Cooch Wrong on Assessment of Deeds

Apparently, AG-elect Ken Cuccinelli thinks that Creigh Deeds would have won if he had moved farther to the left in his stances during the campaign. Either Cooch is trying to throw the Dems off by giving them intentionally bad advice, or he really doesn't know Virginia as well as he thinks he does.

See, the past two governors of this state have campaigned and won on being centrist as Democrats can get. Very "third way", blue dog images. Virginia is, much to the chagrin of "progressives", not nearly as "blue" as they would like to think it is. It's a reddish-purple.

Deeds, IMO, ran to the left of his pre-election image. If he was trying to run as a centrist, he would've used his more conservative views in his campaigning. Instead, he focused on wedge issues like McDonnell's social issues (which were never an issue with him as a legislator, anyway) and touted run-of-the-mill Democratic Party stances such as more progressive taxation and the like (even though he didn't come right out and say it). He did try to carry on the "Warner-Kaine Tradition", as they like to call it, and focusing on that would have HELPED him with independents, which would have given him a much better edge.

However, with the tide turning against the Democratic Party both on a statewide and national level, I don't think any Democratic Party candidate would have had a chance. Even the mighty fundraiser himself, Terry McAuliffe, wouldn't have had much of a chance...McDonnell fundraising resources that he would've been able to tap into on a national level to match McAuliffe. The national GOP was ready to push hard for McDonnell if he needed it.

(h/t Blue Virginia)