Disregard The Talk Of VA Voting Against The President’s Party For Gov.

Much has been made of Virginia electing a governor of the party in opposition to the sitting president elected the year before since 1977.  Some have termed this phenomenon “counter-cyclical” while others point to the first year of a presidential administration always having some sort of trouble getting off the ground, resulting in Virginians venting at the polls.

The thing is, all of that is a load of bunk.

The fact of the matter is, the modern VA GOP didn’t come about until Dick Obenshain took charge.  That means, we’ve only elected (counting Bob McDonnell) THREE modern GOP governors in the Reagan vein.  So, let’s take a look at who the GOP has nominated since 1993, what their main platform was, and the end result:

1993 – George Allen – Abolish Parole, Reform Welfare, Cut Taxes – WON

1997 – Jim Gilmore – Abolish The Car Tax – WON

2001 – Mark Earley – I’m not Mark Warner and Mark Warner is going to raise your taxes – LOST

2005 – Jerry Kilgore – I’m not Tim Kaine and Tim Kaine wouldn’t support the death penalty for Hitler – LOST

2009 – Bob McDonnell — Economic development, jobs, education, transportation – WON

Do you see a pattern emerging here?  When GOP candidates run on specific issues of importance to people in their every day lives, they not only win, but they win BIG.

Note to LG Bill Bolling — don’t worry if The Teleprompted One is defeated in 2012.  Just make sure that you have a solid, conservative, positive agenda that appeals to voters and make it front and center in your campaign.  Stay on message with it and you will succeed where others failed.