The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Accent on Virginia

11.10.05 @ 12:01AM

KILLJOY KILGORE
Re: David Holman's Kilgore Kaput:

Amen, brother! David Holman's "Kilgore Kaput" bullseyed the reason why Kilgore lost the Virginia governor's race. Kilgore never ran as a conservative.

There was plenty of opportunity to have done so. The outgoing governor, Democrat Mark Warner, had a high approval rating, but largely because he had done nothing for four years, so he didn't anger many people. The sole legacy of the Warner years was a massive tax hike that was sponsored by RINOs in the state Senate. Not that Warner was reluctant to sign it, of course. But responsibility gets diffused in a legislature, so nobody bore the blame. When it became clear a year later that all the increase did was create a billion-dollar surplus to be frittered away, Kilgore could have based his whole campaign on linking Tim Kaine to the tax grab via Warner, and cruised by 20 points. He did not.

Instead, he squandered his campaign on nonsense. When he mentioned tax cuts at all, they were "targeted", a code word for "forget about it applying to you". When he babbled about programs, the list always ran to spending more: for education, cleaner air, cleaner water, the children, blah, blah, blah. That is liberal boilerplate which will persuade nobody. Blue-staters breathe that stuff, but they are going to vote for the other guy who is saying the same thing. It's not going to get red-staters to support you, because conservatives know those aren't genuine crises.

And, of course, the stupidest non-crisis of all was the death penalty. Earth to politicians: Nobody cares! Virginia executes two or three convicted murderers per year. A handful of Woodstock wannabes hold candlelight vigils. All the people who think this is a burning issue wouldn't crowd an elevator. If you want a law-and-order topic that energizes conservatives, you talk about illegal aliens, not capital punishment. Kilgore ignored immigration until about 4 days before the election, well after it was too late.

Kilgore could have won big if only he had stuck with solid conservative positions on issues that matter to conservatives: lower taxes, less government spending, security. If it sounds like Wednesday morning quarterbacking, it is... and has been the morning after every squishy Republican loses an election he could have dominated.
-- James Bono
Midlothian, Virginia

As David Holman points out, Jerry Kilgore ran a lousy campaign. More importantly, his campaign lacked ideas and themes, and took the Northern Virginia outer suburbs for granted.

The down-state good ol' boys have long regarded Northern Virginia as a cash register for the state and the outer suburbs as reliably Republican regardless of the candidate. After Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, they had better change that perception if they expect to win the governor's mansion back.

Tim Kaine ran an effective campaign that presented him as principled and interested in the problems of congestion and sprawl that plague Northern Virginia and the Virginia Beach/Norfolk areas. Kilgore's attack on Kaine's opposition to the death penalty was clumsy at best and morbidly opportunistic at worst.
-- William L. Roughton, Jr.
Fairfax Station, Virginia

It's an off-year election. Democrats win the gubernatorial races in GOP-leaning Virginia and the blue state New Jersey. Republicans console themselves that at least they won the mayoral race in New York City, even though Michael Bloomberg is just a RINO (Republican-in-name-only).

Pundits wonder aloud, "Is Bush finished?" "Sure, he probably couldn't have done much to affect the outcome in New Jersey, but what about Virginia, a state he won comfortably just a year ago? That can't be good!"

And then comes the faux-sympathy comment: "It's going to be a long three years for Republicans."

But enough about 2001.

As you can see, that dismal night four years ago is almost a perfect replay of what happened last night, November 8, 2005. Of course, there are real differences: President Bush is coming off what is arguably the worst summer of his political career, and he will be blamed (unfairly, in my opinion) for losing Virginia. Never mind that the Democrat, Tim Kaine, was essentially running for popular governor Mark Warner's second term, and that Republican Jerry Kilgore ran a poor campaign, according to many accounts.

New Jersey is now unwinnable for Republicans, unless you're a RINO like Christie Whitman. Of course, it helps when the Democrat, Jon Corzine, is able to spend boatloads of his own money.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Education, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Religion, Islam, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court, Iraq, Iran, European Union, NATO, Africa, North Korea, Socialism, Conservatism, Immigration, Oil, Unions