Last night voters decided to place the leadership of Virginia in the hands of Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, and Ken Cuccinelli as Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attoney General respectively. I congratulate those who celebrate with them, and hope that their leadership will not be as disastrous for Virginia as so many now fear.

On the issue of whether or not this election was a referendum on the Presidency, I do not believe it was. While I do know there were voters who made their decision based on stirred incitement from tea party movement and Fox “News”, I also believe that this group of voters were not in the majority and their decisions at the polls could have been overcome.

No, this election was a referendum on the breakdown of the Democratic Party of Virginia who failed to take real leadership in the election. Democratic primary voters made stupid, misguided, and blinded decisions at the polls in June, fielding a ticket that was not very Democratic-like at all. Voters went for the nice guy, the more moderate guy, the safe choice. The result of those cowardly votes was a gubernatorial candidate who couldn’t even talk about the strengths of his campaign without botching it up, on camera, for Republicans to have a field day with. This candidate, Creigh Deeds, should have never made it out of the starting gate on primary day. He should not have been a serious contender.

On the other hand, some may understand why Deeds won in June. Brian Moran, who was originally favored to win, threw all of his resources at taking down latecomer and national super star Terry McAuliffe. It worked, but not without taking Moran down as well. This left Deeds as the primary winner, primarily because voters didn’t want to chose Terry who was never massively popular with the Virginia electorate and then became more unpopular with each major hit from the Moran campaign, and voters had a foul impression of Brian Moran for playing so dirty. The truth is that both of these candidates were much stronger than Deeds, but again; both had their faults that wouldn’t have made winning a certainty either. Regardless, Democrats were weak following the primary.

Creigh Deeds had the responsibility to charge the Democratic ticket, from the top down, forward to victory, but instead he mounted a weak campaign that was opposite from the praised style during the primary campaign and that failed to shore up the strengths of his campaign. In an attempt to win over conservatives, Deeds seemed to distance himself from President Obama and national politics more than Bob McDonnell and the Republican ticket did. Progressives, like myself, grew tired of supporting a candidate who with every debate was painting himself as less and less of a progressive, and even less of a Democrat. It became obvious that he never fired up his base, and that he was going to lose badly. More horrible than his loss was that his campaign would also bring down great members of the House of Delegates.

Now, Democrats have the opportunity to be the opposition party. They better get this right if there’s any chance at holding on to a Democratic seat in the 2nd District next year. The long night has begun, and now we have to work at restoring the light.

Related posts:

1. PPP: Deeds has lost 25% of the liberal electorate
2. Deeds can win by dropping out
3. Latest PPP: Deeds leads, McAuliffe and Moran stagnant
4. An Active Democratic Campaign?
5. Deeds gaining ground, Moran and McAuliffe stalled