Fellow Hampton Roads blogger Bearing Drift has up the podcast he recorded last night with yours truly and Ben Tribbet of Not Larry Sabato. Included are comments from special guests Larry Roberts, who was chairman of Tim Kaine’s campaign, and Rep. Jim Moran.
Check it out.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Nice analysis, Vivian. I agree we need to bring Democrats across Virginia back together. However, it didn’t really help to refer to the Democrats in Northern Virginia as a “juggernaut”.
Also, NLS’s point about grassroots activity nailed the problem in my opinion.
We need to unite around our common progressive issues. I for one believe the affirmative action issue in this race, while a valid and important issue, was used in an incredibly unfair manner against Webb. I know it is precisely what immediately solidified my vote for Webb, as I was early-on leaning to Miller.
Anyway, the podcast was a great effort!
I decided to be nice 🙂
Doug, there was nothing derogatory in that remark. In the context of comparing NoVA to HR, I think it's a fair statement. It is what it is. NoVA has more D voters than we do so we would have to turn out in record numbers (and I don't mean 10%, more like 30-40%) to match the raw numbers.
As I said in the other thread, the AA issue just didn't play out down here the way it did elsewhere.
NLS – glad you played nice 😉
Vivian –
Ok, you’ve convinced me:). AA was the end all be all of Miller’s support.
What do you think Webb’s problem was in Hampton Roads? It couldn’t have been ideology, because the more liberal voters in NOVA chose him. I’m perplexed…
My next guess would be “no campaign presence”
Well, “what it is” is the following:
jug·ger·naut ( P ) Pronunciation Key (jgr-nôt)
n.
1. Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed.
2. An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path: “It doesn’t assume that people need necessarily remain passive when confronted by what appears to be the juggernaut of history” (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt).
3. Juggernaut Used as a title for the Hindu deity Krishna.
Sorry, but it is a derogative word, even if that wasn’t your intention.
Northern Virginians are sick and tired of the ugliness of Virginia politics and want a change (as I suspect most of Virginia is). We also want the state government to take the issues that affect the daily lives of people here (most notably the horrible traffic congestion) more seriously, and try to DO something new and effective to address it. In short, we’re no different from anyone in HR or anyone else in the state in what we want form government.
Don’t use a term that implies our “blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed” in Virginia politics. I want the people of HR to have what they need just as I want NoVA to get what we need. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to sacrifice the needs of anyone else. That’s what I got from your use of the term “juggernaut.”