The National Rifle Association (NRA), The Heritage Foundation and The Christian Coalition now have one of their own in Richmond, Va., as arch conservative Bob McDonnell defeated Democratic moderate Creigh Deeds to become governor of my home state.
McDonnell is an alumnus of Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia Beach, and he once wrote a thesis about how women need to spend more time at home raising children (hmm.......perhaps Islamic fundamentalists will like this guy too).
Low voter turn-out, apathy and a lack of young voters at the polls are three of the explanations as to why a state which Barack Obama carried went to McDonnell as well as the two other Republicans on the ticket.
It should also be pointed out that Virginia's new attorney general-elect Ken Cuchinelli is also quite far too the right. He has actually pledged to turn down federal funding once elected. Even though the Gingrich/Reagan model for micro-government has been proven ineffective, there are still right-wing nuts like McDonnell and Cuchinelli who subscribe to it.
It should be an interesting four years in Virginia. Even though I now live in North Carolina, I am very saddened by what has transpired in my home state where moderate Republicans like former Congressman Tom Davis and former Sen. John Warner have reitred. Their replacements appear to be guys who listen to Glenn Beck, shoot racoons and go to mega-churches.
This should be a lesson to all fellow Democrats, indepedents and even moderate Republicans. If you don't get involved with local politics, you may have to deal with this very same nightmare scenario.
I am so dismayed by what happened in Virginia that I may have to subscribe to "The Nation," even though its opinions are to the left of mine!
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