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Bob McDonnell wins Va. Governor's race
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New Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Photo-Getty Images
Republican Bob McDonnell has won the Governor’s race this evening after polls closed in Virginia, according to CNN, the Associated Press and ABC News. The 55-year-old former Virginia Attorney General won, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections website, with 1,158,855 votes over Democrat Creigh Deeds who received 814,567 votes with 99.76% precincts reporting.
At Monday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Gibbs was asked about the president thought about the mood of voters. “Fired up and ready to go,” Gibbs said. That assessment seems wrong now, at least in Virginia, where Democrats did not show up in significant numbers for Creigh Deeds to pull off an upset. Minority votes in particular was slashed, compared to the overwhelming turnout to elect President Obama. Now the GOP is going to have the Virginia Governor’s mansion for the first time in almost a decade.
For about five hours, I staked out Auroro Public Library in Arlington, Virginia watching voters stream into the polling center. It was a remarkable mixture of Polish and Hispanic speaking voters, military, government contractors and elderly residents. A middle aged man who identified himself as “Bob” said he voted for McDonnell. “I think he’ll do more for Virginia and save me from deep taxes,” he said. Another man, Steve Ferber, was handing out flyers to encourage people to vote for Democrat Creigh Deeds. When I asked Ferber how he thought the election would go he proclaimed, “Dewey Wins!” Referring to the presidential race of 1948 where Harry Truman shocked the media by defeating Thomas Dewey. It was not to be the same for Deeds in Virginia today.
According to USATODAY.com Sarah Palin weighed in on McDonnell’s race. “Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has jumped into the Virginia gubernatorial race today with a robocall that asks voters to "vote for Sarah's principles." The call, in which the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate says "the eyes of America will be on Virginia," is paid for by the Faith & Freedom Coalition, part of a national conservative group founded by Ralph Reed,” USATODAY reported. As noted in my analysis piece here, Palin will not go quietly in the night. As the 2012 election approaches, watch for Palin to steal McDonnell’s thunder by making a surprise annoucement. McDonnell could be her VP ! There are few viable Republican leaders for the next presidential election and whether McDonnell sees it or not, he would be a viable VP candidate. Conveniently missing from McDonnell’s televised election celebration in Richmond was GOP strategist Ed Gillespie. Without any doubt, this former Bush White House adviser and McDonnell campaign chairman sees this victory as a step towards being back in the White House. It will be interesting to see what the next moves will be in this endeavor.
The Republicans have also swept in Virginia with both Lt. Governor candidate Bill Bolling and Attorney General candidate Ken Cuccinelli winning their perspective races. This was not a big surprise to Democrats anticipated Deed’s loss. Republicans will tie the three seat victory to what they called in one television ad “Obama’s job-killing policies.”
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