A year ago, I asked for opinions on which you would prefer, a Democratic president followed by a Republican governor or a Repubican president followed by a Democratic governor.
| 1976 – Jimmy Carter (D) | 1977 – John Dalton (R) |
| 1980 – Ronald Reagan (R) | 1981 – Chuck Robb (D) |
| 1984 – Ronald Reagan (R) | 1985 – Gerry Baliles (D) |
| 1988 – George H.W. Bush (R) | 1989 – Doug Wilder (D) |
| 1992 – Bill Clinton (D) | 1993 – George Allen (R) |
| 1996 – Bill Clinton (D) | 1997 – Jim Gilmore (R) |
| 2000 – George W. Bush (R) | 2001 – Mark Warner (D) |
| 2004 – George W. Bush (R) | 2005 – Tim Kaine (D) |
| 2008 – ??? | 2009 – ???? |
With Virginia’s history of electing a governor from the opposite party of the president for the last 30 years, and given that we now have candidates for each office, I figured it is time to revisit the issue.
Vote in the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
“If I were able to write a brand new constitution….”
What would we do, tack on “and we really mean it this time”? The Constitution is routinely ignored — by the legislatures, executives, and judiciaries.
As for the 3/5 Compromise, please keep in mind that it was the non-slave states did not want slaves counted at all.
“In a voluntary society, only natural law applies, not statutory law (unless the individual explicitly consents), so there’s nothing to vote on.”
Please. “Natural Law” means the strong eat the weak.
“Why do you need universal suffrage when your neighbors can’t vote to take away your rights?”
Why can’t they take away your rights? What’s to stop them?
“Desegregation; same thing. How do you have segregation in the first place without a strong central government to enforce it in the first place?”
Simple — you don’t let Blacks, or Jews, or Hispanics, or whomever you don’t like, into your restaurant or store. If they move into your neighborhood, you throw things through their windows late at night, and your children bully theirs in school or on the playground.
Your utopia does exist in places. Such places are called “monasteries.”
Obama/McDonnell, for the exact reasons MB stated
I’m glad the majority of voters (to this point at least) agrees with me 😉
McCain can – and would – do far more damage than McDonnell ever could.
What sort of “damage” would you expect McCain to do?
“Democrats on all accounts!!!”
MB, you & I will have to disagree on this one. If a Democratically-controlled Congress can’t keep McCain in check, then we might as well give up now. OTOH, McDonnell can affect our lives and choices for ten years out.
Well, as we’ve seen so far, there’s little reason to put any faith in Congress’ ability to keep anyone in check. That said, I’m far more willing to live with the mistakes I expect from Obama than from McCain.
I understand your calculation, though. I suspect it’s a lot like mine – but we weight things differently. Plus, the ugly truth? I can always move across the river. No interest in doing that, of course, but it’s a theoretical escape hatch that figures into my preferences.
Well, you could move to the People’s Republic of Maryland, but I cannot see why you would want to. Sure, the median household income is a little higher, but so it the tax burden and the cost of living. Perhaps you like the violent crime rate there, which is about 140% higher than in VA (678.6/100k vs. 282.2).I’m sure they will pass yet more gun control laws to bring their crime rates down! 🙂
I knew there was a reason I didn’t come back to this post for a couple of days. I would have been utterly terrified of how much I was agreeing with Mouse if it hadn’t been for that last comment.
…although actually I’m not precisely enamoured by some parts of Maryland, either. The touristy parts Ocean City MD somehow manages to be trashier than Atlantic City NJ, and that’s a remarkable accomplishment.
Is it too late to vote for Barr/Redpath?
Heh. No…and yes.