This quote comes from The Washington Post’s round-up on the primaries:
“The races are somewhat a test case of how viable this anti-tax movement can be,” said Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University and co-editor of “The New Politics of the Old South: An Introduction to Southern Politics.” “If we judge them by the criterion of winning primaries, we ultimately may judge them failures after tonight. If the criterion is their ability to foster debate and send a signal to incumbents, they might be considered successful.”
Did the low-tax movement foster debate? Did the challengers send a signal to incumbents? I fear not. My sense is that the pro-tax forces in the General Assembly will feel emboldened to push more aggressively for transportation-related taxes in 2006 with little fear of a voter backlash.