Mr. Deeds goes to the winner’s circle

icon_porter.jpg

The smashing

landslide victory by Creigh Deeds in Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial

primary this week has given hope (or maybe a touch of boldness) to one of the

Democrats running for governor in Georgia, House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin).


“Deeds, who is also a rural state lawmaker, was able to win the primary over two well-funded and better known candidates, one of which was backed by the Democratic

Governor’s Association,” Porter noted in a statement released by his campaign.

The same case can be made here in the Georgia Democratic Primary for Governor with DuBose Porter,

who like Deeds, has grass roots popularity. Porter won in his rural district by

76 percent because he does something different than most politicians, he

listens and represents his people and not the powers that be.

 

R. Creigh Deeds won because he had the experience and shared the values of Virginia’s voters and I will win because I too have the experience and share the values of Georgia’s voters. As history shows in Georgia, you can have $20 million and

still lose to someone who only has $4 million if you are not connected to the

people. I am connected to the people.

The victory by

Deeds, a state senator, was one of the most stunning election

turnarounds we’ve seen in a while.  Terry

McAuliffe, a close friend of the Clintons and former head of the Democratic

National Committee, raised mountains of money and was the frontrunner

in the polls until a couple of weeks before election day.

The election

seemed to turn in Deeds’ favor after he was endorsed by the Washington Post and

McAuliffe’s campaign crashed and burned. 

In a race with three strong candidates, Deeds pulled just under 50

percent of the vote and clobbered McAuliffe and Brian Moran, a former

legislator.  (Local angle alert:  Peter Jackson, who was press spokesman for

Cathy Cox in Georgia’s 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary, worked in the

Deeds campaign.)

His nomination

sets the stage for a ferocious election battle this fall with Republican

nominee Bob McDonnell.  The two

candidates should be well-acquainted with each other.  McDonnell beat Deeds in the 2005 race for state

attorney general by the razor-thin margin of 323 votes (out of 1.9 million

cast).

Republican morale

would no doubt be boosted by gubernatorial wins this year in Virginia and New

Jersey, where GOP nominee Chris Christie is leading Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine

by 10 points in the latest poll.  If the GOP

nominees win both races, you can expect the RNC to spin it as a sign that

Americans are “sending a message” to the Obama administration and an omen of

the party’s resurgence in the 2010 off-year elections. 

Maybe, and maybe not.  Using the Virginia and New Jersey results as a crystal ball for the following election year can give you what the statisticians call a “spurious correlation.”

You need look no further back than 2001, when Democrats swept the governor’s races in both states.  In 2002, however, Republicans

won additional seats in both the U.S. House and Senate (including Max Cleland’s

Senate seat).

On the other hand, Democrats again swept both governor’s races in 2005, just one year before a Democratic tidal wave enabled the party to regain control of Congress.  That shows you that Virginia and New Jersey

can tell you a lot about which party will succeed in the following election

year.  Or not.


Posted

in

by

Comments

2 responses to “Mr. Deeds goes to the winner’s circle”

  1. Rubyduby Avatar
    Rubyduby

    Ok, well the online bizjournal is giving me fits today and not letting me login, but there is a pretty decent article in there about Roy and some who might be backing him.

    Pushing transportation, Barnes draws support from business

    http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/06/15/story3.html

    I’m hearing a lot of the same thing over and over again: “we like Dubose, but we want to win. We like David, but we want to win.” They are going to have to work very hard to overcome this very big hurdle.

  2. sndeak Avatar
    sndeak

    The only thing they have in common is they both served in the GA. As mentioned, Deeds ran statewide in 2005 and came within 363 votes. People know who know Creigh know he is genuinely a great guy. Very down to earth, humble even.

    Virginia and Georgia are in very different places poltically right now. I think some people are trying too hard to make a comparison.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *