|
|
Wednesday, November 05, 2003And so the fat lady sings. . . Not a good night for Republicans in the Fredericksburg area. Republican challenger Robert Stuber lost handily to incumbent Democrat Edd Houck last night by a 20 point margin. Spotsylvania Republicans picked up a seat last night with Chris Yakabouski's win over Benny Pitts, and Mary Lee Carter lost to VSS-supported Vince Ontario. As expected, Hap Connors defeated Claude Dunn by a sizeable margin, and Emmitt Marshall won with a majority against Republican Gary Bullis and C-5(00) Mark Kuchler. Republican Supervisors Gary Jackson and Bob Hagan won their respective races, giving the GOP in Spotsy a sizeable bloc. Republican Ray Lora won, Gary Skinner won. . . not a bad night. Unfortunately Phil Fines lost a Commonwealth's Attorney race that he fought so very hard for, as did home-schooler Kimberly Fletcher in her bid for school board. Elsewhere, Stafford County Republicans were unable to unseat incumbent Democrat Pete Fields in a race that could have been won. Bob Gibbons maintained his seat, and Graziano lost by a mere 30 votes. In Caroline County (my old home) the GOP resistance was turned back, although not by overwhelming numbers. So what gives? Here's the quick and dirty on why I believe the GOP did not do as well as expected. 1: Keep in mind that we picked up seats - and lost none. If attrition means anything, Chris Yakabouski's victory in the Battlefield District means that the status quo has been strongly altered. The Dems may have been able to hold on to their seats, but they did not win a single challenged race. In pure mathematics, the GOP won on Tuesday. 2: Where's the issues? If you were a Republican, you won with the endorsement of Voters to Stop Sprawl. This marriage of Republican anti-tax values and slow-growth initiatives is great for folks like me who promote the slow-growth message, but the GOP has yet to catch on to the idea that growth - and its effects on taxes - are going to pave the way. 3: Organization. Let's be honest. The area GOP committees came at these campaigns with the traditional GOTV effort, while the VSS had a true grassroots organization at hand. Sure we have more volunteers, but were 75 of them hand-writing envelopes for GOP candidates? The Spotsy VSS certainly were. We need a reinvigoration of strategy and ideas. It's very much possible, but it means that we have to stay on task and get folks riled up. 4: Attack! Which brings me to my final point. The GOP in all three localities needs to go on the offensive. We know from our polling data that when people think of growth, they think of traffic and taxes. Both Stafford and Spotsy need to consistently hit their Board of Supervisors with an agenda and a scorecard. E-mails need to go out when they are not up to snuff - and when our GOP supervisors fight for our values. Same on the state level, especially now with tax-reform getting ready to be revealed in a few days. Hold 'em accountable - emulate RPV. In three months the area GOP committees will hold their elections. Let's see what catches fire where. . . Ah well. . . onto the Fredericksburg City Council elections!
|
|
JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
ArchivesMarch 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 April 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Home