Mark D. Obenshain. Tea Party Darling, Virginia Scalito Federalist Society-type Edition. Will fight the state level adoption of the ACA, marriage equality, and making Virginia a model for 21rst century progress and forward-thinking values on the environment to workers rights. Will not oppose GOP efforts to suppress minority voters. Will help use the power of the state to roll back a woman's right to choose. He wins and a regressive will be there to help thwart the Democratic Governor and Lt. Governor. The Cooch Redux. A bad choice.
Mark Herring. Democrat. Not a Tea Party Darling, Virginia Scalito Federalist Society-type at all. Will oppose efforts to impede or end a woman’s right to choose, rob perfectly qualified Virginia citizens of their voting rights for the crime of not voting Republican, and will refuse to institutionalize discrimination in Virginia State Law. If he is the AG, Virginia will have three Democrats working at the top of the State Government ladder to do better and more for Virginians as a team. A Rightwing sabotage-free Virginia Big Three. A profoundly better choice.
One of these two men is going to be AG of Virginia.
And one of these two men is going to be the AG of Virginia by a slim margin.
Maybe by the total number of kids learning at your local elementary school.
Maybe by the number of folks sitting down inside your average McDonalds.
Or by the number of people working behind the counter making your kid's Happy Meal.
It could be that close.
The next time anybody tells you that your one vote doesn't matter, slug 'em right in the jaw.
(Okay. Maybe you should just ignore their dumb asses instead. But feel free to think about slugging 'em right in the jaw as you walk away just shaking your head sadly.)
Your vote counts. Your vote always counts. It's always important for you to vote.
Don't let anybody ever tell you differently.
Not a jaded celebrity. Not some dimwit on Twitter. Not some human equivalent of the weakly blinky Christmas tree light up on Facebook. Not your local neighborhood blowhard. Not your know-it-all cousin Frank. Not your busy-body landlady. Not the prince of argle bargle next door.
It there is an election, you should make sure you are properly registered, so there are no surprises at the polling places, and then you should vote.
You should vote each time, every time.
When all is said and done, the person who will be charged with the responsibility to oversee the mechanisms of justice for the state of Virginia will be decided, one way or another, probably by a frustratingly small number of people considering the power that comes with the office in question.
The GOP has reached a point, short of the brain-dead political malpractice we just saw in NJ with Chris Christie, where the most likely way the GOP wins in places they don't overwhelmingly dominate is by some form of cheating or suppression. Mainly by suppressing the votes of groups that tend to vote Democratic before election day even rolls around. To win a close election via voter suppression, or other form of cheating to win, you have to have a really close election. To "lose" enough votes, or to deny enough folks the right to vote freely, to win, the margins matter. A lot.
Vote. Always.
Do it as an act of defiance to every reactionary thug who graces your tv.
To everybody who is trying to suppress the vote of non-Republicans.
Not voting is political malpractice.
The AG's office in a Teabagger's hands can wreak havoc on people's right to vote, discriminated against people's right to be defended in court, and a whole variety of other important matters.
We get object lessons in why you should never, ever, ever, ever sit out an election in every damned election cycle. This is the latest.
The GOP can't successfully cheat if the vote ain't close, they can try, but they will fail.
Always. Remember. To. Vote.