Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) has chosen to take a pass on the Virginia Senate seat, paving the way for Gilmore to become the Virginia GOPs candidate for Senate. This virtually assures that Mark Warner will take the Senate seat next year. Gilmore is extremely unpopular in VA. and it is likely that Warner will bury him in the election.
Interestingly, Davis cited "the Republican Party's increasingly narrow focus on candidates who pass conservative litmus tests" as one of the reasons for taking a pass. It doesn't help that the Virginia GOP decided to have a state convention to elect their primary candidate rather than a primary, which would have favored Davis.
In a harbinger of next years election, Davis also points out one of the main flaws with the GOP electoral approach.
According to Davis, the GOP is
continuing to close their tent to such groups as social moderates, immigrants and those who look to government to protect public schools or reform health care will result in further electoral losses, he said. Davis said President Bush's profound unpopularity is a big part of the GOP's problem. He said the "face of the party" must change, and said voters do not want "Bush III."
This, of course is not a surprise to many here. I find it interesting that he advocates that position in public. "Davis you got some Splainin' to do"
Davis had initially hedged on announcing his decision not to run. Many people in the area speculated that he was waiting for the Nov. 6th election in Virginia, before making his announcement. It was suggested that he feared his announced decision would throw cold water on his wife's campaign for State Senator. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis is running for State Senator in Fairfax, which is part of Northern Virginia, an increasingly liberal part of the state. Davis hopes "that his swipes at his own party will help his wife."
Hmmmm! Something tells me internal polling isn't going to well for his wife either. These are the kind of harbingers I like.