Say what?!?!?!?!

Just when I thought politics in Spotsylvania couldn’t get any weirder – or to be more precise, that it would finally calm down – the one man I never thought would ever give the Republican Party an opportunity just pried open the door (Washington Post):

McDonnell might try to tip the balance of power in the Senate by luring a Democrat in a vulnerable district into his administration.

One key senator Friday did not rule out the possibility of accepting such an offer. Sen. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania) , a longtime school administrator who was considered for secretary of education under both Kaine and Warner, said he would be willing to discuss an administration job.

“I would certainly be willing to talk to the governor-elect and his staff about whatever they want to talk about,” he said. “I’m not looking for that, I’m not seeking that, but I’m willing to talk to them about anything.”

In this environment, “I’m willing to talk” might as well be “Why haven’t you called me yet?”

Now, there isn’t any Spotsylvania Democrat who has defeated more Republicans than Edd Houck.  Some of his comments since his party retook the Senate in 2007 have been so baldly partisan that I’m guessing some of his own colleagues blushed.

Still, knowing the people around McDonnell, I’d be stunned if Edd’s phone isn’t ringing already.

Maybe, just maybe, Spotsylvania’s election season isn’t done yet.

T-plus one day

It’s a rather unusual aftermath. While I lost, nearly every other Republican in Virginia won.

Still, I very much enjoyed the last nine months, and I very much appreciate the help I received from everyone. I ran a campaign of which I could be proud.

In the meantime, at least we’ll move in a different direction from Richmond.

T-minus one day

For obvious reasons, this has been the busiest election year I’ve ever had, and tomorrow will be the most intense election day.

I know thie audience on this blog is much larger than Spotsylvania County (let alone Lee Hill), but for those of you who live in Summit, Lee Hill, or Frazers Gate precincts, here’s where you go to vote – and yes, please vote for me for Supervisor.

Summit: Lee Hill Community Center, at Cosner Park; take HCC Drive off Tidewater Trail just south of Benchmark Road (or north of Jim Morris).

Frazers Gate: Courtland Elementary School, on Smith Station Road south of Courthouse Road and north of the Spotsylvania Pkwy/Smith Station Road/Leavells Road intersection.

Lee Hill: Lee Hill Elementary School, on Lee Hill School Road; take US17 (Mills Road) and turn north on Old Dominion Pkwy (south is Cosner Drive, into an industrial park), then right.

Rasmussen joins the McDonnell landslide stampede

Rasmussen’s final Virginia poll is out, and it has McDonnell ahead by a 54-41 margin.  Oddly enough, this puts them at the small end of the McDonnell spread (The WaPo has the smallest McDonnell lead at 11 points).

This is the point, though: all of the major pollsters have McDonnell up by double digits with roughly a week to go.

I liked what I saw

From the Wizards, that is.

For starters, they went into Dallas – a team that won 50 games last year, then improved during the off-season – and held them to under 40% from the floor.  Sure, Josh Howard was out, but Shawn Marion wasn’t.  This was a team that some people are saying could take the Southwest Division away from San Antonio.  Yet the ‘Zards held the lead for the entire second half, taking every run the Mavs threw at them, refusing to panic or wilt, and thus opened the season with a W for the first time in four years.

Caution is the word of the day after one game, but if Agent Zero can stay healthy, and this team can make this kind of defensive performance the norm, this could be a special basketball season in Washington – and it couldn’t have come soon enough!

PPP: McDonnell up 15 (UPDATE: Survey USA has GOP landslide sweep, too)

A week is a lifetime in politics, but Creigh Deeds may need a couple of Resident Evil films to pull this one out.

Public Policy Polling affirms what the rest of the polling world has been saying: Bob McDonnell’s lead has been growing (from 12 points to 15).

Interestingly, the largest lead is still held by Ken Cuccinelli (who stands at +16); Bill Bolling stands at +12.

The best region for the GOP (by area code) is 540, i.e., north-central Virginia for the most part.  That certainly makes me smile.

UPDATE: Survey USA has the margins at 17, 14, and 16, respectively.  Jason @ BD has the details.

Amidst the election fun (including my own campaign), it should be noted that the NBA opens tonight

As just about the only fellow in the Virginia rightosphere who blogs about the Association, I couldn’t let Opening Night go by without a mention.

Once I put the little guy to bed (it will be waaaaaay to dark to hit doors by then), I’ll be watching Agent Zero and company take on the Mavs, while hoping really hard that he doesn’t get hurt).

Deeds could pick up a point a day . . . and still lose

With eight days to go, the Washington Post is forced to admit that their candidate – Creigh Deeds – is down 11 points to Bob McDonnell (55-44).

Even better from the Republican’s perspective, only 2 percent of his voters think there’s a “good chance” they’d change their minds – meaning 53-54% of the electorate is basically “locked in” for him.

If these voters are prepared to stay with the R all the way down the ballot (including *cough* Board of Supervisor races *cough*), it could be a very good night for th GOP.

Survey USA internals showing the Dems are doing what they need to do – and are still getting waxed

The more one looks at the Survey USA bombshell poll, the worse things look for the Democrats.

Here are the big numbers:

Governor: McDonnell 59, Deeds 40

Lieutenant Governor: Bolling 56, Wagner 42

Attorney General: Cuccinelli 56, Shannon 41

Now for the real painful info (for the Dems): since the last Survey USA poll (two weeks ago), the electorate has become less Republican (+1 from +5), more Obama-friendly (McCain +1 from +8), poorer, darker (75% white from 78%, 16% A-A from 15%), and  flipped from pro-life to pro-choice.

Yet all three Republican candidates improved on their previous performance.

In other words, for every Democrat Deeds is rousing to get to the polls, he and his ticketmates are losing two independents (McDonnell’s margin among independents is 44 points).

Meanwhile, Public Policy Polling (the North Carolinians with a heavily Dem client base) is previewing its poll for tomorrow:

We’re looking at a McCain +6 electorate this year in a state that was Obama +6 last year. There’s no path to victory if that stays true through election day. We’ll see how much good the visits from Obama, Bill Clinton, and other leading national Democrats do in the last few weeks but there is a lot of ground to make up (emphasis added).

Not sure if PPP will have a gap this wide, but it’s pretty clear Deeds’ “closing in” days have been closed out.

By my count . . .

. . . we’ve seen three errors in tonight’s game by . . . the umpires.  Two in the Yankees’ favor (4th and 5th), and one in the Angels’ favor (4th).  Luckily, the first two (in the fourth) cancelled each other out, while the Yanks couldn’t benefit from the third one (in the top of the 5th); i.e., there have been no umpire unearned runs.

Trouble is, we’re only halfway through.