GILMORE WINS

Voting Continues in May Madness- Scroll Down For That

JIM GILMORE  50.2%
BOB MARSHALL 49.7%

Mark Warner responds: 

Comments

[Sean Holihan]

Damn. A Bob Marshall campaign would have been so awesome and breath-takingly ridiculous to see.

Ho-Lee Crap. I'm speechless.

[Not Jack Herrity]

If Gilmore breaks 40% in November I'll be surprised.

NJH

[dems4dems]

I'm ecstatic we're not the only self-destructive party in Virginia.

[dems4dems]

Should we now refer to Gilmore as "Landslide"?

[Matthew]

I have a question for the GOP readers on this blog. Is there any chance the Marshall could run as an independent? This vote was very close. Clearly, many of the Marshall supporters could stay home now with Gilmore as the nominee.

Matthew-

2012 senate race

All I'm going to say

[Matthew]

Bob Marshall (or James Gilmore or Tom Davis for that matter) can't beat James Webb, Anon 3:05 PM. Northern Virginia will not vote for the extremely far right Marshall in the 2008 or 2012 Senate races. Webb is a candidate with high support in Northern Virginia (including myself).

I guess I was just wondering if Marshall would run as an independent this year against the eventual winner, Mark Warner (who is off to a great start with an excellent first ad). Gilmore is a weak candidate if he can barely scrape by at the convention against a relatively unknown state delegate. I think Marshall's supporters are going to stay home in November 2008.

[notsophialoren]

So what 3 word campaign slogan will Gilmore come up with this time. I am still paying car tax! With Hagar defeated and Marshall so close to winning it looks like the moderates, if any are left, in the Republican Party have just lost a home. This is bad for the Party.

[Growl!]

I am a Republican, but I'm still not comfortable with the wacky GOP I encountered south of the Mason-Dixon line. I've lived in Virginia for years, but I can't get used to it. This is not the Republican party I grew up with, not by a long shot. In Virginia they define themselves by what they are anti- rather than what they stand for. Like individual rights and responsibility.

Honestly, I am a toss up for Mark Warner versus Gilmore. I said I never vote for Gilmore again, not even for dogcatcher, and believe he was a lousy governor and don't apologize to anyone in my party for feeling that way. I don't know what I'll do. I guess I'll ignore that race and do what my conscience tells me in the voting booth.

Also, I will say that I am very tired of seeing people like George Allen paraded out like they are the face of my party. Allen lost. He deserved to. He said a very stupid and inappropriate thing that cost him a lot of votes. Not one of our high points. As with any person who chooses public service, he has my thanks for what he did in the past (some of which was good), but he is not where I see a healthy Republican party looking for answers.

This is not a good day for Republicans. I'm sure some of my colleagues are too off in la-la land to see it, but we're getting less and less relevant in this state every day.

[Growl, P.S.!]

I think what Gilmore's next three word slogan will be should be a thread onto itself. Maybe with a booby prize for the person who guesses it? Just a suggestion.

growl,

Somehow I don't think you are much of a republican. You don't like Allen, Gilmore, and Marshall, the fact that the party is against big government and against higher taxes.

You are correct to state that you may not recognize this party, you are really a democrat, end your dilemma and vote as such.

Gilmore almost lost and Frederick won big. The real conservatives may be back in charge of the party, and hopefully the rinos and Gilmore will get the message.

Get back to real conservatism we started losing when we moved away from it... THAT is the CHANGE people want.

[Growl!]

True conservatives believe in individual rights and responsibilities. What I see cropping up in Virginia are a bunch of kooks with axes to grind who are dividing and weakening us. I'm not a Democrat and I loathe big government. But I loathe seeing the Republican party, the party of civil rights, the party of small government, splintering into camps over single issues. I backed Marshall, by the way. It will be hard for me to vote for Gilmore. I guess I am drifting into Independent Land after 20 years of being a loyal Republican and nothing else!

[Growl, P.S.!]

An anon at 5:58, Allen's racist remark was unforgiveable. Especially from a Republican who should know better. I'm sorry his career crashed and burned, but that ended up being what defined him. It's tragic.

[Sean]

Why is the GOP even bothering to field a candidate against Mark Warner? In a match-up of Virginia's past two governors, it's a battle of someone that the people love (Warner) and someone that the people are fully disappointed in (Gilmore). The GOP shouldn't waste the money!

[Brian Kirwin]

"I think Marshall's supporters are going to stay home in November 2008."

I don't think they'll stay home in a Presidential year, with a Libertarian on the ballot.

"I am still paying car tax!"

That's a Mr. Warner problem.

"In Virginia they define themselves by what they are anti- rather than what they stand for."

That defines the Democratic campaign theme this year.

There is a problem in the Virginia GOP, but it's cyclical and more a result of candidate recruitment over several years than some ideological shift.

Democrats still refuse walk after Election Day what they talk before it. Voters eventually tire of those who do that. If Kaine could run for re-election, he'd get creamed, and most Democrats know it.

So Chichester has endorsed Warner??

gee Mr. independent growl,

What do you think about obama's racist comments in his book? Or his elitist comments denigrating middle American Christians?

How about his newfound integrity in which he leaves his church after 20 years of listening to, supporting, paying for, and submitting his family to the hateful racism preached there. Now that he is running for president he decides those things are improper? Talk about politically expedient, hypocritical and presumptive of ignorance to his followers.

Oh well, I suppose I should take that last one back, as they do continue to follow, he is right about them.

I suppose now that obama has quit the church, the libs will be screaming, "you cant talk about that because he left that church"

[Not Boyd Marcus]

If anyone is divisive with an ax to grind, it is Jim Gilmore. He hamstrung the party for decades.

[Growl!]

9:06, I don't support Obama and find him idealogically screwed up. I do not support Hillary. I see them both as a good way towards being socialist and I don't agree with that. I support McCain, something that some so-called Republicans seem to have trouble doing even though he is the nominee. Of the three, there is no question he is the best. I think Obama's pastor is an embarrassment. I think Michelle Obama has said incredibly wrong things. I think Obama has said wrong things. All that doesn't make Allen any less responsible for his own hurtful and racist utterance. In his case, it cost him an election. Just as I believe it will cost Obama the next election.

At least I don't hold people to a partisan double standard as far as being racist. It's wrong no matter who does it.

I am bummed Marshall won't be the candidate for Senator. My dislike for Gilmore will probably be set aside, but to me, it's a close call between him and M. Warner. I don't like either one of those guys.

[Pete in Williamsburg]

Marshall's close second is a perfect example of primary candidates versus general election candidates. Marshall is a fringe kook who can easily drum up support in a primary or convention since only the hard-core base participates. He would have absolutely no chance in a general election.

Legislatures will have far-left or far-right incumbents because gerry-mandering or some fluke of demographics gave them a more extremist voting base. Across an entire state, it's much more difficult to get a base that wants the fringe. That's the reason we have 8 of 11 congressional reps in the GOP, but the state-wide contests are decided by slim margins.

The larger a chunk of voters you have, the more likely they want a moderate. It's part of the reason Republican primary voters, on a national scale, rejected the choices of Limbaugh, Hannity, et al.

[t]

Rev.3
[15] "`I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
[16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.

[Not Frank Hargrove]

3 word slogan for Gilmore: I will lose!

What a laughable load of crap! Does Mark Warner think that Virginians are so stupid? Everybody with more than a 2-digit IQ knows that he pushed through the largest tax increase in Virginia history when we already had a huge surplus.

He lied about the so-called "shortfall" to get his tax increase, and he's still lying about it today.

http://baconsrebellion.blogspot.com/2005/11/incredible-expanding-budget-surplus.html

[Not John S. Mosby]

A complete disaster for Republicans. The consensus was that if Gilmore won by less than 40 points - 70/30 - it would be a sign of weakness. Winning by 0.5 points, against Sideshow Bob? Fuck, Gilmore may not do as well as Alan Keyes did in 2004.

[dems4dems]

Maybe better Keyes but the point is well taken that he's pretty pathetic for an ex-governor.

"Marshall's close second is a perfect example of primary candidates versus general election candidates. "

Would this hold true for that fringe kook obama? or are democrat primaries different because they are filled with wise and considerate members like wright, ayers, farrakahn, hammas, al queda...etc....lol

TOO RICH...

[dems4dems]

2:44 - Don't you have a book report due this week?

[Pete in Williamsburg]

Mark Warner pushed a tax increase? If only Republicans had been the majority in both houses, perhaps they could have stopped him... oh, wait a minute...

[the shootist]

Growl, I'm a little wary of you. Not because you're a Republican, but because you seem to be a lucid and thoughtful Republican, which is a bit like spotting a unicorn these days. Nothing in your post is all-caps, and you never once mention Louis Farrakhan or Al Qaeda. Although I have a feeling that if you DID mention Al Qaeda, you would at least spell it correctly. See Anon 2:44 for further examples of the tide you are swimming against.

Anyway, from the other side of the ideological fence, I tip my hat to you, your ideas, and your general unwillingness to engage in hysterical demagoguery.

[Growl!]

The funny thing to me, shootist, is that Anon. seemed to have decided that because I don't absolutely worship Allen and because I don't think Gilmore was a great governor, that I must also be against Marshall and that I must like high taxes and big government. Anon. also assumed I am a man, addressing me as such. All of Anon.'s assumptions are actually incorrect, including that last one. I don't think either Gilmore or his opponent Warner were anything to write home about when they had their stints in Richmond.

I wonder how many people both parties are missing or alienating because of that natural tendency to fill in and project characteristics onto other people we don't totally agree with? Something to ponder from both sides of the ideological fence. And I suppose individually as well. It's easier to be an Independent because you don't have to ponder or compromise. I don't know whether easier is better. The Republicans are still stuck with me for now.

I am not good at spelling, shootist. I keep a dictionary on top of my printer. I tend to use it, but I still spell a lot of words incorrectly. Or I google names I cannot spell. Even that is not a sure thing, though, as all our incorrect spellings add to the database of misinformation.

Never been compared to a unicorn before. Kinda 70s and before my time but okay. Cool.

[Interested Observer]

The message Republicans will take from Gilmore's schooling in November is that they didn't nominate someone conservative enough. The far right always reads things that way... Meanwhile, the left complains about being misunderstood.