UPDATED AND BUMPED:
Amidst the wreckage of yesterday’s vote in Virginia (and this won’t be my last post on the subject), we’re already hearing from the squishes that got us into this mess in the first place with the transportation tax hike. State Senator Ken Stolle got the ball rolling for the “centrist” spin in the Washington Post:
If you want to take a look at who’s winning in the Republican Party, it’s middle-of-the-road Republicans who have not moved too far to the right that they’re considered extremists.
Is that so? Let’s take a look at those “extremists,” shall we?
Keep in mind, Stolle is really talking about any Republican with the gall to oppose the tax increases of 2004 and 2007. There were, in fact, only four GOPers (and one Democrat - Johnny Joannou) who were in this elite class: Mark Cole, Jeff Frederick, Bob Marshall, and Tom Gear.
While the Republicans as a whole lost control of the Senate, and dropped 3 seats in the House of Delegates, here’s how the “extremists” did:
Cole - The only one in the bunch whose support fell from 2005. Despite facing a challenger with a quarter-million dollar war chest, Cole lost less than one-third of one percent and “slipped” to a mind-boggling 62%.
Frederick - Elected by the skin of his teeth in 2005 (51%), Frederick had a gigantic bulls-eye painted on him. UPDATED: Yet the “glib extremist” gained a whopping seven-and-a-half points, and was re-elected with over 58% (thanks to BullElephant for catching my earlier error).
Gear - He faced his first opponent in 2005, and crushed him 3 to 2. Yet after defying his party leadership to vote against higher taxes, the Democrats responded to this “extreme” action by giving him a pass and not running anyone against him.
Marshall - His defeat has long been the wet dream of every Virginia Democrat and Washington Post editor, and after losing the Loudoun part of his district in 2005, the dream looked achievable in 2007. Instead, he bucked the party trend in Loudoun and narrowly carried his precincts there. His base in Prince William also came through, leading to a gain of three points to 58%.
Meanwhile, Joannou (unopposed both then and now) actually gained two points over assorted write-ins - quite a feat considering the nasty primary he survived that left a lot of angry liberals.
In other words, in those rare places in Virginia where true right-wing economic policy was on the ballot, it won. More to the point, by and large, it did better this year than it did two years ago.
It would behoove us to remember this next year, when Governor Kaine will almost certainly call for a tax increase.
November 7, 2007 at 12:35 pm
You should revisit your facts on Jeff Frederick…the news is WAY better than you report. His opponent spent about half a million bucks, and was buttressed by many tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) more spent in indirect help by the state Democratic Party. Yet Frederick won 58.6% to 41.2% (not the squeaker you describe) in a district that ordinarily has been tilting to the left. For example, Frederick won precincts that, in 2004, John Kerry won by as many as 25 percentage points!!!
So, your point is valid, but woefully understated.
November 7, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for the info, BE; the post has been updated to reflect the correct info.
You are absolutely right; this reinforces the point.
November 7, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Excellent run down DJ… Stolle and co. are in denial…. They are the reason They are in the minority status….
Oh wait a minute, it’s people like You and I that are in denial… it was us pleading with them not to wreck a basic tenet of the Conservative doctrine…
We are to blame for them losing the Senate…. Yeah, it’s you and I DJ….
Oh that’s right it’s the House… those guys stuck on Principle… That my friend is extremism…
But wait a minute.. the House still has a majority? How can that be…. I hope the WaPo can help me out with that.. and Larry Sabato… yeah, they’ll tell the truth….
November 10, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Ken Cuccinelli - one of the most - if not the most conservative Senate Republican won over a leftist Dem challenger. Meanwhile liberal anti-gun RINO Devolites-Davis gets beaten by a moderate, better on guns Chap Petersen.
Stolle has been an obstacle to pro-gun rights reforms - he is part of the problem in Richmond.
March 1, 2008 at 1:28 am
[...] It’s not just the right, either. Waldo Jacquith actually manages to see the state GOP is has had a “continual crunch to the right” over the last decade - never mind that it caved in and accepted two tax hikes in three years. He then rips Jeff Frederick as “a far-right Republican, precisely the sort of guy whose positions are losing Republicans the majority” - this is the same Jeff Frederick whose opposition to HB3202 turned his Prince William seat from a nail-biter to a stone-cold, lead-pipe lock. [...]
June 8, 2008 at 12:20 pm
[...] conventional wisdom about NoVa and HR turning blue. Thus the fact that opponents of the tax hike actually did well in NoVa was ignored - except by the opponents [...]
June 30, 2008 at 1:56 pm
[...] was still intact - ensuring that Bill Howell did not learn the lessons the voters were trying to teach, which is why he’s back with [...]
July 6, 2008 at 9:32 pm
[...] something” for transportation. Out of that overload of desperation came HB3202, and the rest is history. Sadly, Howell didn’t seem to learn this lesson, and thus he is now peddling [...]
July 6, 2008 at 9:32 pm
[...] something” for transportation. Out of that overload of desperation came HB3202, and the rest is history. Sadly, Howell didn’t seem to learn this lesson, and thus he is now peddling [...]