By VA Blogger
And yes, the “-gate” ending is tongue-in-cheek. I’m still putting together my thoughts on the decades-old thesis Bob McDonnell wrote, what (if anything) it means about the candidates, and how it will affect the campaign. However, several of my colleagues beat me to it, so here’s a few of the best I’ve read thus far.
Bwana, back to full-time blogging, wonders aloud about the double-standard between this and some of Sen. Webb’s writings in Sensationalism or Hypocrisy on the Left.
Chris also finds comparisons with the 2006 Senate race, where the race (determined by less than 10,000 votes) hinged more on a gaffe than any issue in Searching for Macaca.
The similarities jumped out to me, too, especially with the Washington Post’s giddiness in reporting this. It’s the same pattern of the Post reporting the story, then other reporters from the Post reference the story multiple times during the week, so they can write about how much press the story is getting. Will it get as bad as 27 stories in 7 days during the Allen-Webb race that James Joyner documented? Time will tell.
While I would normally just chalk it up to the Post’s rabid anti-conservative instincts kicking in (and it wouldn’t be the first time this month) in a naked effort to support the Creigh Deeds campaign, Jim Geraghty has a different thought I hadn’t considered:
This race is turning into a boring easy win for a good GOP candidate over a lousy Democratic candidate. If the Virginia press wants an exciting, competitive race, they’re going to have to do everything they can to drag McDonnell down and push Deeds ahead.
Bearing Drift’s Brian Kirwin has two immediate responses, including one pointing out DNC Chairman Tim Kaine’s support of some of McDonnell’s ideas, in McDonnell’s College Paper Has Problems and Attack McDonnell About Covenant Marriage. Steven Osborne from BD also wrote Of Deeds and Desperation, a post discussing Creigh Deeds and desperation.
Riley at Virtucon was on the media conference call that Bob McDonnell participated in today, staying on to answer all the questions the press had about the story in a calm and collected manner. He, along with Jim Geraghty at the National Review, covers the call in McDonnell Answers All of the Media’s Questions on His Thesis.
Finally, Riley also crunches the numbers regarding McDonnell’s legislative priorities in Let’s Talk About McDonnell’s Legislative Record. He finds some interesting numbers if you had only been playing attention to the Democrats the last month:
As Delegate, Bob McDonnell was chief patron of 386 bills:
Bill Topics:
- Public Safety – 51.03% (197 bills)
- Economy – 19.68% (76 bills)
- Miscellaneous – 13.47% (52 bills)
- Justice – 11.11% (43 bills)
- Child Support – 2.59% (10 bills)
- Abortion – 2.07% (8 bills)
In other words:
- 81. 82% (316 bills) – Economy/Jobs, Transportation, Budget/ Spending, Healthcare, Education, Public Safety/ Justice
- 2.07% (8 bills) – Abortion
