Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Contrary Commonwealth of Virginia

Before anybody makes too much of the gubernatorial election results in Virginia, whether from the Right that this is a Warning Shot to Obama or from the Left that Creigh Deeds just did not hew to the Obama line enough, everyone should keep in mind the contrary record of Virginia since the main part of the old Byrd machine that used to run the state switched from the Democratic to the Republican parties back in the 1970s. With its elections coming one year after the presidential ones, it has exhibited an anti-Washington attitude appropriate to the location of the former rebellious Confederacy, electing someone from the party not in the White House every time starting in 1977. Here is the record.

1977: Dem Jimmy Carter in WH, GOP John Dalton wins in VA
1981: GOP Ronald Reagan in WH, Dem Charles Robb wins in VA
1985: GOP Ronald Reagan in WH, Dem Gerald Baliles wins in VA
1989: GOP George H.W. Bush in WH: Dem L. Douglas Wilder wins in VA
1993: Dem Bill Clinton in WH: GOP George Allen wins in VA
1995: Dem Bill Clinton in WH: GOP Jim Gilmore wins in VA
2001: GOP George W. Bush in WH: Dem Mark Warner wins in VA
2005: GOP George W. Bush in WH: Dem Tim Kaine wins in VA
2009: Dem Barack Obama in WH: GOP Bob McDonnell wins in VA.

2 comments:

rosserjb@jmu.edu said...

That should have read the location of the capital of the former rebellious Confederacy (Richmond) with the proximity of the two capitals explaining why half the battles of the Civil War took place in VA.

Oh, an amusing tidbit is that out here in the Shenandoah Valley where the bumbling Dem Deeds hails from, he ran ads noting that McDonnell had once pushed for an increase in the sales tax on food, noting that it would not affect people in the Shenandoah Valley because "they shoot what they eat."

beauty salon london said...

2001 was the best record and now 2009 would be best..