Deeds beats McAuliffe, Moran in stunner
posted at 10:09 am on June 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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The Democratic primary in Virginia yesterday pitted a veteran political fixer and former head of the national party, Terry McAuliffe, against Brian Moran, the brother of a popular and powerful Congressman. Creigh Deeds, a state legislator with more conservative credentials, barely got mentioned in political analyses. Yet yesterday he not only beat the favored McAuliffe and Moran, but he beat them both combined and in every area of the state to grab the nomination for governor:
R. Creigh Deeds, a longtime state legislator from rural Bath County, won a stunning come-from-behind victory in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor last night, overwhelming a pair of better-funded and better-positioned opponents.
Deeds beat Brian Moran and Terry McAuliffe in every region of the state, including vote-rich Northern Virginia, despite a pro-gun stance and relatively conservative positions that are out of line with many of the area’s voters. His victory was so dominant that he captured 10 of the state’s 11 congressional districts, including the one held by Moran’s brother, U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr.
All three campaigns and state political experts had agreed that Deeds was coming on strong in the final days of the race, but no one expected him — or the other candidates — to come close to winning the 50 percent of the vote that he captured. In an e-mail sent to supporters less than two hours before polls closed, McAuliffe’s campaign predicted that “this thing could come down to the wire.” McAuliffe came in second, with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Brian Moran with 24 percent.
Deeds, 51, will face Republican Robert F. McDonnell in a general election battle that amounts to a rematch of the race for attorney general four years ago, which McDonnell barely won after a late surge by Deeds.
Any time McAuliffe gets a setback, it seems like a win for Republicans. Furthermore, the overwhelming victory for a relative conservative in Virginia should be good news for the GOP. Unfortunately, that pits a conservative Democrat against a conservative Republican in a state that has gone purple the last few cycles. Bob McDonnell would have an easier time painting McAuliffe as too liberal and out of touch for most Virginians, while Deeds showed that he can compete anywhere in the state.
Jim Geraghty sees a bright spot in the numbers:
The good news for Creigh Deeds: He won Arlington County by a stunning margin: 47.2 percent to Moran’s 36.8 percent and McAuliffe’s 15.9 percent.
The good news for Republican Bob McDonnell: Deeds did so with 9,308 votes. When Tim Kaine won that county in 2005’s general election, he did so with 42,319 votes.
If the GOP wants to rebuild its coalition of states for winning the Presidency, it has to start in Virginia, a state it never should have lost in the first place. We’ll talk more with Jim today on The Ed Morrissey Show about this race and its import for the national scene.
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McAuliffe is a despicable sack of donkey shit and I get a tingle up my leg to know that others recognize it also.
csdeven on June 10, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Thought police? So you are admitting that you are a racist? Because I was only commenting on what you actually wrote, not what you thought.
The Letterman thing is a red herring which has nothing to do with what you or I were “discussing”, and has been roundly criticized by everyone here at HA.
So, you are either a racist, and deserve to be banned, or you are just trolling, and deserve to be banned.
Abby Adams on June 10, 2009 at 11:36 AM
While I don’t agree with your demographic description, yes VA is much bluer than people think. You can thank George W Bush and the “conservative” congress for exploding the population of Northern Virginia over the past eight years.
Socialists beget more Socialists.
LevStrauss on June 10, 2009 at 11:36 AM
McAuliffe will now be rewarded for his failure by being put on the board of directors at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, thus assuring him of a large salary and humongous bonus. It’s the democRAT way.
Jarhead68 on June 10, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Mr. Deeds may be going to town (sorry Gary, et.al.). Which would be better than Terry (and the Pirates). I’d much rather see VA go back to the GOP, and I think it will, but at least we won’t have to listen to McAuliffe blabber for awhile.
Mr. Grump on June 10, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Yes, Deeds did come close to beating McDonnell for AG in 2005. But the converse of that is that Deeds lost while Democrats won the governor and lieutenant governor races by substantial margins. So it would seem a lot of people who liked Tim Kaine don’t like Creigh Deeds. I think he is too conservative for a lot of Democrats and they will stay home this year. I can’t see a big turnout of blacks in Richmond or Va. Beach/Norfolk or a big Hispanic turnout in NoVa for Deeds.
McDonnell becomes the more “urban” candidate in this race, while Deeds represents the dwindling rural redneck vote.
rockmom on June 10, 2009 at 11:45 AM
A loss for McAuliffe is a win for the Commonwealth, no matter how you slice it.
Although I prefer McDonnell, Deeds would be a far better governor than the posterior orifice we have now (Kaine), Moran, or McAuliffe.
If Chairman Obama continues his Great Leap Left, I look for a giant correction in 2010 nationwide.
hillbillyjim on June 10, 2009 at 11:45 AM
If I recall correctly, Kaine was Lt. Gov. at the time and ran unopposed, so there are was no Dem. primary and no numbers to compare. Similar to McDonnell this time, unopposed for the Rep. nod.
riverrat10k on June 10, 2009 at 11:47 AM
After seeing Brian Moran’s TV ads bragging about being a progressive, I’m thrilled he lost. I’m also tickled The Punk got it handed to him too, esp. after Slick Willie did the Carpet Bag Tour for him.
Kelley, thanks for the VA site. (Are you a court reporter, BTW?)
Afrolib, were you at the 4/15 Tea Party in Richmond? You know, the one where thousands of Virginians showed up on a cold, rainy evening to cheer re-enactors and gather with like-minded folk? I was. And none of ‘em liked your boy Barraqis.
W/the Tea Party crowd in mind, I think McDonnell would majorly help his cause if he started championing states’ rights over Zero’s Reign of Terror.
Govs from the most kick-ass states are drawing a line in the sand and VA’s full of gun lovers. McDonnell needs to tell Zero his power extends only so far.
sabu on June 10, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Re the comments of “meh, repub or dem, just so they’re conservative,” not for me. Dems have a penchant for loyally towing the party line, no matter what the citizens want. I’d just as soon have an R sitting in Richmond.
sabu on June 10, 2009 at 11:51 AM
McAuliffe’s loss is something I think Democrats and Republicans alike can look upon with satisfaction.
okonkolo on June 10, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Correct. He’s a “conservative Democrat”, not a conservative who happens to be a Democrat.
Abby Adams on June 10, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Umm, I live in Virginia, does that count? There are really 2 different Virginias. Right now. Northern Virginia and Tidewater, along with parts of Richmond, are heavily Democratic. Much of the rest of the state is heavily Republican, but more sparsely populated.
It’s true that an influx of Yankees has lead more Dem votes. But it’s also true that some of those migrants are coming to realize that the Dems are undermining the things they like about the state. Deeds fits the profile for the sort of Democrat that Virginians will like. In most states, he’d be far too conservative to run as a Donkey.
McDonnell has a great chance at beating him, though, if for no other reason than people wanting to protest the Democrat takeover.
hawksruleva on June 10, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Deeds can only be considered conservative in comparison to McAuliffe and Moran. Otherwise that lable does not apply. He is big for state funded pre-K education (read subsidized day care), voted to raise the gas tax, is against off-shore drilling and sponsored legislation to close the ephemeral “gun show loophole”. He is an advocate of subsidized greenie energy projects that consistently underperform.
I was not a close observer of the polls prior to the primary and was surprised that Deeds won. The TV advertisments were heavily in favor of McAuliffe followed by Moran. I saw almost no street signs or billboards for any of the candidates in our area.
For weeks now a group called Common Sense Virginia has been saturating the TV stations with adds criticizing Bob McDonnell without mentioning any of the Democrat candidates. Common Sense Virgina is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Governors Association. But you won’t find that out unless you search for it. McDonnell has put up a few adds identifying him as the jobs candidate. But, that’s exactly where CSV is attacking him.
SoonerMarine on June 10, 2009 at 11:59 AM
(There’s a wasted [college?] education for you, folks.)
I mean, that’s all you got, brosephine?
bluelightbrigade on June 10, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I was shocked when I heard this.
Question: Is this a loss for the Democrats or for the Clinton machine???
Another thought: McAuliffe lost to “the brother of a popular and powerful Congressman.” It still reeks of Roman Imperialism and the patronage system. Stay away little people. You can vote for us, but cannot play the game.
conservative pilgrim on June 10, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Deeds had been leading in polls for the past 2-3 weeks.
Umm, except for the actual voters votes…
Glad to see “honest” reporting from the media.
Odie1941 on June 10, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Yeah, but it’s not like Virginia was coming off a budget surplus, while gas was North of $4 a gallon at the time, and everyone’s money was going to fill the tank instead of pay their bills.
/ohwaitasecond
Abby Adams on June 10, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Open registration yesterday and a new crop of trolls today. Who’d uh thunk it?
It’s like some kind of stupid magic.
trigon on June 10, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Today is a good day in Virginia.
truetexan on June 10, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Did repubs. cross over to dem side to vote on this one?
The Limbaugh limbo?
nondhimmie on June 10, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Didn’t I see something yesterday about McDonnell outpolling ANY of the three Democrat candidates? By a lot? AND that Deeds had to spend like crazy to pull this off, so he’s pretty much broke now? Maybe that was just a dream I was having…no don’t pinch me, I’m enjoying this.
Dee2008 on June 10, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Hey, Taliban Abby,
I’m a part-time racist only, but would like to have a full-time racist position. Perhaps I can become “reeducated” at Jeramiah Wright’s Trinity Church for twenty years.
Yes, I should be black-listed immediately from HA!
luvstotango on June 10, 2009 at 12:18 PM
You can spot the Kos-kid in Afrolib by the “haha” at the beginning. You know, when they first started doing that crap it got under my skin a little. I was raised to be a gentleman, to be mature and show respect to those who held other viewpoints. The dismissive nature of the Kos-kids was rather like hearing someone use the n-word for a black person or the c-word for a woman, and showed roughly the same level of class. What it did, more than anything else, was make me angry at whoever raised them that they weren’t taught better manners.
Since then I’ve recognized it as a ploy. It’s supposed to get under our skins. It takes all the emphasis off of what is being said, and puts it on the trash talk. Now that I see it for what it is, I brush past it without a second thought, and see guys like Afrolib for what they are: scared to death their guy will lose, putting up trash talk because they’ve got no game. Notice he gave no real supporting argument for his claim. Sure, there was the race card he played, people of color and all that. Sorry, Afrolib, I know you libs think white conservatives are all afraid of bad-azz black men; but the fact is that we’re not hung up on race like you libs. Even Strom Thurmond eventually came to learn that every sort of person comes in every color package. Black people — come to think of it, more so in NoVA than anywhere else in the country, because D.C. employees a wildly disproportionate percentage of black people with advanced degrees — have to pay taxes, too. They, like anyone else, have concerns about national security. They are not necessarily giddy about a government that treats businesses like concubines — in every allegorical sense that comes to mind. And, contrary to the attitude of the average Dem apparatchik, black people can no longer be owned. As much as liberals hate it, and try to intimidate them into believing it’s not so, black people are actually free to vote for whomever they want.
Does that mean I’m predicting a GOP win in VA? Of course not. You’d have to be stupid to claim to know what a couple million people are going to do five months from now. Which, I suppose, explains a fair bit about Afrolib.
RegularJoe on June 10, 2009 at 12:20 PM
The founder/owner of Opencarry.org a 2nd amendment and “open carry of firearms” advocacy web forum, endorsed Moran as the least likely to beat McDonnell and pushed members to vote for Moran, despite his being the worst of the three on the 2A.
riverrat10k on June 10, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Maybe . . . but judging by things at the Convention (which was THE BASE) he was plenty popular. Plus he would be less popular with the more far right conservatives then regular conservatives, but Cuccinelli might be able to pull them into the fold.
Govgirl on June 10, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Hehe, I got a cute nickname from a troll. Yippie skippy!
And again, you don’t seem to be denying the seeming fact that you are either someone who makes racist statements beacuse you are a racist, or you are someone who makes racist statements beacuse you are a troll. Either way…
You can keep bringing non-sequiters and strawman arguments, but no one is fooled, cutie. Gotta love open registration!
Abby Adams on June 10, 2009 at 12:28 PM
mcauliffe is a gift that keeps on giving also one of the biggest windbags spewing sewer fumes around
rjoco1 on June 10, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Actually, McAuliffe beat Moran by 2% (getting 26% to Moran’s 24%)
The real question is going to be how much campaigning the filthy liar in the White House does for Deeds. Does Deeds want to be associated with Obama or will he politely tell the filthy liar to stay away lest Virginians are alienated from anything that reeks of the mess that the Democrats created in DC.
highhopes on June 10, 2009 at 12:33 PM
The Republicans in VA are fired up and mobilizing like crazy! Also, remember that McDonnell’s popularity has gone up as AG (from 4 years ago) not down. Also, he has made a stand against Zero’s stimulus . . . shutting down stimulus money because it was only available in exchange for a change in unemployment laws that would saddle VA with problems for decades to come.
Govgirl on June 10, 2009 at 12:34 PM
The good news is that a conservative won (whether he had an R or a D behind his name).
This means that, in the general, the people of Virginia will be choosing between two conservatives.
That’s a win-win if you ask me.
Sure, as far as ‘rebuilding the party’ goes, it’d be great if the Republican wins. However, I long ago stopped caring if the winner was an R, D, I, or whatever as long as they have the same political standards that I have.
JadeNYU on June 10, 2009 at 12:42 PM
How can this be reported in this way with a straight face? Mr. Deeds, about whom I know nothing, is being reported to have swamped his opponents. He has beaten them, I read, combined. How, then, can it be reported that his views are “out of line with many of the area’s voters“? How can THAT be if he won so convincingly? Perhaps his views are “out of line” with the views of “some” area voters, or “a few” voters. Perhaps it would be more accurate to report that his views are “out of line with the views of those area voters who are members of the Washington Post editorial board“.
Is it any wonder that newspapers are dying? Why do any of the publishers/editors think their publications retain any credibility with readers if this is the garbage they dish out? To put this out the day after the election, when memories are fresh and voters remember who they voted for, and why?
At least wait 48 hours to start lying. Good grief!!!
Blaise on June 10, 2009 at 1:07 PM
The Republicans forgot that they can’t run candidates approved only by the base in blue states. Nobody is even predicting that Toomey is going to come within 10% of Specter or Sestak’s winning Pennsylvania. But he is a pure conservative so who cares. As RINOish as the Maine Senators are, wouldn’t their Democrat replacements be 10 times worse?
Speedwagon82 on June 10, 2009 at 1:09 PM
What’s interesting is that the Democrats are still so bent over Hillary that they think this is a win for them. LOL*
Funny…….
AnninCA on June 10, 2009 at 1:10 PM
I think Team Ed / Allah are going for the “1000 comments per thread” goal, and also looking to boost readership.
Just a few days ago, ther was some blog poll where Hot Air was rated surprisingly low. Then, they open registration and let a bunch of new commenters in the door (many of the trolls). Conincidence? I think not.
UltimateBob on June 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM
JadeNYU on June 10, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Well said! Since the two major parties currently consist of interchangeable parts and ideals the only thing to hope for is a politician with a true sense of right and wrong and the courage of his/her convictions. Mr. Deeds indeed!
Dukehoopsfan on June 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM
With the McAuliffe loss, I think it’s time to ask whether the Clintons are finished as a major political force.
Selkirk on June 10, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Hot Air is on RCP today, Best of the Blogs.
It’s doing just fine.
AnninCA on June 10, 2009 at 1:41 PM
I’m trying to figure out how they could possibly be ANY worse. Collins & Snowe both vote with the Dem caucus on every vote that matters.
RegularJoe on June 10, 2009 at 2:05 PM
I’M glad that Deeds won, but “The good news for Republican Bob McDonnell: Deeds did so with 9,308 votes” is rather thin since the primary had a small fraction of the turnout in the 2005 general.
“Brian Moran, the brother of a popular and powerful Congressman” Jim Moran is those things. He also has ehical and legal issues which may be haunting him.
burt on June 10, 2009 at 3:24 PM
I’m glad that Deeds won, not that tool McAuliffe or crazy Jim Moron’s brother. It should be an interesting race now, but I hope McDonnell wins it. Maybe then I’ll move back to my home state. Hell, I want to move anywhere other than the People’s Republic of Maryland, which has just been rated the worst state for personal freedom.
bryan2369 on June 10, 2009 at 3:51 PM
I am a Virginian who now lives in the deep South, and it is the Beltway Northern Virginians who ruined Virginia for Republicans. The rest of the state barely acknowledges NOVA because they are so out of step with the conservative rest of the commonwealth. If Virginia could cut out the cancer of NOVA, it would be solidly Republican.
College Prof on June 10, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Deeds was described as “the most liberal of the three Democrats running in Virginia” last night on Fox News. I am SO glad another Clintonite eats dust. McAuliffe is as corrupt as any of the Clintons, and made millions with shady deals, walking away laughing while counting his money. Good riddance. Maybe he can run for dog catcher in Arkansas. About his level.
bradley11 on June 10, 2009 at 4:16 PM
You got it!
Outsiders are gonna STOMP insiders over the next few election cycles in both parties.
Tea leaves is SO appropriate.
And guess who the biggest outsider is? I’ll give you a hint. This person keeps Letterman going.
Sapwolf on June 10, 2009 at 5:24 PM
Are the Ulster Scots waking up to the Progressive nightmare they voted in?…sure lets try some “Change” hows that working out for you SW Virginia?
Dr Evil on June 11, 2009 at 10:43 AM
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