HoodaThunk?

Bolling’s margin of victory at RPV convention reportedly huge

From Crystal Clear Conservative:

In perhaps one of the most widest margins in Convention history, Bill Bolling won the Lieutenant Governor’s nomination with a margin of 84-16. The next closest wide margin win was from 1985, when Buster O’Brien defeated Matthews by a margin of 72-28 in the Attorney General’s nomination. These are the unofficial results from the convention.

According to Crystal’s sources, Bolling managed a complete shutout of Muldoon in 30 counties and Muldoon won in just 3. (In case you’re wondering, the margin of counties Muldoon took was 3.15%.) Interesting statistic and something Muldoon – and his supporters, especially you nutballs in Loudoun – should remember for the future.

Crystal did some video interviews at the convention, including one with Tag Greason, the GOP candidate for the 32nd House district. When I see that come up over there, I’ll post the link.

May 31st, 2009 Posted by ricjames | Politics, Virginia Politics | no comments

RPV Convention 2009, after-action report

I’ve returned home and I’ve had some time to consider the events of the past 48 hours. As I’ve already reported, the GOP ticket in Virginia consists of Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, and Ken Cuccinelli. I will join with my fellow Republicans in working to get them elected to office for they have much to do and many good ideas. Virginia needs them.

While there was never any doubt as to who our nominee for Governor was to be there was certainly some contention for the other 2 statewide offices. Both of those other races ended when the candidates who saw they were losing the vote stepped forward and advanced motions to nominate their opponents by acclamation. In the case of the Lt. Gov. race, I considered this to be a good thing and, frankly, long overdue. One of my 1st actions in the after-convention “to-do” list was to unsubscribe from Pat Muldoon’s e-mail newsletter. With any luck, I won’t hear from him again. Ever. This makes – what? – six or seven attempts at running a successful campaign and he’s batting 1.000 in the “most losses” category. Get the hint.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s read this blog for the last few weeks that I considered the vote for nominee for Attorney General to be disappointing. (To say the least, though hopefully not as bad as Loudoun Insider over at Too Conservative.) My reasons for backing John Brownlee have been well documented and I think he was our best hope to win the office in November. More of my fellow convention-attending Virginia Republicans felt differently than I, however, and voted to nominate Ken Cuccinelli, instead. As I have already done, I offer my congratulations to them for winning the nomination but I would like to take just a moment to remind them of something and to make sure no one forgets what this portends.

Ken Cuccinelli was advanced as the superior candidate because 1) actually having been a prosecutor wasn’t really that important (so we’ve been told) and 2) Cuccinelli “knows how to win” and would bring votes in to the GOP ticket. The first point flies in the face of documented, historical evidence to the contrary. But, that was Cuccinelli’s supporters’ call. That places the onus for winning against someone who has that experience squarely on the Cuccinelli campaign. The second point places a different onus on the shoulders of those people who drove to Richmond this weekend and, flags-a-wavin’, put the RPV in position to suffer the consequences of point #1 turning out not to be true. You supporters of Cuccinelli have said quite often that he knows how to win and that he’ll bring votes to the ticket. If that now does not occur, that will prove that sentiment to be as completely bogus as I’ve said it is all along. I wonder how many of those supporters who dismissed the concerns I’ve raised here will have the integrity to admit they were wrong; that the experience does matter and that the appeal of their candidate’s more strongly-announced views isn’t the clarion call to voters they’ve claimed.

No matter. I won’t be forgetting. And I’ll see to it that none of you do, either.

The issue at hand, now, is how to address the fact that our candidate for AG lacks the experience at the job our opponent has.  I’ve said that being a prosecutor is pertinent experience, yes, but let’s keep something firmly in mind: it’s not the only important factor. Cuccinelli has a proven record in dealing with issues that his opponent, Steve Shannon, doesn’t even mention. Cuccinelli’s efforts to stem the rise of gangs and protect the public from gang-related violence are literally written into the law and are documented for anyone to see. His efforts to keep drugs off our streets and out of the schools, likewise. He’s also addressed the issue of human trafficking. Our Democrat opponent hasn’t spoke a word about any of that in his “Solutions for Virginia.”

On the matter of protecting Virginian’s 2nd Amendment rights, rights the Supreme Court has explicitly stated accrue on an individual basis, our Democrat opponent says nothing. Cuccinelli’s record shows he considers those rights to be of vital importance and that consideration will certainly keep the Attorney General’s office in line as regards any actions taken that might affect them.

Immigration is a large concern to many Virginians and Cuccinelli’s record shows that he knows that. Only by having the law enforcement agencies at all levels of government working together can we see illegal immigration found and corrected before it contributes to other rising crimes. Democrat Shannon doesn’t addess this at all.

John Locke, a man our Founding Fathers looked to for guidance in forming our nation, said laws should see that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” In the Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted in June, 1776, property rights were viewed as one of the inherent rights alongside of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Ken Cuccinelli is on record as being in accord with the Founders and his actions show he’ll work diligently to protect those rights. On this topic, too, our Democratic opponent is silent.

In fact, Democrat Shannon gives just 4 topics when he speaks of his “solutions for Virginia.” (If you count his topic on the AMBER alert system as a separate one, you get 5. He included this in his “protect the children” topic, however, so it’s a repeat.) Cuccinelli recognizes no less than 10 major issues that an Attorney General should be watching for in the furtherance of his job and duties. It’s clear who has the better grasp on Virginia’s needs.

I don’t want to come across as if I’m saying experience in the job doesn’t count. It does, make no mistake. But simply having the experience without the vision is no advantage and it’s not the path to a brighter Virginia.

May 31st, 2009 Posted by ricjames | Politics, Virginia Politics | one comment