Terry McAuliffe was the “electable” Democrat back in the spring. How about now?
Two new polls this week have the former governor with a one-point lead on Republican Glenn Youngkin, with early voting trends continuing to suggest an enthusiasm gap favoring the GOP.
The lack of enthusiasm on the D side is almost to be expected. Think back to 2009, a year after the historic Barack Obama election. Obama inherited quite a mess from his predecessor, George W. Bush: the Great Recession, unemployment over 10 percent, two endless wars.
Then the Obama team put its focus on healthcare reform instead of fixing things.
Virginia, with its odd-year gubernatorial election, had gone blue in 2008, then swung dramatically to the right in 2009, giving Bob McDonnell and the Republican ticket a landslide win.
The 2021 cycle is feeling like a repeat of 2009. Joe Biden inherited a mess from Donald Trump: mainly, the Trump team’s incoherent response to COVID.
The Biden team’s missteps include putting the focus on infrastructure and the withdrawal from Afghanistan instead of fixing things.
To be honest, it won’t even be an upset when Youngkin wins on Tuesday, and yes, sorry to be the one to break the news to you, but that’s what’s going to happen.
McAuliffe is running into a headwind, and he has utterly failed to energize the base, independents, anybody.
A new Washington Post poll out today has McAuliffe trailing Youngkin by 18 points among independents, which is astonishing, given where we are as a state and a country.
Keep in mind: anybody that doesn’t realize that Trump, the head insurrectionist, isn’t going to claim a Youngkins win as a vindication of his 2020 defeat is smoking something that Democrats effectively legalized on July 1.
Trump lost Virginia by 10 points last November, and he has made it clear that he backs Youngkin, with plans to hold a tele-rally for the Republican nominee in the coming days.
He’s able to do that because the writing is on the wall.
Biden is underwater with Virginia voters. McAuliffe has been reduced to explaining what he meant to say on key issues.
He was considered “electable” in the primary because of his fundraising prowess.
All the money in the world can’t prop up a lackluster candidate.
The lack of energy among Democrats, the massive swing of independents to Youngkin, is about to render the “electable” McAuliffe to the footnotes of history.
Story by Chris Graham
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