this shit kills me...

[acroyear]

Severe Thunderstorms Hit as Polls Open in Va. - washingtonpost.com:

"I was split for a long time between Moran and Deeds, but I wanted whoever was going to win in the fall," said Erik Johnston, a 28-year-old lobbyist who chose state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds over former Alexandria delegate Brian Moran.

Are we THAT hung up on joining a winning bandwagon? America used to be the place where we MADE winners, not just joined them...

And I'm in this bucket - I also found that I am more in tune with Moran, but am well aware that Deeds has the better chance in the fall since his gun stance (even if he only came up with it in the last 2 years, a reactionary stance against any legislation in response to the VA-Tech incident) takes that particular issue away from the significant Republican voting base.

Comments

[kmusser]

I don't see anything unusual in that. Voting for who you feel has a better chance of defeating the opposing parties candidate in the general election has always been a pretty common strategy of primary voting.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

depends on the race. it is very common in executive races (governors, presidents), but actually rare in the congressional races (particularly mid-terms) where the party extremists are the only ones who care enough to vote and as such, leave the general electorate with a choice between semi-extreme vs. semi-extreme, with not a moderate or rational person to be found anywhere on the ballot.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

Or in an open primary you vote for the opponent that you think your candidate will defeat more easily. Or even the candidate that switched from your party just to have a chance to make it to the general election so that in the general, no matter which party officially wins the elected official will really be your party.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Or in an open primary you vote for the opponent that you think your candidate will defeat more easily.

most of the time this isn't as big an issue as people might think it is. the noise on either end cancels the other, unless (like now) one party already has made it's choice.

now this time 'round? that may be a factor since
1) the candidates are very close in polling, AND
2) the opposition party has in fact made its choice.

question is, which disruption is best? Deeds is the one that can beat them the most because of 1) the 'Post endorsement, and 2) the stance on gun laws that takes their biggest powerbase (the NRA) away. Moran's nomination will likely unite the moderates as well as the liberal base and force McDonnell more to the center than he wants to be (which hurts the base vote), but McAulliffe will be able to bring out the money in a way that McDonnell might not be able to keep up, and thus lose the "rich" vote, the valuable voting real estate in NoVa.

I see lose,lose,lose either way, so really I see most Republicans just staying home today. So do most pundits: expected turnout today is a mere 3% as a high (might not even get that far). In my polling place, I was #11 (on the presidential election, same time of day, I was #238).

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Well, if you believe that any of the Dem candidates are better than the Republican candidate, pragmatism comes into play. In any case, I don't feel all THAT strongly about any of the Dem candidates. (Well, except for McAuliffe, which I have very negative feelings about, not to mention that I don't think the standard Dem platform will win VA)

[thatwasjen]

This year, though, I'm not sure I could confidently judge which of the primary challengers has a better hope of beating the Republican candidate. I voted for the guy I actually like.