Last night, I attended a meeting in Richmond of the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Virginia. As part of introductions and opening comments, David Cary, a VCU student who took a semester off to work with the Deeds Campaign and who is slated to become to caucus’s Outreach Director, pointed out that the things we were telling people at the door and on the phone about Bob McDonnell’s conservative agenda and how it would affect the people of Virginia were true and are becoming a grim reality.

The 2009 gubernatorial general campaign was not the greatest of experiences for me. I went out and did my best to campaign for Creigh Deeds, but I’ll admit that my enthusiasm for the candidate wasn’t the highest and it was apparent that building enthusiasm in others and campaign momentum was extremely difficult. Why would people in Hampton Roads, or even Northern Virginia, care about supporting a Democratic candidate from the westernmost parts of the commonwealth with a wide conservative streak? This was the reality we faced, and the campaign never really got around to selling people on who Creigh Deeds was. They focused on who Bob McDonnell was, his past, and his unrealistic campaign promises.

In most cases, this mixture of the lack of a message and the focus on the negatives of your opponent isn’t a recipe for campaign success. It doesn’t create a connection between voters and the candidate, and it doesn’t get people out to the polls. Bad campaign strategy it may have been, but what the Deeds Campaign was warning voters of is becoming a reality.

Transportation: How many times did we hear Bob McDonnell criticize Creigh Deeds for wanting to establish a bi-partisan transportation commission to form a comprehensive transportation plan? McDonnell consistently claimed that he was the better candidate because he had a transportation plan, and Deeds wanted to wait. Well, McDonnell won the election and failed to present anything near a comprehensive transportation plan to the General Assembly. He placed transportation, one of the hottest political topics in Virginia, on the back burner. Had Deeds won, we’d have a commission formed by now. There would be movement on transportation had Deeds won, but voters didn’t turn out, and Bob McDonnell won the election.

Education: Bob McDonnell was consistent in his message about putting more money into the classrooms and less into administration. This is a promise most people would get behind. However, McDonnell now leading a budget that could cut over $2 billion from Virginia Public Schools. This isn’t a shift in funding from the administration of schools into the classrooms of children. They are cuts across the board. We knew that Bob McDonnell would target education after he was elected. We told people that he would cut education significantly, but voters didn’t turn out, and Bob McDonnell won the election.

Discrimination: Another conservative shift can be seen in McDonnell’s issuing a non-discrimination order that did not include language barring workplace bias based on sexual orientation. Governor Kaine included the language in his non-discrimination orders, but McDonnell argued against the legality of the language. So, we saw this one coming, but it’s still representative of conservative turn this state has taken due to the 2009 election.  Bob McDonnell was elected and now people can be denied employment or fired because of their sexual orientation. This is yet another outcome of voters not turning out at the polls.

It’s said over and over again, but that doesn’t water down the truth of this statement: Elections have consequences. Votes do matter. Period. The outcomes of McDonnell’s election are very clear, and the list is growing.

Related posts:

1. Bob McDonnell forgets about transportation
2. Washington Post: Endorsement of Creigh Deeds comes down to transportation, again
3. Deeds WAPO editorial clarifies his transportation plan
4. Why I’m Walking Away from the Deeds Campaign
5. The night may be long