Chris Graham | Winners and Losers: Obama, Deeds, Zorn, World Series, McDonnell
PUSH: Barack Obama campaigns for Creigh Deeds
My inclination is to say that Obama ends up losing on this one. I’m surprised he even followed through, to be honest. Not only because Deeds distanced himself from the Obama campaign back in the summer, but because of the obvious – the stink of this campaign is going to be something for Democrats to overcome heading into the ’10 midterms.
I rate this a push because I think the president deserves something for being willing to expend political capital on this lost cause of all lost causes.
PUSH: Creigh Deeds has Barack Obama campaign for him
Should be a winner, but you don’t wait until a week before the election to have a president elected by the biggest margin in 20 years (and the first of your party to win your state in 44) come in on your behalf.
Too little, way, way too late.
WINNER: Somehow Jim Zorn still has a job
The entirety of his value was his supposed genius at play-calling. So now he’s had those responsibilities taken away.
Now Jim Zorn is a well-paid headset holder.
Good work, The Danny.
WINNER: Yanks in six
Both New York and Philadelphia have potent lineups. The Yankee lineup is by far more potent, and Joe Girardi is getting more out of his starting pitching than anybody would have thought.
I give the Phils two games because they’ll take Game 3 and Game 5 on heart and desire. But the Yanks are clearly the best team in baseball this year.
WINNER: Bob McDonnell
Not for the obvious. We all get it – he’s going to win by a landslide. To get there the guy ran a smart campaign, and if he manages state government the way he managed his campaign, Virginia will be OK. We won’t do much to move things forward, but I expect McDonnell to hold the fort down. I’m calling him a winner because sometime the night of Nov. 3 he becomes a top contender for the GOP in 2012. Even though he can’t run without exposing himself to the same criticisms thrown at Tim Kaine when Kaine was a brief top contender for the Democratic VP spot in ’08. (Which is why partisans need to be careful when they go for the low-hanging fruit. The other side doesn’t have to reach that far, either.)
- Column by Chris Graham
Related posts:
- Winners and Losers: Marrow, Deeds-McDonnell, Obama WINNER: Greg Marrow gets something of an even footing with Steve Landes It’s all a challenger can ask for – to have the incumbent bless...
- Chris Graham | Winners and Losers: Deeds, Al Groh, Balloon boy, The weather PUSH: Creigh Deeds gets WaPo endorsement It could be the push that Deeds needed to get over the hump in the Virginia governor’s race. Deeds...
- Winners and Losers | Deeds, McDonnell, Bolling, Letterman, Jon, Favre LOSER: Creigh Deeds is either holding, or … Throw out the Rasmussen poll that had Bob McDonnell opening up a nine-point lead earlier this week...
- Winners and Losers: Obama, Gilmore Compiled by Chris Graham freepress2@ntelos.net NO BOUNCE: Obama, McCain still even in polls My suspicions toward the end of last week’s breathless speculation about who...
- Winners and Losers WINNER: Jody Wagner Her campaign was going nowhere fast. Enter the Bob McDonnell thesis, which suddenly makes the lone “detrimental” working woman on either major-party...
Chris — I was surprised to see you already calling McDonnell the winner. Yes, he is leading in the polls. But I would have thought that as the chair of the local Democratic Committee you would ‘stick by your candidate’ until the election. When the chair calls the election for the opposition before the election, this can have a negative effect on local voters, discouraging even normally loyal Democrats from going to the polls. I can understand that there may be some conflict between your role as Committee chair and your role of trying to be an objective journalist. But I wish you had held off calling the election for the opposition until after the polls closed on election day — after all, there could be an upset. — Hunter.
Hunter – my day job pays the bills. If there is a conflict between the day job and the volunteer gig, I err on the side of the day job. If the volunteer gig gets in the way, I can take steps to get the volunteer gig out of the way.
Whatever value I have as a journalist and analyst is in being honest to what I’m seeing and sensing.
I called the race for McDonnell in mid-September, but I’ve been stunned with how the last few weeks have gone for Deeds.
And you can’t blame Chris for giving up when “White House officials” started the blame game last Friday.