Donald LuzzattoIf the political map of America was redrawn this week, at least the resulting terrain should be familiar to Virginians. The Democrats' victory nationwide was routed through this commonwealth and owes both its course and its speed to some folks we know pretty well. So does the GOP's defeat.
During this unending national campaign, Barack Obama and his surrogates visited Hampton Roads so often that we got tired of giving them directions. That they honestly thought they had a chance in a state that hadn't voted for a Democrat in 44 years says something about how different the world is in 2008, and how far the Democratic Party has traveled in both Virginia and the nation.
It wasn't just votes that Obama wanted in South Hampton Roads, though heaven knows the five cities helped the cause. Democrats wanted to figure out how to win in a conservative place like the Old Dominion.
The answer is pretty simple and isn't confined to Virginia: Democrats need a Republican Party that leaves so much room in the middle of the road that Democrats can't help but fill it.
That's how you steer Virginia to a Democratic presidential candidate, how you win a second U.S. Senate seat and how you steal at least one and perhaps three House districts from Republicans.
Since the end of the era of Ronald Reagan, the GOP nationally and in Virginia has been scrambling to hold together a fractious coalition built from movement conservatives, anti-tax radicals and single-issue voters. It was enough - just barely - to win offices from school boards to the White House.
Until now.
The alliance and its competing interests eventually lured the party so far from the center line that some Republicans barely recognize it, let alone want to be members.
The resulting hydra is a party led by a partisan warrior like Del. Jeff Frederick, with a bedrock philosophy articulated by a cultural absolutist like Del. Bob Marshall. It is a party now where the legislative agenda is set by The Family Foundation and The Club for Growth, led by people educated by televangelists instead of teachers.
If that sounds dismissive, sorry, but for years the GOP in Virginia has been dismissive of huge swaths of this state as insufficiently adherent to a specific set of rules, regulations, doctrines and dogma.
Maybe I'm just too radical, but all I really want from a politician is an animating philosophy that argues for efficient government that does what it should, and leaves other parts of life - who loves whom and buys them health insurance, for example - to my heart and my family.
Instead, the state's institutional GOP watched problems grow and Northern Virginia's demography change and responded by becoming more rigid, more obstructionist and more intrusive. The result was the loss of power in Richmond and Washington, and a loss of influence everywhere east of the Appalachians.
Forget about the big tent. Virginia's GOP can now fit comfortably under a handkerchief.
In any other state, the GOP would be competing for the allegiance of moderates like Sen. Jim Webb, Sen.-elect Mark Warner and Gov. Tim Kaine and would actually have a chance. Instead, Virginia's GOP argues - with straight faces - that they are too liberal for the commonwealth.
Tell that to the 65 percent of Virginia that voted to send Warner to Washington instead of former Gov. Jim Gilmore, an anti-tax crusader. Gilmore was nominated ahead of former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, a popular Northern Virginia moderate who could've at least made Warner work for his win.
If they learned anything in their travels through the commonwealth, Washington Democrats should have noticed that political success across the years means moderates must campaign and govern the same way.
Warner, Webb and Kaine are all ideological pragmatists comfortable with compromise; each has worked with like-minded Republicans to get stuff done.
From Virginia's GOP, however, national Republicans will learn that ideology must triumph over practicality. That cultural battles are more important than fixing the highways. That government should be small except when it can intrude into personal lives.
Virginia provides potent lessons for politicians, a road map to capturing the expanding middle. Given the results in Virginia, Democrats might want to look even harder here. Republicans might want to take a trip someplace else.
Donald Luzzatto is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. E-mail him at donald.luzzatto@pilotonline.com.
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Christian Crimes
Answer: Conservative Christians have murdered doctors and health care workers because they are opposed to .... /snip/
Fanatical Christians intent on imposing their values on everyone are no better than the Taliban.
People who call themselves Christians who do those types of things aren't following Christian doctrine. I know of NO Christian denomination that advocates any of those things. Sure there are people who go off the deep end and claim to use their faith as justification for committing those crimes, but it is NOT the Christian way. If you don't choose to be a Christian, that is your free will. But you can't hang every crime committed in the name of God on the Christian faith at large. It's mostly Christians sitting on those juries that convict those people for those crimes. This blame game on Christians is a tired, specious argument. You are right on one thing, Christians who seek to impose their faith are no better than the Taliban. It's supposed to be a thing of freewill
D.E.
Answer: Conservative Christians have murdered doctors and health care workers because they are opposed to .... this is my favorite part ... murder.
Add to that bombings, arson, attempted murder, stalking and kidnapping. The crimes of the Christian right are numerous. All in the name of God.
Check out these stellar conservative Christians: Michael Griffin, Rev. Paul Jennings Hill, Eric Rudolph, Peter James Knight, James Kopp.
Fanatical Christians intent on imposing their values on everyone are no better than the Taliban.
And so Christian conservatives are to blame?
What so terrible have Christian conservatives done other than attempt to protect babies from being murdered?
Democrats are in the middle??? What a farce!
To suggest that Democrats somehow have sought the middle ground is laughable. That demonstrates just how far to the left Donald is ("we got tired of giving them directions"--yes but you never tired of carrying their water, which you continue to do to this day). As far as Barack Obama goes, he hasn't started out well, attacking an innocent 87-year old Nancy Reagan at his first press conference, laughing as he snidely accused her of something that never happened. That's not a leader or a centrist and it's the second time he's publicly attacked an old white woman--the first was his own "typical white woman" grandmother. Barack Obama has demonstrated to the American public he has issues with white women, among other groups. That's nothing to rally around and it certainly isn't the center of anything except perhaps hate and contempt. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but it's not starting well at all.
Yeah, just what we need religious totalitarianism.
You christofascists destroyed the Republican Party, What's next?
time for a 3rd party
Ever since Gilmores big lie about no more car tax , the local red party has been running a pitiful list of hopefuls.The Dems have moved in with money and formed a grassroots movement that has not been seen since the 60's . They win all the credit due to lack of movement from the Republicans. NOW is the perfect time for the Christian Conservatives in this state to find a leader with charisma and a sense of direction. Obama will prove to be a flash in the pan when reality sets in. Now is the time to capatilize on that bounce that this will create.
Keep it to yourself
Please, don't try to help these people. It's a party that runs on delusion. They will blame RINOs and moderates and a half dozen conspiracies for the party's massive defeats in the last two national elections.
Their extremism surely can't be the cause. Clearly, you need two parties in this country. One that's sane and votes for intelligent, thoughtful candidates like Obama and one that's crazy and seeks out incompetents like Palin because she has that rabid gleam in her eye, too.
I want the republican party to continue on its present course. I want the right wings nut jobs who post here to continue their rants. They practically created Obama. We couldn't have done it without them.
Typical liberal hogwash
Donald, you couldn't be more wrong. Running to the mushy middle is EXACTLY why the GOP is in this mess! Look at the RINO presidential candidate that just went down. The GOP needs to get serious about becoming more conservative. Because with RINO's like Bush and McCain who drive up deficit spending and want to grant amnesty to illegal aliens, then what on earth do we need Democrats for?!
Coke vs Pepsi, still nothing but cola
If all political parties should try to cover the moderate center, then why bother having more than one party?
Great Piece
Donald, I have to say this is one of the best opinion pieces I have ever seen in the Pilot. Clear and concise. Regretfully, those in the party who now blame their losses on the RINOs, change will not occur until each one of them is thrashed at the polls. I have set my sights on the House of Delegates and it may now be easier to get a majority of Virginians to see how damaging their policies have been. Again, this is a great piece.