Tomorrow, Virginia holds its statewide elections, and the governorship is up for grabs.That election has shaped up into a battle between the Ruling Class and the rest of us.
On one side is Virginia's Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a man who fought ObamaCare at the district court level and won. He could accurately be characterized as a Reagan Republican.
On the other side is Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a lobbyist, fund raiser and perennial DC fixture, who
was formerly the head of the DNC, and a man who had been involved in one sleazy scandal after another.
You would think this would be a pretty clear cut battle for the GOP to take on..an experienced public servant with a conservative record versus a DC insider with radical stances on gun control, global warming, cap and trade, taxation and ObamaCare.
You'd be wrong.The GOP establishment is giving zero help to Ken Cuccinelli. No money (Cuccinelli has been outspent almost ten to one), no major establishment GOP figures on the stump for him, no troops on the ground, nada.
Meanwhile, the unions and the DNC have poured millions into the race.
Campaign shock troops have arrived instate from the unions, from amnesty for illegal aliens groups like La Raza, and from various environmental activist groups.
The odd thing is that with all that stacked against him, Cuccinelli has surged in the closing days of the campaign. Some polls show him within six points of McAuliffe, before including the margin of error.
A sign of how worried the Democrats are has been a spate of last minute get out the vote appearances for McAuliife by VP Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and yes, President Obama...who mainly directed his appeal at black voters and never once mentioned ObamaCare, something a lot of Virginians are concerned about.
So, you ask yourself, why wouldn't the GOP want to put at least some resources into this race, which seems to have at least a fighting chance of winning?
Simple, really. They actually want a McAuliffe victory.To find out why, let's head north of Virginia to New Jersey.
Oin NJ, Chris Christie is running for re-election against a non-entity he's outspending by a huge percentage. He's way ahead in the polls and has been consistently, but has been spending money and campaigning hard with the idea of winning a landslide.
If Christie wins big and Cuccinelli loses, do you have any doubts that will be used as propaganda against conservatives and the Tea Party by the GOP establishment? Can you imagine what pundits like Karl Rove and Jennifer Rubin will say? "Can't win with these extreme Tea Partyers. Gotta go with a real Republican, a moderate. That's what we need to win elections." The TV appearances and the columns are probably already scheduled and written, with just a few blanks to fill in the numbers.
The GOP establishment, being part of the Ruling Class, is just fine with losing elections if actual conservatives are running. As long as they can continue to feed from the trough and hold on to the rewards and perks of power, they could care less about anyone or anything else.
And do those 'moderates' actually win elections, really? Proof of this can be seen in Virginia itself. The last establishment Republican 'moderates' to run in Virginia, John McCain and Mitt Romney, lost the state by 6 points and 3 points, respectively. In both elections, a lot of self-identified Republicans stayed home. By contrast, Bob McDonald, a conservative Republican won in 2009 with over 60% of the vote.
This fits in quite well with the Democrat's strategy as well. Chris Christy might be hugging President Obama today, but he can always be demonized tomorrow. Meanwhile, New Jersey is a solidly Democrat controlled state, with sky high taxes, some of the worst anti-Second Amendment laws in America and powerful public employee unions, Governor Christy's YouTube antics to the contrary.
On the other hand, Virginia is still up for grabs in these areas. Although parts of Northern Virginia adjacent to DC are growing thanks to metastasizing federal government, the state is still basically conservative in many ways. Put Terry McAuliffe in charge for a few years and you'll see that change. And McAuliffe, a former Clinton operative can be relied on to do his best to sew up the state by means fair or foul for whomever the Democrat nominee is in 2016.
If Cuccinelli scores an upset tomorrow, that all changes. This is one battle that we have a chance of winning, or at least make a decent fight out of.
If Cuccinelli loses, one reason will probably be Robert Sarvis, running on the Libertarian ticket.
Sarvis has absolutely no chance of winning, and as Rand Paul and his father are running around the state telling Virginians, Sarvis is not exactly a libertarian either.
Every vote Sarvis gets is a vote for McAuliffe and a vote for higher taxes, ObamaCare and sewing the state up for Hillary in 2016..it's that simple.
And the percentage of votes Sarvis is predicted to get could essentially make the difference.
I urge Virginians, especially conservatives to get out and vote, and to think carefully about what they're voting for. Do you really want to live in a state governed by the likes of Terry McAuliffe? Or would you prefer to be governed by an experienced public servant like Ken Cuccinelli whose committed to lower taxes, lower energy costs, keeping ObamaCare at bay and preserving prosperity?
The choice is yours.
There will be other battles along the way. Some we'll win, some we won't. But this one could be winnable if we work at it.
Tomorrow will tell the story.
UPDATE: Guess who's the chief funder of 'Libertarian' Robert Sarvis? Austin, Texas, software billionaire Joe Liemandt, a top Obama bundler.
If you vote for Sarvis, you're being played.
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