Winners and Losers – Primary Day Edition

Winner: Creigh Deeds
Captain Obvious here, eh?
They tried to talk him out of running. And now he’s the nominee.
Mr. Governor …

Losers: Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran
Which one is the bigger loser here? Well …
McAuliffe might be able to come back from this. The guy doesn’t seem to get too down for too long.
Moran gave up his House seat. Maybe he pulls a Chap Petersen and runs for State Senate down the line. Maybe we never hear from him again.
That would be a shame. Moran has a lot yet to give.

Loser: Gov. Bob McDonnell
The playbook has to change now, drastically. All those McAuliffe zingers are now pretty much useless.
Creigh Deeds has to be the odds-on favorite by the weekend.
His huge win gives him the Big Mo. McDonnell has to regroup, pronto.

Loser: Bill Bolling
I’m thinking big Deeds win. His favorables are high, his unfavorables low, he’s moderate-conservative, almost no baggage.
So I’m thinking coattails.
Lon-n-n-ng coattails.
Mrs. Lieutenant Governor … 

Push: Steve Shannon
He was going to beat The Cooch anyway.

Winner: Greg Marrow
He did what he needed to do – getting two-thirds of the vote in his primary race to go into the general with Mo on his side. 

Loser: Chris Graham
Endorses Terry McAuliffe. Wrong answer.
Endorses Mike Signer. Wrong answer.
Endorses Greg Marrow – one out of three ain’t bad.
Oh, well. As the Waynesboro Democratic Committee chair, he now has a ticket with a moderate-conservative at the top, a former finance director in the middle, a young prosecutor on the flanks, a businessman with a military background running for the General Assembly. Yeah, life could be worse.

– Column by Chris Graham