GOP Sweeps the Ticket and Gains More Ground in the House

A Great Tuesday to be a Republican

McDonnell-58.64% Deeds-41.23%

Bolling-56.53% Wagner-43.53%

Cuccinelli-57.56% Shannon-43.34%

With the results in it is evident that Virginia voters feel that Republicans are best suited to fulfill their needs. Not only did the Republicans sweep all three state-wide positions, the GOP gained a number of seats in the House of Delegates.

Heading into the election , Republicans held 53 seats and Democrats held 45. The two independents generally vote with the Republicans. Picking up 8 seats, the GOP gained major ground through the state.

Two-term incumbent Democrat C. Charles Caputo lost his re-election bid in his to Republican James M. LeMunyon who took the 67th District with more than 52 percent of the vote. In McLean, freshman Del. Margaret G. Vanderhye (D) fell to Republican challenger Barabara Comstock by fewer than 300 votes. Other important pickups for the Republicans included Scott Garrett, Tag Greason, Chris Stolle, Will Morefield, Rich Anderson, and Ron Villaneva is currently 16 votes up.

This historic election puts the Republican on top with 61-39 in the House of Delegates.

Is This More of A Tsunami Than A Wave???

Rumor has it that Delegate Jim Scott was spotted out walking door to door in his HOME precinct today with clipboard in hand.

Delegate Scott represents one of the bluest districts in Fairfax County and if he is feeling the pressure then maybe the "wave" we are seeing is more like a TSUNAMI! Keep in mind this is the same Jim Scott who won his race by a "landslide" ONE VOTE ... he must be worried that this time he will be on the wrong side of this year's landslide!

His opponent Chris Merola has been working extremely hard this campaign and we need to do everything we can to help him finish strong to de-throne another extremely partisan LIBERAL. Check out his website here ...

Lets make sure Jim Scott stays in his home precinct and out of Richmond for good!

Pelosi Health Care Bill Blows a Kiss to Trial Lawyers

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):

Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.

So, you can’t try to seek alternatives to lawsuits if you’ve actually done something to implement alternatives to lawsuits. Brilliant! The trial lawyers must be very happy today!
While there is debate over the details, it is clear that medical malpractive lawsuits have some impact on driving health care costs higher. There are likely a number of procedures that are done simply as a defense against future possible litigation. Recall this from the Washington Post:

“Lawmakers could save as much as $54 billion over the next decade by imposing an array of new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, congressional budget analysts said today — a substantial sum that could help cover the cost of President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s health system. New research shows that legal reforms would not only lower malpractice insurance premiums for medical providers, but would also spur providers to save money by ordering fewer tests and procedures aimed primarily at defending their decisions in court, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).”

Stay tuned. There are certainly many more terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad provisions in this massive bill.

-Posted By Capitol Confidential On October 30, 2009 (12:17 pm)

Washington Post Dumps Deeds in Trashcan

Washington Post Gives up on Deeds

Just a week after the Deeds endorsement from the Washington Post, it has become clear that the Post has put its faith for Deeds in the trash can. As mention earlier, the Post has a history for backing the losers, and it seems that the Post has realized this all a bit too late. Nothing, not even Obama’s helping hand in Virginia, can boost up Deeds' points. With a week left the negativity coming out of the Deeds' campaign will only help, not hurt, McDonnell as he becomes closer to victory. With no excitement and certainly no positivity coming from the left, Deeds can now start to dig his grave, and forget about packing up his things for the Governors' mansion.

"The poll shows that Deeds has been unable to shift the dynamics of a race that in recent weeks appeared to be slipping away from him. Despite a concerted effort to reverse a widespread voter perception that his campaign has been largely negative, more than six in 10 polled see the Democrat as running a mainly negative effort. By contrast, most see McDonnell's campaign as a predominantly positive one."-Jon Cohen and Rosalind S. Helderman

"Deeds has also been unable to excite his supporters and close the dramatic gap in enthusiasm McDonnell has held from the start. About a quarter of Deeds voters say they are supporting him "not too" enthusiastically or "not at all" enthusiastically. More than nine in 10 of those who back McDonnell are "very" enthusiastic or "fairly" enthusiastic about the Republican." -Jon Cohen and Rosalind S. Helderman

For Full Article - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102602414.html

House Preview Looks Great for the GOP

Not Larry Sabato's Blog Predicts GOP Gain in the House

Washington Post Endorses Deeds and Taxes

Does the Endorsment Mean Anything?

The Washington Post endorsed Creigh Deeds in yesterday's paper, yet they seem to still get their facts wrong. Can the Post endorsement even be taken serious with their endorsement history? Washington Post blogger Rosalind Helderman even recognizes that their endorsements in the past usually back the losers, "To be fair, our friends in editorial have a long history of backing the wrong horse in endorsements. (Kerry over Bush in 2004; Harris Miller over Jim Webb in the 2006 primary)."

For the real interpretation on the Post endorsement read Red NOVA-
http://rednova8.com/2009/10/18/washington-post-endorsement-vote-for-deeds-hell-raise-your-taxes/

Democrats Already Waving the White Flag

Democratic Blogs, Blue Virginia along with Anonymous Is A Woman, have given up on Deeds and has come to the conclusion that Bob McDonnell will win the state by about 7 or 8 points. Anonymous Is A Women also points out that there could be some upsets for Democratic incumbents all across the state.

83th District. Del. Joe Bouchard (D) vs. Christopher Stolle (R)
"I like Joe Bouchard a great deal, as he's one of the strongest environmentalists in the House of Delegates. Two years ago, Bouchard beat Stolle by 131 votes (out of 9,535 cast). This time around, my guess is that it's going down to the wire again, with a slight lean towards Republican pickup. C'mon Joe, you can do it! :)" - Blue Virginia

And it seems that Democrats have given up on defeating Republican incumbents.

42nd District. Del. Dave Albo (R) vs. Greg Werkheiser (D)
"Werkheiser lost to Albo in 2005 by 4 points (52%-48%). Since then, Albo has come up with the infamous "abusive driver fees" idea, which didn't do anything to endear him to 42nd district voters. On the other hand, Werkheiser took off a cycle (I'm convinced he would have beaten Albo in 2007), and over the past year or two anger over the "abuser fees" has largely subsided. Also, Albo had a cash-on-hand advantage as of 8/31/09. Given all that, I'm calling this one a slight lean for Albo to hang on..." - Blue Virginia

Although Blue Virginia admits their loses they seem to be too modest on some of their predictions. The race in the 67th of Del. Chuck Caputo (D) vs. James LeMunyon (R) and the race in the 34th with Del. Margi Vanderhye (D) vs. Barbara Comstock (R) are closer then they think. It appears since the Democrats have already given up hope on Deeds that they have reinvested false hope in their Delegates. Numbers are down across the board for any Democrat in a tossup district, and come November 3rd the tossup will be in the right direction.