McAuliffe wins it, but it should have NEVER been so close. Here's why it was. READ ON:

[RBInMaine]

All polls showed McAuliffe winning by 5%-10%. What went wrong? Simple: In the endgame, the TeaBag Libertarians SWITCHED from the Libertarian 3rd partier to the FUCKFACE-COOCH. They did it out of fear that McAuliffe would win, and the polling did not detect this last-minute switch as off-year elections are harder to predict. The Libertarian went from 10% in the polls down to 6% in the election. Next, TeaPukes VOTE in off-year cycles more reliably than Dems. God damn it ! Dems, especially younger voters etc. who vote in presidential years, need to wake the hell up and realize that ALL elections are important, not just the presidential year. So while D turnout was pretty good all things considered, it should have been MUCH higher, and actual turnout did not quite hit the predictive models. Put it together, and we had a nail-biter when it should have been more comfortable.

Still, it is a WIN, and a much GOOD was also done in this campaign, such as good coordination, focus, financing, and BASHING the
Cooch-HOLE good and hard.

[lostincalifornia]

1. I think the media's constant misrepresentation of the ACA had some effect

[RBInMaine]

3. Ya, Cooch-Hole really played that up. Could have had some effect getting people to switch.

[lostincalifornia]

9. The good news is that now time is on our side, and things will only get better

[dflprincess]

2. Wasn't there some voter purging going on in Virginia in the last few weeks?

I thought I heard Ed Schultz or Thom Hartmann mention something about that.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. I remember that. It *might* have made some difference, no?

[donco]

20. YEAH that. nt

[mucifer]

4. actually with 96% he is ahead by 29,000 as long as there is no recount I don't care

[RBInMaine]

8. Yup. Just checked it and he had that margin with 97% in.

[NYC_SKP]

5. BASHING the Cooch-HOLE good and hard....

This bashing will not be forgotten!!!

[RBInMaine]

6. Bashing the Cooch-Hole was beautiful ! Dems are at least getting better at ATTACKING, which is GOOD!

Politics is a SLUGFEST. Always has been. Dems in this election grew a SPINE for a change and pounded on the Cooch-Hole. Now more rank and filers just need to get the hell out and VOTE.

[NYC_SKP]

11. I think Dems need to give into the righteous joy that there is in WINNING, guilt free!

Get a spine!

[johnnyrocket]

13. It's not about spine, it's about throwing these right wing shit's on the trash heap of history.

It cannot happen soon enough.

[RBInMaine]

14. It takes SPINE to do that. C'mon. You know what FDR, Truman, JFK and Clinton did. SPINE !

[DonCoquixote]

10. The libertarians

Are always looking to paly the game of GOP opponents, until they realize that the GOP could lose. It is a move worthy of pro wrestling, a fake, a work of the crowd.

[arcane1]

12. My entire family is in VA, and they are all republican. This year, they were all about Sarvis.

But I suspect there was some nose-holding when they were in the booth

[TroyD]

15. John King says it was Obamacare

Exit Polls on CNN apparently show most voters in VA are not happy with Obamacare, and let's face it, we need to do a better job on it.

All of the technical and software glitches with the website and the roll out of it has given it a bad name.

Obama and the DNC need to re-capture the narrative, admit there were mistakes, and state its core objectives in a positive way.

[RBInMaine]

18. Obama has been trying. But the corrupt corporate media go on and on and on bashing it. How do you

fight that?

[BlueDemKev]

16. With the Libertarian candidate receiving 6% of the vote...

Isn't it likely to assume that Republicans will say they would have won had their voters not split the conservative vote?

[RBInMaine]

19. Yes, but they got a lot of switches, obviously, and even some who would have voted D protest-voted.

At least that is what I think happened. An educated guess.

[davidpdx]

17. I think that could be part of it

But I would caution reading too much into any one reason. Voter purges and ID could be a factor. It appears overall there were more voters in this election then there were in 2009 Governor's race, but we'll have to see what the percentage of turnout was. I think it will be higher than 2009. It may take a couple of days to see how things pan out.

[Kennah]

21. Down go douchebags! Down go douchebags! Down go douchebags!

The douchebags tried to make it a good fight, but they lost.

[jimlup]

23. Looks like there is trouble at the Attorney General race...

Hoping still some big strong dem precincts outstanding.

[phleshdef]

24. 2012 turnout in Virginia was nearly double what it was tonight.

I'm seeing about 2.1 million votes for Governor as opposed to 3.8 million last year during the Presidential race.

[onenote]

27. Completely consistent with prior gubernatorial races in Virginia

In 2009 and 2005, just around 2 million votes cast in governor's race. If there is any story here about turnout its that it higher than many expected.

[RBInMaine]

30. Well, about on par, BUT should have been HIGHER with the resource poured in and WHY more Dems should

have voted. They had a right wing maniac running on the R side. If that plus the rotten things the R's have done to the people there weren't enough to get many MORE Dems to the polls, that is just sad and bad on our side. This should have been a LANDSLIDE.

However, much good work WAS done, we thank all the Dems and especially all those women who voted and worked, and a win is a win.

So good for you VA. Now, find ways to get your turnout UP next year, and that goes for the rest of us too.

[onenote]

31. There is no party registration in Virginia

Which makes it a lot harder to engage in a targeted GOTV campaign. All things considered, I don't think the party is to blame for the closeness of the race. Four years ago, Democrat Creigh Deeds lost by double digits in Virginia. Plus you had a third party candidate who, believe it or not, attracted votes not just from Cooch, but also from independents who might have supported a less flawed Democratic candidate (think Kaine, Warner).

[UCmeNdc]

25. Need to take a good investigative look into electronic voting machines

There was some weird voting machine problems.

[Drunken Irishman]

26. I think Obamacare is a lame excuse...

Not like it wasn't an issue a week ago when McAuliffe led by a wider majority. The reality is, he was a weak candidate. Had it been Warner or Kain, and both win by landslides. But it wasn't - it was a guy who most Democrats struggled to get behind.

I'd also wager the polls hurt too. How many Dems stayed home because they thought McAuliffe was going to easily win?

Regardless, a win is a win is a win and it was a huge boost to Democrats. It shows they're edging Republicans, even with weak candidates and a sketchy rollout of the ACA.

[RBInMaine]

28. But ACA and simple fear by TeaBag Libertarians I'm sure caused many to switch to Cooch-Hole.

The ACA argument in the endgame did have an effect, and it looks from the polling like many of those right wing Libertarians who said they were going to vote for the Libertarian switched at the last minute to Cooch-Hole. That's what the numbers indicate to me.

Also, not bad D turnout in an offyear, but should have been MUCH higher given what an Asshole the Cooch-Hole is and how much resource they threw into this. But the negative campaign did turn a lot of people off, and many Dems were none too inspired with McAuliffe, though he did as good a campaign as he could, all things considered.

Hey, a win is and win, and now more sanity will be coming to Richmond.

[Uhmuricun]

29. the race in virginia was close for one simple reason:

it took place in virginia.

this is the same state that showed overwhelming support for the good jobs done by mark warner and tim kaine, both democrats, and then still decided to go ahead and elect righty mcprivatization bobby mcdonnell, who promptly went on to fuck up and embarrass the state every chance he got, so it'd only make sense that virginians would want to give cuccinelli a chance as well. i guess virginians figure that two democrats had their chances and made things better, so to be fair cons need their time to fuck it all up again. or, as they might say: so they can get that thar freedumb back.

this is simply what happens when the voting populous is more or less unintelligent and entirely uninformed.

[Cosmocat]

33. Yep

this is simply what happens when the voting populous is more or less unintelligent and entirely uninformed.

Pretty much spot on.

[indepat]

32. Cooch-HOLE: what a moniker 'cause if it fits, wear it