Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Loses by 18 Points

“I’m not afraid of going against my fellow Democrats when they’re wrong. . . . A public option isn’t required in my view.” —Creigh Deeds, quoted in Firedoglake

We hope the White House political strategists are taking note, and we don’t mind if they’re feeling queasy. As Think Progress points out, Creigh Deeds did not run as a progressive and thus failed to give voters any compelling reason to come out for him. Large numbers of Democrats stayed home to wash their hair, while GOP turnout was about like 2008’s.

The best take we’ve seen comes from Markos himself at DailyKos (“Tonight’s Big Lesson”):

There will be much number-crunching tomorrow, but preliminary numbers (at least in Virginia) show that GOP turnout remained the same as last year, but Democratic turnout collapsed. This is a base problem, and this is what Democrats better take from tonight:

1.  If you abandon Democratic principles in a bid for unnecessary “bipartisanship,” you will lose votes.

2.  If you water down reform in favor of Blue Dogs and their corporate benefactors, you will lose votes.

3.  If you forget why you were elected—health care, financial services, energy policy and immigration reform—you will lose votes.

Tonight proved conclusively that we’re not going to turn out just because you have a (D) next to your name, or because Obama tells us to. We’ll turn out if we feel it’s worth our time and effort to vote, and we’ll work hard to make sure others turn out if you inspire us with bold and decisive action.

The choice is yours. Give us a reason to vote for you, or we sit home. And you aren’t going to make up the margins with conservative voters. They already know exactly who they’re voting for, and it ain’t you.

In today’s political climate, the unwarranted pursuit of “bipartisanship” is an illness, an illusion. We pray for the president’s quick and full recovery, ASAP.