Word: virginia
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...Jersey and Virginia are the only two states that elect chief executives the year after the country picks a new President, so the contests there - in Virginia the governor's mansion is open, and in New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine is seeking re-election in a ferocious three-way battle - assume outsized importance in the political world as ostensible bellwethers...
...scene may seem eerily familiar, especially since the rally was held in front of the very offices Barack Obama's campaign used last year in this northwest Virginia town. But the rally in Leesburg on Sunday was for the Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell; the speakers included attorney general nominee Ken Cuccinelli (the leader of the "Yes, we can" chant) and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling ("Help is on the way"). And while the tone may have sounded reminiscent of Obama's stirring rallies of a year ago, the platform couldn't have been more conservative. "This has been a campaign...
...talk of Republican chaos and infighting in this off-year election, the GOP in Virginia seems to have found the formula for unifying its party and delivering a winning message. If the polls are accurate, McDonnell could walk off with a double-digit victory over Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds in Tuesday's election - this in a state that only a year ago was declared to be trending blue. And across the Potomac, Washington is paying attention. "The independent electorate in our state has indicated in a very strong way that they believe the vision that Bob McDonnell is out there...
...year elections always see a bit of a backlash: the Democrats lost the Virginia statehouse in 1997, while Bush's GOP candidate was defeated in 2001. Oftentimes that backlash doesn't impact the next elections: in 1998 the Democrats picked up five seats in the House, and Bush picked up eight House seats and two Senate seats in 2002. But they are typically useful petri dishes for experimenting with all kinds of messaging and new technologies. In 2001, for instance, Karl Rove test-drove most of the components that would help the GOP expand its majorities the next year, such...
...This time around, though, the Obama campaign has been oddly absent in Virginia. If you'd searched for an event in northern Virginia on mybarackobama.com last week, you'd have gotten 72 matches: five events for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deeds, five for candidates out of state and about 60 one-year-anniversary parties for the election of Barack Obama. Charlie McKeon, a senior systems analyst at AOL, spent much of Sunday door-knocking for Deeds just a few miles from the McDonnell rally. Whereas last year the campaign offices overflowed with volunteers, resources and money, this cycle...