Life is a State of Mind

It was a bad year for a re-match. My favorite local candidates: Roemmelt, Rishell, and Pandak all lost to incumbents in effectively re-matched elections from one and two years ago. I am still trying to figure out why, because in all three cases the losing candidate is clearly and demonstrably more able, more likeable, and better for Virginia or Prince William County. What they all have in common is Prince William County, and it is clear we are having problems educating voters here.

It was a really dumb time to allow certain incumbents to go unopposed. Both Delegate Albo and Loudon County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman lost substantial votes to write-in candidates… though both won re-election, it is clear that an effective candidate on the ballot in those races would have put the races in contention quite easily.

Write-in campaigns dramatically slow down the counting process. It was after midnight before reliable returns began getting reported from Loudon county, which had many of us on pins and needles well into the night.

Money can buy many races, but clearly there are limits. While money probably bought several races around the state, it is also clear that despite vast money differences, some races are still won by people. Chap Peterson, Stevens Miller, Susan Buckley all won despite enormously unequal spending.

We must have a precinct by precinct ground game with better logistics at each polling place.

I am hugely happy we won the state senate, but we should have picked up more seats. We should have picked up more in the house too. Prince William is a sad, sad disappointment.