Last November, moments before then-Senator Barack Obama broke the ceiling of 270 electoral votes to clinch the presidency, major news networks had announced that Virginia had moved into the Democratic column for the first time since LBJ defeated Goldwater in 1964, sending shockwaves through the party. Many of us believed that Obama’s revolutionary candidacy had brought about a new, unbreakable majority, best exemplified by an impressive seven-point victory in the Old Dominion.

But for most Democrats, last November seems like a decade ago. The Virginia Governor’s race, seen by many pundits as a referendum on President Obama’s increasingly unpopular domestic policies, has taken a drastic turn for the worse. Moderate Democrat State Sen. Creigh Deeds, ahead early in the race, now trails his Republican opponent Bob McDonnell by 8.8 points according to the RealClearPolitics average. (more…)

In today’s GW Hatchet, College Democrats Communications Director Matt Ingoglia wrote an op-ed describing the Republican’s Virginia Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s 1989 thesis espousing views on working women, contraception, and the homosexual community that make most people cringe.

McDonnell has claimed that his views expressed in this paper he wrote at the age of 34 have changed drastically. The Republicans have accepted this excuse. The GW College Republicans even had him speak for their first event last Wednesday. Is this an accurate assessment? Did he really give up those views?

Despite attempts to portray himself as a “moderate” now, it’s pretty clear that he’s still pursuing his radical, right-wing agenda. Supporter Republican Del. Robert Marshall of Prince William said that McDonnell hasn’t given up his socially conservative views, but is merely hiding them in order to win the election. Bob McDonnell thinks he can trick the people of Virginia to believe he is a moderate, a thought that’s scary enough. This raises another question, however: if McDonnell is trying to cover up this thesis, what else is he hiding?

Bob McDonnell has made a mistake trying to hide his extreme political views from his constituents, and the people of Virginia will see right through his masquerade.

I met some terrific folks while canvassing for Obama, Warner and Gerry Connolly in Fairfax today. A quaint condominium development about 10 minutes away from the Vienna/Fairfax Metro station, it made for a delightful day of door-knocking and good old-fashioned face to face persuasion. Virginia being Virginia, our targets included lifelong union members, single mothers, new citizens, veterans, and even a man who canvassed for Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. There’s something intangibly gratifying about having political heart-to-hearts with complete strangers, knowing they’ve got concerns and have for the moment entrusted a college student like you (!) to address them. It’s a hell of a responsibility, and one that often requires some serious improvising, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve said it before and I’ll do so again: canvassing is the most meaningful way to help a candidate or a cause. I applaud the Obama campaign’s outreach innovations (and happen to believe they’ll give us the upper hand on November 4), but newfangled technology isn’t what wins elections. Long hours spent crossing highways, traipsing through unfamiliar terrain, and searching for votes behind every door are what puts a candidate over the top. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and tiresome, but it’s irreplaceable and ubiquitous for a reason: it works. I would encourage anyone, no matter your political persuasion, to get out there and meet the real people who decide the course of history. It’s exciting, informative, and about as American as it gets. But for myself and many others, it’s a personal thing. I want to know that I’m doing the most useful work possible for something I truly believe in.

And if Barack Obama becomes the next President of the United States thanks to a hundred extra votes in Virginia, I’ll be able to tell my kids “Yes, I did.”