Friday, May 01, 2009

Is Moran The Odd-Man Out?

It's increasingly looking to us like Brian Moran is the odd man out of the Democratic gubernatorial triumvarate.

Ever since Terry McAuliffe got into the race, Moran has struggled to define and position himself, without much success.

Most recently, in desperation, Moran made a play for the gay vote, which would cost him big in the general election IF he were to get there. Just shows he doesn't think he's going to make it without the gamble.

We've been ambivalent all along, and still are. But it's starting to look like this to us: either go with McAuliffe and set up a well-financed national Democrat who looks good on TV against a very credible Republican opponent. It would be real test of just how blue Virginia has gone.

Or go with Creigh Deeds, a very moderate, aw-shucks rural rooted Democrat in a rematch of his extremely close loss to McDonnell four years ago. The theory for going with Deeds would be that Virginia isn't quite ready for someone as closely aligned with the national Democratic party as the big T.

Moran is in the middle, but it's not a particularly appealing middle, and his desperation has worn on us. We think we're down to choosing between two candidates at this point, and we're still decidedly undecided.

1 comment:

Tarheelman 1993 said...

X Curmudgeon,

I'm a bit naive about the VA Governor's race, so I haven't really developed an opinion. T Mac doesn't really excite me. He's probably more aligned with my political beliefs than Deeds, but I don't see him resonating with the South Virginia folks. Deeds has potential, and I think he may be more electable than T Mac. I really would like a Democrat to remain in the governor's mansion. I also fear that T Mac may have too much baggage with him to win the Independents in VA. I also wonder how we will do with the VA legislature.