Okay, fellow Dems, listen up. In the best spirit of bipartisanship, it falls our duty to help our addled Republican friends choose who will be their candidate for Governor in November by voting in the June 14 Republican Primary. That’s right, as a Democrat you can vote in the Republican Primary. We’re having two that day, simultaneously–one for the Ds and one for the Rs. (And, no, this doesn’t threaten the Sage of the Shenandoah–Russ Potts will be on the ballot either way.) It doesn’t change your registration. You don’t have to swear to anything. Just tell the folks at your polling place you want the Republican ballot. They have to let you vote in the Republican Primary if you want to. Hey, our ticket is largely set, with Kaine and Deeds. (That middle one will sort out.) This time around, we need to be helping our Republican friends out. There will be two names in the Republican ballot for Governor–Jerry Kilgore and George Fitch. Lord, have mercy! What must we do?
Democrats: Pitch a Fitch!
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Comments
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Barnie: I’m curious.
If I vote in the GOP primary for George Fitch, who would you suggest as the preferred ‘Pub Lt. Governor and Attorney General candidates for any Democrats who might choose to crossover party primaries?
~ the blue dog
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“(That middle one will sort out.)” I guess if you’ve seen one Democrat Lt. Gov. candidate, you’ve seen all four ….
The fact of the matter is that the GOP has a much more compelling primary. Pundits can delight all they want in describing divisions within the Republican Party, but there is a strength of ideas across the party spectrum, while Democrats offer a bland reliance on aged policy offerings, or no real offerings at all.
Some might oppose the crossover, mischief-making voting that you recommend, Barnie, but I welcome it. Once a Democrat first pulls that Republican lever, or punches that Republican chad, they’ll find that it feels good to be released from tired orthodoxy.
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Barnie has you boys squirmin’ pretty bad, don’t he…
Truth is, any of the four dems for lt. gov. would be head and shoulders above the party puppets from the extreme right wing.
You boys got some real hand wringin’ to do…
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Interesting take on the Dem. Lt. Gov. Primary. I think its very important we vote for Phillip Puckett.
For two reasons.
1) His presence on the November ballot will help turn out rural voters in November that will also pull the lever for Kaine.
2) Puckett will provide geographic balance on the Democratic ticket in November.
I feel like its more important than ever to vote in the Democratic Primary.
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Will, you said:
“… but there is a strength of ideas across the (Republican) party spectrum, while Democrats offer a bland reliance on aged policy offerings.”
Odd how that compares with Ambrose Bierce:
Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
So that would make Democrats the conservatives and Republicans the liberals, atleast according to the Devil’s Dictionary. What bizarre times we live in indeed.
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Yes, Jeremy, I’d agree we live in bizarre times, and this appears to be quotation weekend at Bacon’s Rebellion … after Jefferson, Mason, and Goebbels, it’s nice to see Ambrose Bierce, a different sort of observer ….
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Good idea. Vote for Fitch and give the republican party some substance.
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Will:
The Dem LG candidates represent a pretty diverse group of political ideologies…You’ve got paleo-liberal Bynre, liberal Baskerville, and moderate Puckett and Petersen. Just because you’re a Republican and don’t like them doesn’t mean they don’t represent a bunch of viewpoints in our party.
There’s a real battle in the Democratic party today. Now, granted, it’s not as big as the Republican debate: (do we put the gays in internment camps or to just make fun of them?). We’re fighting over the future of the party. You have the conspiracy theorists like Howard Dean. And you have the DLC people.
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Brian Patton is right.
LG candidate Phillip Puckett is the Democrats best bet.
~ the blue dog
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Re: “do we put the gays in internment camps or to just make fun of them?”
Phil ain’t far off in saying how some view the Republicans. Just as some single-issue voters (i.e. anti-abortion) can’t bring themselves to vote Dem, I can’t vote for Va. Repubs because of the embarrassing, mean assault on gay rights in the last G.A. I realize I’m in a minority (for now), but in decades to come, Virginia will look as shameful as it does when we study desegregation. One reason Pastor John resonated was because he made Va Repubs look like the fools they are on this issue.
I’m straight, I’m Christian, and sometimes (not all the time) I’m embarrassed to be from Virginia. I know the Dems don’t offer much better on the issue. It’s sad.
Thanks, I feel better.
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I’m a longtime Dem, married to a longtime R. My husband would want me to stay away from the Republican primary, but the idea of making mischief is tempting when there is no race for the Governor or Attorney-General spot on our side. If I were to vote in the Republican primary I’d vote Kilgore/Bolling/McDonnell. That’s the weakest ticket in the general election. Fitch would throw us all off balance and seems to know what he’s talking about. Connaughton is very conservative, but very popular across party lines in Northern Virginia. He draws well in black and ethnic areas in Prince William. He’s also too smart. I’ll vote for him in November if he gets past the primary, becasue he’s delivered on his commitments to voters here. Hard to find that anymore. Bolling makes the Ticket particularly brittle ideologically, has no real biography or life story to attract voters, and does nothing to offset Kilgore’s weaknesses. I think he’s just bad enough to maybe bring down Kilgore, at least in northern Virginia. Bolling’s my man. I really am just guessing on the AG spot. The only reason I go with McDonnell is that I still giggle over his remark that he couldn’t remeber if he had ever committed sodomy. I think that’s kind of funny thing to say to a reporter (certainly not intentionally)for a right-wing legislator when pressed on reforms to Virginia’s antiquated criminal laws. I’ve got to get laughs where I can find them. Baril seems a little brighter, a little more maneuverable, a little less likely to get tripped up on a long legislative record. So he won’t get my vote. I want him off the ticket.
I know it would be wrong to act on these thoughts, but the wheels are spinning. Probably not enough Dems on this site to get it going. I think I’ll go jump on Raising Kaine. Sorry to be anonymous, but my husband reads this blog a lot. Republican males can be dangerous when politics is at issue (Just kidding, dear. Actually, he’s a sweetheart).
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Hmm. Clearly Fitch is the right choice at the top of the ticket, anything to drive down Kilgore’s vote totals. Bolling in the middle, to keep the GOP ticket NoVa free, plus Bolling isn’t very inspiring, and Connaughton has had the momentum. I’m convinced if SC loses it will in some tiny part because his TV ads pronounce his name in a non-“southern” way (Connaugh-ton versus the more genteel Conn-aughton). Baril for AG for a couple reasons. First, his website is really amateur, as was that stunt with the detergent (that whole line of attack seemed, even to this Dem, ineffecual and frivilous). Plus he and Baril are both from Richmond.
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Barnie: The fact that you would be openly advocating crossing party lines, is a good example of why we need voter registration by party in this state. Your side has been responsible for saddling us with RINOs (although in this case you’re asking your side to vote for a fiscal conservative, which must go against everything you believe in–so much for principles). It’s time we put a stop to this craziness and let us practice our first amendment right to free
association. For more on this, please see my last column on “RINO Hunting.” -
Phil. Please. Don’t confuse this tactical suggestion with anything beyond what it is. I’m not concerned with every battle here and there. I want to win the war!
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Here’s a question for Phil and friends:
Would you rather have Kilgore and Connaughton win in November or Kaine and Byrne/Petersen? I ask this question because I firmly believe that Bolling irrevocably destroys the GOP ticket in November. Not only would Bolling have a hard time beating his opponent, Kilgore will need a strong running mate in a three-way race. Connaughton, who has endorsed and is supporting Kilgore, has the charisma and geographic elements that can push the GOP ticket over the top in November. Bolling brings no additional support and some unneeded baggage (Make no mistake, the Dems are salivating over Reciprocal.).
The root of the question is this: Do you want what you consider the best Republicans on the ticket or do you want a ticket that can actually win? It’s great to have strong ideals, but are you willing to lose the war just to win an ideological battle?
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The Supreme Court on May 23 issued an opinion in Clingman v. Beaver on Oklahoma’s semi-closed primary system, affirming that state’s law which limits participation in primaries to voters affliated with the party. The court frowned on the practice of crossing over to vote in another party’s selection process. Here’s the opinion:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/04-37.pdfWhat might be more interesting than crossover voters is crossover candidates, like, for example, Democrats running as Republicans in a place where voters generally vote Republican. Or do we already have that occasionally?
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Becky, how can we ‘crossover’ vote, when we don’t have registration by party in Virginia? There is no ‘crossover’ to it in this instance.
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Becky: Yes that happens a lot in this state where candidates cross over. That has happened a lot with Democrats running as Republicans–they are called RINOs you know.
But there is at least one Republican running as a Democrat–the first DINO as far as I can tell. If you want more details, please read “DINO Sighting.”
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Barnie: You’re right for the time being. Hopefully the courts will rule in our favor and find unconstitutional the VA statute that does not require registration by party. See “RINO Hunting.”
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Mitch: I believe that your theory is flawed. Firstly, Potts detracts more voters from Kaine than he does from Kilgore.
As to Connaughton being the stronger candidate than Bolling, that shows a rather NOVA-centric perspective. It appears that Connaughton has a better organization in NOVA, but then again he’s using Tom Davis’ folks to run his campaign. But that doesn’t mean that Connaughton is very strong in the rest of the state. Believe me, if he were, he wouldn’t have gone negative on Bolling several months before the election.
Bolling is much stronger in the rest of the state and NOVA only represents about 1/7 of the vote. Kilgore can carry NOVA–he did it when he ran for AG. Of course that presupposes that he gets someone with experience to take over his campaign that is in desparate need for direction.
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Mitch,
To answer your question, as one outside of the reactionary element of the Republican party:
“are you willing to lose the war just to win an ideological battle?”
I’d say the answer is an unequivocal & resounding YES – witness Mark Earley’s rise to republican nominee for governor. That convention bussed in thousands of zealots, who are seen but once every 4 years in this party.
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Phil:
I agree with you that NOVA isn’t what you would call a hotbed of Republican activism. Sean will win NOVA handily, but that by itself will not be enough to win the nomination. I have to say, though, that from what I’m hearing, Bolling isn’t nearly as popular outside of the Richmond area. Connaughton is stronger than Bolling in a number of other regions (SWVA, Tidewater, etc.). If NOVA and Tidewater offset Bolling’s advantage in central VA, Connaughton will win the nomination. This is exactly how I believe it will play out.
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Barnie, Phil:
You are right that in VA there is no crossover. And that’s because no one has to sign up to be in a party before voting in that party’s primary. So there is nothing to cross from if voters aren’t in any party, at least officially. But the court decision does tell us what the court thinks of the practice (and it gives us an indication of how they’d rule in a future case on similar issues). It favors only Democrats voting for Democratic candidates and only Republicans voting for Republican candidates. Voters in Oklahoma could easily change their party affiliation, it said, and vote in whatever party they chose, but they are limited to that party…at least until they change their affiliation again. -
A question on RINOs: who is electing them? Are they being elected by people who would be Republicans if they were required to be anything or by people who would be Democrats if they had to be something voting in Republican elections? If they’re being elected by people who think of themselves as Republicans, then perhaps they reflect the true party and non-RINOs are the impostors? At least for that area. It’s when Democrats are choosing to run as Republicans and Democrats vote in the Republican elections that there would be real cause for concern about RINOs. Who is electing them?
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I “crossed over” years ago to vote for Jesse Jackson in a Democratic presidential primary — just to stir up trouble. My (Democratic) wife was furious at me. I feel a tad guilty about it to this day. The only participants in a party primary should be members of that party.
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I just want to know what happened to the Barnie Day that was a Republican. The one who supported Phil Plaster over Roscoe Reynolds and housed Plaster’s campaign manager? The one who had a picture wearing a Plaster sticker show up in a 1996 newspaper ad during a special election. The one who met with both Vance Wilkins and Dickie Cranwell before declaring for the special but went with Dickie because he made you a better offer?
Barnie…where is that man?
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This is the thanks I get for bringing my wayward friends to this blog!
It was an imposter! Happens frequently when one reaches a certain profile.
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Phil: who from Tom Davis’s team is running Connaughton’s campaign? Or did you just make that one up too?
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Mitch: You got a partial answer. there are indeed some Republicans who don’t mind losing in November. They would rather put up a weak candidate who shows little sign of being able to help the top of the ticket or to survive the rigors of debate and inquiry than win. The benefit they get is being able to sustain control over a goodly portion of the RPV on shinola, as opposed to substance, for the coming months. To the extent they are perceived as having influence in the intra-party process, they will continue to throw up hollow men for HD, Senate and Statewide offices into the future. This hurts the party tremendously and, worse yet, hurts Virginia. These are the true RINOS and I will be very glad to see the last of them. My hope is that all these empty sloganeers, starting with Bolling all the way down the list to Chapman, go down the tubes in the primary. If not, we’re going to have to live with the fact that our party doesn’t want to govern, it wants to hear itself fulminate. That will only go a very limited distance with the citizens of this fine state.
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An imposter…hmmm…one that looked like you and who was photographed a year before you ran for the House just so those bad bad GOPers could pull a dirty trick on you in a special they had no idea was coming.
Tricky tricky. Perhaps you want to vote for Fitch because you are feeling a longing for your old party, my friend? What’s the scoop on this really, Barnie? Tell us why you have repudiated your former party?
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It seems to me that the right to vote is the right to vote to choose the best government you know how. That right should not be restricted to voting either for or against any particular candidate, based on yuour views.
The fact that the Dems have used whatever strategies to put together a slate for the primaries which offers no choice is proof of how little influence voters have.
When the choice comes down to who tells the most innocuous lies, has the least spin on his chosen positions, or alienates the fewest number of one-issue voters, then it is no wonder voters stay away from the polls in droves.
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Ray, the beauty and built-in genius of our right to vote is that there are no externally imposed restraints or conditions on what our motivations must be. We may vote any way we damn well please without justification to anyone–and that is a good thing, in my view.
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