For those of you who haven't met me, I'm the obnoxious local races promoter who's been...well...obnoxiously promoting local races (apologies).
Anyway - I'm sort of a one of those long-time readers, first time posters (I've been reading kos since a bit after the 2002 midterms). I'd like to get involved in the discussion of VA politics on here. It's been blossoming lately...and, quite honestly, other than congressional politics and Iraq, there won't be much else to discuss over the next year (NJ's gov race will be a cakewalk for the dems).
Virginia is an interesting state. If you paid attention to the Montana governor's race (where we won on populism and environmentalism), Governor Warner basically invented that playbook (hence, my worship of him).
Warner cut the beastly right-wing head off of GOP monster in Virginia last year. Along with Senator Chichester (R), he basically turned Virginia into a 3 party state. You've got Grover Norquist Republicans, Moderate republicans (SOME are even moderate on social issues like abortion! but alas, not on gay rights) and Democrats.
If we could accomplish the same thing nationally, it would be amazing. I feel like we really missed an opportunity this year cut the fiscal conservatives/social moderates out of the Republican Party.
The question is, what's the best way to do it? What can we learn from Montana and Virginia?
First of all, it's not a question of ideology. Moderate and liberal democrats can both attract supporters from the other side. I think we're complicating this question a bit...it all comes down to charisma. Likeability. For whatever reason, VA republicans like Warner. I have a hard-core republican friend who actually swoons over him...
Besides being physically attractive to the opposite sex (I honestly don't get it...), Warner ran as a reformer. I like what I hear on this blog about reforming the Democratic Party. Well, we need to take that same rhetoric and that same zeal and bring it to our national message. Reform sells. Even in good times. People are always looking for a reformer...
