Although there has been some discussion here about the Virginia gubernatorial race, I'm not sure there is a full appreciation for what the combination of the governor and attorney general races could mean for Virginia and for the workings nationally as well as locally of the ultra-conservative religious fundamentalist wing of the Republican party.
Short version: these guys will make George Allen look like a liberal. If you have any money, put it to work in Virginia. Please.
And oh, White House, leaving Deeds to languish is NOT the right response, no matter how clueless he has been. I would venture to say that the infant from Rosemary's Baby would do better for Virginia than Republicans McDonnell and Cuccinelli. These are two scary dudes who believe and have demonstrated that they will put the law in service to their religion.
Just north of me, in Purcellville, VA, lives Patrick Henry College. These folks are a college only for homeschooled Bible-pledging youngsters who are being trained as God's mercenaries. They are put to good use in campaigns in Virginia as volunteers for right-wing Republican candidates. PHC is at the center of the religious fundamentalist right wing. The "Left Behind" people, the rapture, that's what we are talking about. The "God is gonna get you and we know what he is gonna get you for" philosophy.
In Virginia, the religious fundamentalist right-wing is very active and not on the fringe of the Republican party. Remember, this is the land of Falwell and Liberty University. Fundamentalists have penetrated the party in a coordinated way. Many churches tend to bus their congregations to the polls after sermons about who to vote for. Yet this in a state where an unusual percentage of the population has PhDs, and it was the home of many of the Founding Fathers of our nation. It is sort of like Dickens said: it is the best of places yet the worst of places.
This election cycle we have two Republican candidates for state office, McDonnell for governor and Cuccinelli for attorney general, who are not just right wingers but dangerous right wingers, coming from the far far right of this religious fundamentalist wing. These two throughout their careers have masqueraded as clean-cut family guys; they present well, they underplay their scarier qualities and rely on buzzwords to gather their flock to the polls. And they rely on relationships like Patrick Henry College.
Everyone focused on George Allen's macaca moment, but these two fanatics who will be on the ballot have been way out past there for their whole careers, mercenaries for their idea of what God wants on earth. For some reason, the threat posed by these guys has been underplayed nationally. The White House has blamed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deeds for being behind on his game. Well, duh, the Democrats played their usual stupid game of tearing each other up in the primary, and the party effort statewide in pushing and supporting Deeds seems to me to be lackluster, while Dem attorney general candidate Shannon has been completely invisible until this last week. I'm not an insider, but how this reads to me is that Terry McAuliffe took his party cards and went home after he lost the primary. Someone took a "let em sink or swim" attitude.
If Democrats lose both these offices, as now seems likely, they will have given the religious fundamentalists (dominionists) the state of Virginia as a lab to experiment in to a degree unprecedented in a major employment-education region.
These are not your ordinary Republicans. They are being groomed for bigger things, too. Democratic Party leaders, you have been warned.