Robert Gibbs | Press Briefing

Chris Graham

Thursday, Nov. 5 MR. GIBBS: All right, now that the warmup band has finished playing. (Laughter.) Probably only get to say that once or twice in my life. I might as well try today, right? Yes, sir. Q What prompted the President to come out today and make that statement, which sounded pretty tough? MR….

InDepth | What happened to Blue Virginia?

Chris Graham

Remember when Virginia was trending Democratic? Like, as recently as late spring, when Creigh Deeds surged to the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination, and had the lead in the early post-primary polls, and Virginia Democrats not only seemed headed for another return trip to the Governor’s Mansion, but had a good shot at winning back a…

David Reynolds | Why Deeds lost

David Reynolds

Winning in life involves good timing, having the right friends and not forgetting to dance with those you came with. The same is true in politics. Creigh Deeds lost his lifetime dream yesterday, as well as an 18-point landslide election, because he forgot these three simple rules. First the matter of good timing and bad…

Daily Rant | Reindeer Games

Contributors

Some partisans on the Democratic side are upset with AFP editor Chris Graham for playing nice to Republicans. His message to those Democrats – you can keep playing those reindeer games, or you can try to keep things moving forward in spite of the spanking that we took in Tuesday’s state elections. AFP Video. Length:…

Republicans sweep local House races

Chris Graham

Not much to say about the four contested House of Delegates races in the AFP reader area. The Democrats got pantsed. Jeff Price’s 28.8 percent showing in his 24th District challenge to Republican Ben Cline was actually the best showing of the four, if you can believe that. And Price wasn’t even able to get…

GOP three sweep state races

Chris Graham

The last pre-election polls had the Republican ticket of Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli winning by 11-14 points. Bad news for Virginia Democrats – it was worse than expected. McDonnell bested Democrat Creigh Deeds in the marquee race for governor Tuesday, piling up over 1 million votes en route to garnering just shy…

InDepth | First draft of history: How Bob won, how Creigh lost

Chris Graham

This just in to the AFP newsroom – Bob McDonnell can now be projected the winner in the 2009 Virginia governor’s race. OK, most people still have yet to vote, but the writing is on the wall, clearly, with the Republican leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by at least 10 points in the pre-election polls. The…

Daily Rant | The Economy, Stupid

Chris Graham

That approach, inspired by Bill Clinton in the 1990s, served Virginia Democrats well most of the current decade (see Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb). Then they decided to scrap the blueprint of success in favor of the rudderless mess that has marked the ’09 campaign. Live and learn, says AFP editor Chris Graham. AFP…