For the 2008 election, the Virginia GOP has chosen to nominate with a convention the person who will represent the GOP in the general election to replace Retiring Senator John Warner. This format was chosen over a general primary, which has been the mode of selecting primary candidates in at least the past 12 years. According to the GOP they are doing this to save money. Personally, that's bullshit. Basically, the GOP is attempting to subvert the popular will of Virginians.
This is a fundamentally an undemocratic form of nomination. Now rather than everyday Virginians having a say in the election, only party regulars will be able to nominate their Senator.
Interestingly, this move is likely to guarantee that John Gilmore will be nominated for Senator rather than Tom Davis.
The reasons are myriad. First, Party regulars are substantially more conservative than everyday Virginians. In 1996, John Warner had a primary challenge in the form of James C. Miller, III.
Miller, of course, was much more staunchly anti-abortion, favoring laws that would prohibit abortions even in the case of incest or rape. It is no surprise that he was endorsed by Ralph Reed and the NRA, while Warner was endorsed by Colin Powell and Bob Dole.
The reason for the Primary challenge was that many Republicans in Virginia didn't think John Warner was conservative enough and wanted to replace him with someone more consistent with their wing nut values.
Of course in 1996, Virginia held a primary and Warner survived handily. At the time Mark Warner staged his first Senate battle against John Warner and lost. However, Mark was a relative unknown at the time, the Senate race being his first foray into politics, but he had virtually no opposition worth speaking of in the Democratic primary. For this reason, I crossed party lines and voted for John Warner in the Republican primary, as did many Democrats and Independents. During the general elections I cast my vote for my man Mark, but alas, John prevailed
At the time, both Miller and John Warner were favored to win the Senate seat over Mark Warner. Personally, I didn't want a wing nut representing me and John Warner was a much more acceptable candidate than Miller was. But Miller had a lot of support among party regulars. Regardless, half a million people voted in the primary and John Warner prevailed.
Fast forward to 2007. Now we have Davis and Gilmore running for the GOP nod. Mark Warner is the Democrat again, but now he is an extremely popular politician in Virginia and is likely to win against whomever he runs. On the GOP side Gilmore, the immensely unpopular former Virginia Governor, is running for the Senate nomination against Tom Davis, a more moderate Republican from Northern Virginia.
In a primary, which Davis supported, he would likely present a much stronger challenge for Gilmore. Ironically he would also present more of a Senate challenge for Mark Warner. Gilmore, not wanting a primary challenge, managed to convince the GOP to have a convention, which would favor Gilmore, rather than a primary, which would favor Davis.
Though I think this move will ultimately favor the Democrats, I think its a shame the GOP has chosen such an undemocratic form of choosing their nominee. Independents and many Moderate Republicans won't be able to weigh in on who represents the GOP. Since conservative GOP party regulars will be more heavily represented in the Convention, it also means that Moderate Republicans won't be able to weigh in on the process. Personally, I think most Virginians would prefer a more moderate Republican to face Warner in the General election. The dynamics of the state have changed that much.