Bob McDonnell - Longest Coattails In Virginia History?

A lot of bandwith has already been expended dissecting the McDonnell win and the implosion of the Democratic House of Delegates caucus. It has long been thought that Gubernatorial winners in Virginia had very short coattails, if any. This year was clearly the exception.

As everyone knows by now, Republicans knocked off 8 Democratic HOD incumbents. Thanks to a new map from the folks at VPAP, it is now easier than ever to see how statewide folks did on a district by district level. I took a look at McDonnell's numbers in the 8 races where D incumbents lost and, frankly, I was stunned.

The Republican challengers' margin of victory average was 7.19% in these 8 races. McDonnell's margin of victory in these 8 districts was a whopping 17.54%. Meaning that, on average, McDonnell ran 10%+ ahead of these victorious R challengers.

Looking at a couple up close, there's simply no conclusion you can come to other than McDonnell personally pulled, at a minimum, 4 seats to the R column.

In the 51st, Anderson won by 1% while McDonnell won by 12%.
In the 21st, Villanueva won by 0.1% while McDonnell won by 19%.
In the 23rd, Garrett won by 1% while McDonnell won by 19%.
In the 34th, Comstock won by 1% while McDonnell won by 7%.

In these 4 races, the R victory averaged less than 1% whereas McDonnell carried these districts by an average of 14%+. In the 21st and 23rd, Villanueva and Garrett won while running an incredible 18%+ behind the top of the ticket.

In the other 4 races (67th, 83rd, 3rd and 32nd), McDonnell ran way ahead of the R challenger but the R challenger margin was solid enough that you could at least argue the victory was more than just coattails.

Punchline, I believe the 4 seats were won almost exclusively because of the blowout at the top of the ticket. Good news is we won the seats. Bad news is that these folks will run for re-election in 2011 without the benefit of McDonnell at the top of the ticket. Makes the upcoming redistricting all the more interesting.

Sarah Palin Coming To Roanoke (11/22/09)

As almost everyone has heard by now, Sarah Palin will be in Roanoke this weekend. Specifically, she'll be doing a book signing Sunday morning at the Barnes & Noble at Valley View Mall. They're anticipating such huge crowds that they've moved the start time up to 10:00 a.m. They'll begin passing out wristbands to the first 1,000 people at 6 a.m. A wristband guarantees you a signature. Get there early if you want to meet her.

Judging by the reception Governor Palin got last year in Salem, you can expect a HUGE crowd. Remember, over 16,000 people came out in the freezing cold to hear her speak the week before the election. She's such a "rock star" in this area that I named her one of our Local Winners last year following the election.

I recognize that Governor Palin is a relatively polarizing figure. She brings out strong emotions, good and bad, and I love that. Frankly, she's just interesting, no matter what you think about her. Sunday should be a lot of fun.

UPDATE - Word is that a wristband WILL NOT guarantee a signature. They'll stay and sign as long as possible though and try to get to everyone. In an attempt to expedite things, they are also saying there will not be photo ops. Trying to keep the line moving as fast as possible.

Roanoke City Democratic Chair Not Running For Re-Election

According to Hank over at Star City Harbinger, Tony Reed, Roanoke City Democratic Chair, has decided not to run for re-election when the Committee reorganizes. Read the story here. While this doesn't directly impact me, I thought I'd throw my thoughts out there.

While I don't know Tony well enough yet to call him a friend, I have interacted with him on several occasions. I have seen him in political and social situations. As far as I'm concerned, Tony Reed strikes me as a complete class act. In each of our conversations, he has been courteous and professional and seems to get the big picture.

Being a local Committee chair is largely a thankless job. You spend hours working to advance your Party's agenda and most people have no idea what you're even doing. Making Tony's job even harder, he stepped into a contentious situation, had to fight factions within his own Party and ended up a Defendant in a criminal complaint this past election. If I were Tony, I'd have probably quit the moment that line was crossed.

I'll leave it to the Democrats to critique the success of Tony's time as Chair. There were certainly some high point and some low points. I'm also not passing judgment on the Reed/Powell confrontation. I wasn't there and have no idea what happened. What I do know is that Tony Reed strikes me as a gentlemen who is in it for the right reasons and, frankly, I'm a little sad to see him step away. His leaving is probably a good thing for "my team" but I'm not sure it's a good thing for the process. I'll be watching the Democratic reorganization closely to see which direction they now head.

U.S. Military Is A Bunch Of Cowards Who Kill Innocent People

So says liberal Roanoke blogger Dan Smith. Folks, I was stunned when I read his post from yesterday.

• End Veteran's Day.
• Knock over War Memorials.
• Desecrate battlefields.
• War is easy and takes no sense or courage.
• U.S. military has killed "hundreds of thousands of people--most of them innocents."

Read the post. That's actually Dan's position in response to Veteran's Day.

The Roanoke Valley has a vibrant and diverse blogosphere. Most of us have great relationships with each other and we respect each other's differing perspectives. Frankly, Dan has every right to feel the way he does but I'm stunned that someone would not only think this way but put it out there for public consumption.

Now, while I respect Dan's right to have this opinion, I'm not going to lie to you - reading it made me sick. All of us know people who have literally given their lives so that Dan has the freedom to post his thoughts on his blog. His response? They're just cowards who kill innocent people.

Let me say one more thing - I am not implying for a second that Dan's opinions are held by all liberals/Democrats. I no more hold them responsible for his worldview than I expect to be held responsible for the views of the loonies on the Right. Having said that, there are Democratic candidates right here in the Roanoke Valley that embraced Dan and his blog and shouted his endorsement from the mountaintops this year. Wonder if they agree with him?

I have so many other thoughts going through my head right now that I think I'll just leave it there. I'd love to hear from others out there to find out what you think. Heck, maybe people agree with Dan and I'm in the minority. I doubt it but I'd love to find out.

Kaine turns his back on Virginians

I was listening to the news this morning on 960AM and they said that Gov. Kaine was out of the state attending Democrat Fundraisers in TN and LA yesterday while people here at home we struggling with rising waters from the rain. Luckily he is going to come to VA today.

I cannot wait for VA to have a full time Governor again.

Roanoke City Council Candidates

We are about 6 months away from Roanoke City Council elections. First I would like to offer some speculation on who may be running as an I or D.

Incumbents:
Dave Trinkle
Gwen Mason
Rupert Cutler

Newcomers:
Mike Hamler- his name keeps coming up. I actually know him a little but I have not heard from him on this.
Little Richie Cranwell
Valerie Garner
Mark Powell
Sherman Lea Jr.
Hank Bostwick- since he is stepping away from his blog he either has his eyes on this or something else that I am sure will be interesting.

Second I would like our readers to throw out other names they are hearing and to also give us names of people that we should consider running. There has been a lot of interest but a competitive race will produce the best product.

2009 Election - Roanoke Valley Numbers

For those of you who don't like numbers, I apologize in advance. As for me, I'm fascinated by political numbers. Polling numbers, fundraising numbers, voting numbers, etc.

To put a final ribbon on Election 2009, I thought I'd look at the total numbers for the Roanoke Valley (Roanoke County, Roanoke City and Salem). Every single voter in the Roanoke Valley had at least 4 lines on their ballot this year - Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Delegate. There were of course lots of other local races but the 4 above cover the whole Valley.

Totalling up the numbers for the Roanoke Valley, here's what you get.

Governor - Bob McDonnell 61%-39% (35,252 to 22,739)

Lieutenant Governor - Bill Bollling 60%-40% (34,103 to 23,248)

Attorney General - Ken Cuccinelli 61%-39% (35,167 to 22,141)

House of Delegates - Republicans 60%-40% (34,238 to 23,110)

In 2005 (statewide) and 2007 (State Senate) Democrats ran almost even with Republicans in the Roanoke Valley. This year, Republicans had a 20%+ margin at every level. Obviously national and statewide factors come into play but I think the 2 most significant local factors are 1) great candidates and 2) the size, strength and stability of the 3 local Republican units relative to their Democratic counterparts. This bodes very well for Bob Goodlatte in 2010 and Ralph Smith, Morgan Griffith and Bill Cleaveland in 2011.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte On Healthcare

Below are some thoughts Goodlatte posted about health care prior to Saturday's debate. On a side note, is there another Virginia Congressman that is more blog/new media friendly?

8th HOD Postmortem - Dispelling Some Myths

Well folks, the elections are over, life is returning to normal and it's time to do one last post on the 8th HOD race. We broke this race down in multiple posts pre-election and discussed yesterday why Morgan Griffith was a huge winner and Carter Turner was the loser. Frankly, I'm still stunned that Morgan got almost 70%, won every single precinct and didn't get below 61% in a single precinct. This was just a thorough butt kicking. With that said, I thought I'd talk about a few myths we're already hearing from the Dem side.

MYTHS

1) Morgan only won big because of the McDonnell tidal wave. Was Morgan aided by the positive Republican environment? Of course. However, he not only lead the entire ticket in percentage, he was actually the highest vote getter in the 8th (a rare feat for a down ballot candidate in a contested race). In fact, I'd argue that the opposite is true. I'd argue that Morgan's incredible strength and hard work in the 8th actually pulled the statewide folks up a couple points.

2) Carter only lost because Morgan outspent him. It is a fact that Morgan "outspent" Carter. HOWEVER, you have to look at the actual numbers. The fact is Morgan "spent" a large 6 figure number on other HOD races as part of his job as Majority Leader. When you just look at the money spent "in District" you see that it was very close. Furthermore, when you consider Carter spent all his money in the prime 3 months, you see Carter actually outspent Morgan during the true campaign.

3) Carter got into the race too late to have a chance. Carter got into the race in July. Is this ideal? Of course not. However, everyone knows that no one pays attention to any races, let alone local races, until after Labor Day. Carter got in well before Olde Salem Days which is really the unofficial kickoff to races in the 8th District. The same thing happened in Staunton and NOVA and the late arriving candidates (Surovell and Bell) both won easily.

4) Morgan swamped Carter with his campaign apparatus. Clearly Morgan knows how to run a good campaign. However, this year, he was so focused on picking up seats in the HOD that he didn't push as much in Salem. Don't get me wrong, Morgan personally worked incredibly hard. However, he didn't do any TV, only went on the radio in the last week, didn't mount an LTE writing campaign, etc. On the other hand, Carter was on TV and radio for weeks, had just about every Religion Professor at RU sending in LTEs, etc. The fact is Carter had the time, money and organization necessary to win and he just got swamped. The only place Morgan's apparatus really flexed its muscles was the overwhelming presence of workers on Election Day itself.

5) Randy Foley is relevant. Has there ever been a more clear rebuke of a sitting politician than the message Salem voters sent Randy Foley, the current Mayor and formerly closeted Democrat. Yes, Randy and Carter are friends but the fact is that Randy Foley is and always has been a Democrat and he has now exposed himself. He pushed hard for Carter and got completely slapped down. Now the interesting issue - Randy is up for re-election next year. I have heard from dozens of Salemites that are furious with him for his actions in this election. The question is whether it's worth the effort to take him out. Won't be hard if someone solid takes the plunge.

6) Carter Turner set himself up well for a future run. Is it possible that Carter has a future some day? Of course. Does he have a short term future? Absolutely not. Not only did he get destroyed but he made some serious tactical errors that infuriated many voters (and voters don't forget easily). His campaign message was offensive, his staff (especially his sign lady) caused major problems and he generally acquitted himself poorly. Frankly, Carter proved why people should think before jumping into something like this. If Carter had gotten in the race in May, surrounded himself with good people and worked hard, he could have saved face. Instead, he put himself one tiny notch above Gwen Mason on the future relevance scale.

7) Carter did well to get a few thousand votes. This is my favorite one so far. Carter is telling anyone who will listen that he polled the race early and out of 300+ people polled, only 7 knew his name so the fact that he got a few thousand votes is great. What he isn't saying is how many of those people would vote for a generic D, no matter what his name was. I have always believed that the 8th HOD has about 35% hard Ds that will vote for the Devil if he had a D by his name (and about 48% hard Rs that would do the same). As such, the silly poll Carter is quoting is meaningless. The fact is, if you'd polled 300+ people on Day 1 and asked them whether they'd vote for Morgan Griffith or generic D, I promise you Carter would have done better than the 30% he ended up with. The fact is that his terrible campaign actually cost him votes and the sooner he realizes that the better off he is.

Okay folks, that's all. Feel free to tell me where I'm wrong. Otherwise, no more posts about the 8th HOD race.

Local Winners And Losers From The 2009 Elections

As I did last year, I'm going to post the "winners" and "losers" from this year's election. Couple points. First, this focuses locally on the Roanoke Valley (so don't complaint that Christie isn't listed). Second, I attempted to do this objectively (to the extent I can). The winners are obviously much more Republican this year though. Anyway, here goes.

WINNERS

Bill Cleaveland

Bill is clearly the biggest winner. This was the only race that was supposed to be close and he ended up blowing out a very well funded and experienced opponent. Bill's victory was so complete that he even won Roanoke City where his opponent is an elected City Councilwoman.

Roanoke County Republican Committee

The results from Roanoke County are pretty amazing. The obvious that everyone will point to is that they swept all 3 BOS races. In addition though, Bill Cleaveland, Morgan Griffith and even Troy Bird ran up big numbers in their Roanoke County precincts. I encourage all of you to click here to go back to a discussion from June about whether Roanoke County was a Republican stronghold. Brian Lang, Roanoke County D Chair, tried to argue it was not and that he would prove it this November. Well Brian, I think we all have our answer now.

Morgan Griffith

I named Morgan a winner last year because of the strength of his District and the organization he had built. Apparently the Ds didn't believe me. Maybe they believe me now that he's blown out his opponent with almost 70%, won every single precinct and garnered more votes in the 8th than anyone else on the ballot. Add in the fact that his caucus is now 6 members larger and Tuesday was a big night for him.

Onzlee Ware

Onzlee won Tuesday on a night when 8 Democratic incumbents lost. That alone makes him a winner.

Octavia Johnson

Sheriff Johnson has now won 2 elections in Roanoke City as a Republican. Yes, I know her first opponent was a defendant in a high profile sexual harassment suit and this year her 2 opponents split the "anti-Octavia" vote. Still, it's unprecedented in recent years for an R to win once, let alone twice, so she's definitely a big winner.

David Trinkle and Court Rosen

David and Court were possible contenders for the 17th. For various reasons, they both passed and, in hindsight, were wise to have done so. They passed on a terrible year to run as a D and stayed above the fray. Unlike Mason (see below) they have not diminished themselves locally and still have political options.

Bob Goodlatte

Can't wait to see the sacrificial lamb the Ds come up with in 2010. Bob McDonnell won 67% in the District, even though it encompasses much of Deeds' Senate District. Good luck taking Goodlatte out this year.

Jay Warren

Jay moderated an AG primary Debate, a statewide televised Gubernatorial Debate and the only Lieutenant Governor Debate of the entire campaign. He also posed the question that put the final nail in the Deeds coffin - would you opt out of the public option? Jay received rave reviews for all of his work from both sidees. He was tough on all candidates and actually elicited some answers that went deeper than typical political talk. Only downside for Jay is that there aren't any statewide races for 2 years.

LOSERS

Gwen Mason

Just as Bill Cleaveland was the biggest winner, Gwen Mason is clearly the biggest loser. She had a ton of name recognition, experience and money and she got blown out by a political newcomer. She even lost Roanoke City. In the process, she destroyed her relationships with others on the Council and embarrassed herself in the community. She now has to be seriously concerned about her own re-election and, regardless, it's inconceivable that she'll ever rise above City Council.

Salem and Roanoke County Democrats

Notwithstanding Brian Lang's talk, local Democrats outside of the City got annihilated. They lost pretty much every single precinct in the statewide and Delegate races and lost all 3 BOS races in Roanoke County. I visited about 15 Salem/County precincts and they had almost zero presence at the polls. It was frankly embarrassing in Salem. The County Ds went through a bloody re-org recently but I'd suggest both the County and Salem do it again. Things clearly aren't working.

Onzlee Ware

Yes, he's a winner because he won. But let's be honest, Troy Bird had zero experience, zero money and zero name recognition. Nonetheless, Onzlee lost several precincts and barely got 60%. I don't know what effect Martin Jeffrey had on the race or how much Troy's performance was McDonnell's coattails but clearly Onzlee can't be comfortable today.

Carter Turner

I include Carter only because he barely broke 30%. Let me be clear, Carter tried hard and is a good guy. The problem is that he got terrible advice and I don't think he even saw the bus coming that ran him over. However, he's not a loser because he lost this race. That was inevitable. He's a loser here because his performance was so bad that he's not going to be a viable candidate for any other office for some time. Carter, unlike Gwen, however, still has a chance (albeit small) in the future.

Troy Bird

He outperformed expectations but, as the only Republican Delegate candidate in the area to lose, I simply have to include him here. However, he should be proud of what he accomplished and the message he sent.

Douglas Walker

Much like Troy, Douglas has to be included because he lost on a night most Rs won. Also, he dedicated his life (time and money) to this race so it hurts a little more. Still, his showing as an R running against an entrenched D in Roanoke City was impressive. He definitely has a future if he wants one.

Tom Perriello

Unlike many Rs I know, I have great respect for Tom Perriello. I think he's very smart and a fantastic politician. In fact, I've told many of my D friends that Perriello is a much stronger statewide candidate and, with their bench destroyed, they should start recruiting him for Gov in 2013. That said, his district went over 61% for McDonnell who even won Albemarle County (Perriello's stronghold). With Rs lining up to take him out, he has to be considered a loser.

Okay folks, that's my list. Remember, I only focused locally so I've left a lot of people out. I'm also sure I've forgotten some people so feel free to use the comment section to add names or call me a moron. That's what it's there for.

I Love Strawberries!

We've been so busy for the last week or so with the elections that I completely forgot to thank our friends over at Bearing Drift for hosting the "Berry Awards." I won't "out" our reader who nominated us but don't worry buddy, you'll get yours. Anyway, through a miscount or obvious vote rigging, this blog won "Best Blog." We'll wear the award with pride. Thanks.

Election Night Predictions - How Did I Do?

Wow, what a day/night for Republicans, especially in the Roanoke Valley. I'm sure we'll have a lot more analysis as we go forward but I don't have the brain power this morning for that type of post. Instead, I thought I'd take a look at my predictions and compare them to what actually happened.

Governor - I predicted that McDonnell would win by 12, 56-44. He ended up winning 58.64-41.23. Being off by a couple points and some change isn't bad.

Lieutenant Governor - I correctly tabbed this as the closest of the statewide races when I predicted a 9 point Bolling win, 54.5-45.5. Bolling ended up winning 56.41-43.51 so I was off by right at 2 points. Again, I'll take it.

Attorney General - I predicted a 10 point Cuccinelli victory, 55-45, and he ultimately won 57.52-42.39. Once again, I was just over 2 points off.

The obvious theme here is that I underestimated each of our candidates by about 2 points. Hey, if I'm gonna miss, I'm glad to miss that way. Anyway, I had a feeling my numbers were slightly off on the low side which is why I said the following 24 hours before the polls closed.

At this point, if I were a betting man, I'd take the over on all 3.

Too bad I'm not a betting man. Taking the over would have won in all 3.

House of Delegates - For House of Delegates, I predicted an R pickup of 4 seats but said I'd take the over. Looks about right as we're poised to pickup up about 6 or 7 (depending on recounts).

8th - Ironically, the district I know the best is the one I missed by the most. I predicted Morgan Griffith would win 62-38. He blew my prediction out by winning by almost 40 points, 68.92-31.21.

11th - Locally, this was the stunner of the night as Onzlee Ware struggled to break 60% in a District that usually votes 70%+ D. Adding in Troy Bird's complete lack of funding and Onzlee's 60.20-39.60 win is kind of embarrassing. My final prediction was that Onzlee would "win handily" but that his "chances of breaking 65% [were] getting smaller and smaller." Sounds about right.

17th - I can't tell you how proud I am of Bill Cleaveland. He ran a solid campaign while dealing with some very serious family issues that few people knew about. The fact that he kept it together and blew out a well funded elected official is amazing. Bill won 61.90-38.62. I'm proud to say he far surpassed my prediction of 58-42.

In summary, there's one common theme. We knew were going to win and win big but every single one of our candidates ran ahead of even our optimistic projections. Throw in our sweep in the Roanoke BOS races, winning the Roanoke City Sheriff's race, etc. and it was a great night. More analysis to come.

Big Night for The GOP

I just got in from the GOP Victory parties tonight and WOW what a difference a year makes.

The state wide sweep coupled with a Gov win in NJ mean the National Dems will be rethinking their positions tomorrow morning. The voters have been heard. Congratulations to Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli.

As for the local House of Delegates races we learned that the Voters LOVE MORGAN GRIFFITH and will continue to send him to Richmond to lead the delegation. We also learned that the 17th district is definately Republican country. Bill Cleavland while getting outspent by his opponent won with 61% of the vote. With so much of this district in Roanoke County and Botertourt it makes it hard for a Dem to win and it appears impossible for a Roanoke City Council Member to win this seat. Bill Cleaveland will be a GREAT Delegate and I think he will continue to serve as long as he wants to go back.

As for the Roanoke City local races in a 3 way race as we thought the incumbant wins. While the margin was slim I think Octavia proved that she has lead the office well and I know the City Party is glad to have her in office. I thought through most of the evening that we were going to have 2 constitutional office wins tonight but was disappointed to learn that Douglas Walker lost by 361 votes. He ran a great campaign. I was very hard on Holland through out the cycle and still question many of his decisions but when we talked today he was very cordial and I offer him my congratulations.

To all candidates winners or losers I wish you the best of luck. Running for office is hard and to offer yourself for public service is nobel.

Now on to the City Council races.....interested candidates let me know soon!

Election Day Updates

I'm all over Roanoke County and Salem today. Things are looking great for Rs, especially Morgan Griffith. For more updates, click the link to the right or below to follow my Twitter feed.

www.twitter.com/salemrepublican

Election Prediction Summary

Over the last couple weeks I've posted my predictions in several posts. Here they are consolidated into one post.

Governor - McDonnell 56 - Deeds 44.

LG - Bolling 54.5 - 45.5.

AG - Cuccinelli 55 - 45.

At this point, if I were a betting man I'd take the over on all 3

8th HOD - Griffith 62 - Turner 38.

17th HOD - Cleaveland 58 - Mason 42.

HOD - Republicans +4 seats.

No Wonder National Liberal Groups Are So Supportive Of Carter Turner

As I said below, national liberal groups (labor, abortion, etc.) are big fans of Carter Turner. Now we know why.

• He opposes Virginia's parental notification for minor abortions law.
• He wants to increase government spending.
• He wants to increase taxes, fees and raid the rainy day fund to expand the size of government.
• He wants to enormously expand education funding through universal pre-K and increased teacher salaries (how are you going to pay for this without massive tax increases?)
• He is against school choice (although he supports vouchers for public school choice).
• He opposes increasing domestic sources of energy (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.)
• He supports government emissions caps (cap and trade).
• He believes guaranteed medical care is government's responsibility (socialized medicine).
• He supports civil unions for same-sex couples.
• He supports spousal rights for same-sex couples.
• He supports affirmative action in public college admissions.

All of that comes from his Project Vote Smart page. Frankly, nothing in there is surprising. It's exactly what you'd expect from a liberal running as a Democrat. What is disappointing is that Carter simply hasn't owned these positions and run on them. We could have had a very spirited election between 2 competing world views if Carter had simply owned up and defended his beliefs.

Now, for those who ask why Morgan didn't complete the survey - the answer is the same as it is for the 90% who don't answer it, including most Democrats. It simply isn't a very valuable exercise. Plus, when you have 16 years of actually governing and taking positions, people know where you stand and don't need to resort to this type of survey.

Some Day Before The Election Thoughts

I originally started typing this as a letter to the editor but it ended up being way too long. Instead, I thought I'd make my summary thoughts on this election a blog post.


The choice for Salem voters on November 3rd could not be more clear. The Republican statewide ticket has offered reasonable, logical solutions to the major problems facing our Commonwealth. On the other hand, the Democrats have run backwards looking negative campaigns and have failed to offer any solutions other than to raise taxes and spend
more of our money.

For Governor, former Attorney General Bob McDonnell has outlined comprehensive plans to fix transportation, create jobs, improve our schools and get Virginia moving again. Because of his solutions-based approach, Bob McDonnell has been endorsed by every major jobs creating
organization in the State. McDonnell has been endorsed by The National Federation of Independent Businesses, The Virginia Farm Bureau, the Fairfax and Hampton Roads Chambers of Commerce and Virginia Association of Realtors, just to name a few. He has also been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police and 115 elected Commonwealth's Attorneys and Sheriffs. McDonnell's message has resonated so loudly that even prominent Democrats such as businesswoman Sheila Johnson are supporting him.

In comparison, McDonnell's opponent, Creigh Deeds' campaign has been largely funded and supported by national labor unions looking to overturn our Right to Work law and eliminate the secret ballot from union elections and liberal Washington outfits promoting Cap and Trade, nationalization of Health Care, more Federal bailouts, abortion on demand and higher taxes. We simply can't afford Creigh Deeds.

In the race for Lieutenant Governor, current LG Bill Bolling has amassed a record of working in a bipartisan fashion throughout his decades of public service. Bolling and McDonnell have pledged that Bolling will serve as the state's "Jobs Creation Officer" with a special emphasis on job creation in our part of state. Bolling's opponent Jody Wagner, on the other hand, has been in charge of setting budget forecasts that have missed by over $6 billion in recent years. While Wagner is not responsible for our current economy, she is largely responsible for the unrealistic budget forecasts coming out of Richmond which have led to massive cuts in our area. Bolling, however, predicted the problems and called for more conservative budget estimates but Wagner refused to listen.

For Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli has proven to have the experience and insightfulness to carry on the bipartisan legacy set by Bob McDonnell. Ken Cuccinelli was the first elected official in Richmond to call for a special session to address the Melendez-Diaz case, a move his opponent called a "political stunt." Ultimately, Republicans and Democrats agreed with Cuccinelli, went into special session and fixed the problem. Cuccinelli showed leadership - his opponent played politics. At a recent debate, his opponent was not even able to name the Departments in the AG's office. He wants to be AG but doesn't even know what the AG does?

Finally, for the House of Delegates, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith is the choice. He has been a leader in protecting our citizens, fighting the growth of government and standing up for our region. On a local basis, Griffith was instrumental in obtaining funding for the Salem Museum renovation and worked across party lines to create local jobs through the intermodal facility. Griffith's re-election has been endorsed by groups across the spectrum from the Humane Society, to business groups, to the NRA, to local community groups. The Roanoke Valley has a total of 3 Delegates. Fairfax County alone has 17. We simply can't afford to lose Griffith's seniority and accomplishment at a time when our region is becoming more and more marginalized in Richmond.

On November 3rd, don't forget to vote and I encourage you all to vote Bob McDonnell for Governor, Bill Bolling for Lieutenant Governor, Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General and Morgan Griffith for Delegate.

Carter Turner Finally Finds Supporters - National Labor Unions And Pro-Abortion Groups (Updated)

Anyone following the race in the 8th HOD District knows that Carter Turner has essentially zero local support. Well, now we know who is supporting him.

We previously reported that, while he says he won't take support from local businesses that drive our economy, he's been more than willing to take money from labor unions. And why do they support him financially? Could it be because he supports their agenda of repealing Virginia's Right to Work law, card check, etc?

Well, now national Pro-Abortion lobbying groups are sending emails into the District calling on voters to support Carter Turner because he's the only candidate that supports their radical left wing agenda. What exactly is their agenda? Taxpayer funder abortion on demand, abortion at anytime for any reason, repeal of Virginia's parental consent and notification laws, etc.

Carter Turner has run a nasty campaign full of lies and defamation while being supported by labor unions and pro-abortion lobbying groups, at the same time he was earning a D- from the NRA.

Morgan Griffith on the other hand has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors, the Virginia Society for Human Life, was named the Humane Society Legislator of the Year, has been endorsed by numerous elected law enforcement officials and has earned an A+ from and been endorsed by the NRA.

The contrast couldn't be more clear. There is one and only one candidate in this race who represents the beliefs, ideals and best interests of the citizens of the 8th HOD District - Morgan Griffith.

Update - Here is the sender information for one of the pro-abortion emails going around.

David Nova, Vice President
Planned Parenthood Health Systems Action Fund
Roanoke, Virginia
For additional information, please email: David.Nova@pphsinc.org.