So says Tim Craig of The Washington Post. A recent poll conducted by the paper shows significant strength of the Democratic brand heading into 2009.
Of registered voters, 48 percent prefer a Democratic governor vs. 31 percent who want a Republican.
That bodes well for our candidate, although no doubt those numbers will change once the primary is underway. The Post polled the about the three expected candidates – Brian Moran, Creigh Deeds and Terry McAuliffe – and found that the race is close:
When self-identified Democrats and independents who lean Democratic were asked which candidate they prefer as the nominee, 16 percent named Moran, 12 percent McAuliffe and 11 percent Deeds.
Of course, this early, it’s a name recognition game. I didn’t see the actual questions on the poll (and Craig didn’t link to them in his post) so I have to wonder just how they phrased the question. I wouldn’t have expected McAuliffe to poll that closely to the other two, but if he was identified as “a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee,” no doubt some folks were swayed by that.
Last but not least, there is the issue of Virginia’s history of voting for a governor from the opposite party of the president. Will 2009 be the year the curse is broken?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
That’s right, this early is it about name recognition. Which is interesting that while Deeds ran on a statewide ticket just three years ago, he lags behind both Moran and McAuliffe.
What’s encouraging, at least to me, is that Moran is up without previously running statewide or being the former chair of the DNC. Shows you how strong the primary vote from NOVA and Hampton Roads is going to be.
And as long as Brian just keeps on doing what he’s doing, I think he’ll do just fine.
Help me understand why it is perfectly exceptable to endorse or contribute to a Party that currently has as of record a 2.5 to 3.0 billion dollar shortfall? Look, this is not a slap against Kaine who I actaully like on balance but given this results we are facing I just do not see how people can simply discount everything and get behind a Party in such a manner so early. Maybe its the excitement over Obama, but explain to me how our State government and its performance will not result in the same backlash as many have held to the Federal Government. It would seem to me that if we here in Virginia are going to say its the Republicans in the House of Delegates fault for the current conditions, why do not the same people blame the United States Congress for our national condition and only blame the President. Its seems to me that some lenses need to really be cleaned because there seems to be an apparent and intentional double standard permeating through much of this. If the economy continues to slide in 2009, which is predicted, I think people will be more concerned over what the last session did to help and not whose to blame for it and if every other election year session is an example of the amount of productivity that will be generated by the Assembly that could spell real trouble for either Deeds or Moran frankly.
I really hope Deeds wins the primary next year. He is an intelligent, thoughtful, and affable individual, and he has appeal in rural and southwestern Virginia. He can compete across the entire state. I don’t know too much about Brian Moran, but he definitely seems like a solid choice.
However, Terry McAuliffe would be a complete disaster. He is a Johnny-come-lately and is completely unelectable. He would be the Democratic version of Jim Gilmore if he somehow won the nomination and was elected.
RicJohn I understand the point about Terry, but wonder why Tom has not been held to the same standard if reports are true that he has only been in the district for less than a year and only paid taxes in the last year there. It seems to me if people are going to accept Tom bid against Virgil Goode as legitimate than they will as well Terry.