1 being the most liberal, Virginia is a four. But you keep running fives. And Democrats run threes and fours so we end up being closer to the values of a majority of Virginians that the GOP candidates do.

    Make your extremist base shut up. We Democrats told our obnoxious far-lefties to shut up and go away ages ago and it worked. Voters don't want any radical ideology in government, right or left. But you guys keep giving the biggest bullhorns to your worst cranks.

    This is the simple basis for the huge resurgance of the Democratic party in Virginia. Y'all keep calling it a fluke, but it's become such a well-established pattern that there's no denying that the Democrats are becoming the dominant party in Virginia. We won 2 gubernatorial elections in a row, plus knocked off the Godfather of VA Republican politics last night. We've picked up seats for the state house and senate in every election for the last 6 years including most special elections.

    Unless the VA Republicans can do a massive about-face in the next 12 months, we're going to take control of the state senate next year. Just look at the numbers. Mark Warner seems to have his eye on that Governor's mansion again so you can pretty well write that one off most likely.

    If it were me, I'd fire Kate Obenshein immediately. That's step one but the bigger problem is that your crackpot evangelicals in the house of delegates are discrediting conservatives in general. I meet traditional, business-minded Republicans all the time in VA who tell me that they are fed up with the 'free lunch' Republicans in Richmond and are going to vote for the Democrat next time.

    They aren't with you on the social issues. They want a balanced budget, roads that work and a government that generally stays out of their way. The VA GOP doesn't give them that any more. So we've exploited this by turning out party in VA into exactly what those fiscal conservatives are looking for.

    It's not too late to get them back. Compete for them. Put together a budget so responsible it'll knock their socks off. Stop screaming about gay people and abortion. Be that steady hand at the helm that they want. Then you'll start beating us again. Which would be ok with me - because that's the kind of government that I want as well and I don't much care what party label you give to it.

     

  • At 11/08/2006 5:03 PM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    Well I agree with a good amount of what you have said, but why do you say we need to fire Kate?
    How does she fit into all of this?

     

  • At 11/08/2006 5:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Kate needs to go.

     

  • At 11/08/2006 8:06 PM, Blogger GOPHokie said…

    5:42, why?

     

  • At 11/08/2006 10:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    AP has called it, Allen has lost...which brings me to my next point..this January the Waynesboro Ladies Auxillary is holding their annual Snow Flake parade...and we we're wondering if former Senator Allen would have enough time in his schedule to ride his horse in our parade?

    Heck, we'd even pay for his gas money if he comes...

    Think about it, and get back to me...

     

  • At 11/08/2006 10:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Kate O-ben-chain is there because of her last name..which I guess has some meaning to some old white guys...

    She's attractive too...

    Otherwise she plain stinks

     

  • At 11/09/2006 9:46 PM, Blogger Bwana said…

    Brother Landers is correct, and it is a lesson the GOP should have learned in 1985...but unfortunately the hard lessons have to be relearned.

    1985 was Wyatt Durette v. Gerry Baliles, a rematch of the 1981 AG race...and on every issue Wyatt took the very conservative position on most every issue, and Baliles would plant himself just to Wyatt's left, enabling himself to take a conservative position but still one that was closer to the middle of the spectrum. Balies won statewide with 55.6% of the vote, the biggest Democratic win at the top of the ticket (w/the exception of Robb over Dawkins) since 1961.

    Even so, there is something else needed...but I will deal with that later.

     

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