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Republicans sweep valley elections
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By Garren Shipley -- gshipley@nvdaily.com
Political pundits sometimes talk about "wave" elections, in which one party rolls over the opposition like a tide.
That's just what happened in the Shenandoah Valley on Tuesday night, as the GOP ticket rolled to massive wins all the way from Frederick County to Roanoke.
Republican Bob McDonnell's margins were of historic margins on Monday night. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, McDonnell led Democrat Creigh Deeds by 18 percentage points in the gubernatorial vote, according to the State Board of Elections.
If the lead holds up, it would be one of the biggest wins in modern Virginia history, the largest since Democrat Albertis Harrison Jr. defeated Republican H. Clyde Pearson 64 percent to 36 percent in 1961, according to data compiled by the University of Virginia.
But McDonnell's margins in the Northern Shenandoah Valley were even wider than the statewide average.
Voters in Shenandoah County chose the Republican 3-to-1 over the Democrat, 75 percent to 25 percent.
Voters in Clarke County trend Republican, but not quite to the level of their neighbors. Last year, the county went into the Republican column, choosing John McCain over President Obama, by 6 percentage points.
But it was no contest on Tuesday, as McDonnell rolled 63 percent to 37 percent.
The wave extended to one of the few places in the valley that regularly votes for Democrats.
The city of Winchester, which voted for President Obama by 5 percentage points last year and for fellow Democrat Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in 2005 by 3 points, went overwhelmingly for McDonnell.
The Republican won 69 percent of the vote to Deeds 39 percent.
Further down the ticket, GOP numbers trailed off only slightly. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling won Shenandoah County with 73 percent compared to former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner's 27 percent.
In the race for attorney general, state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, won the county with 72 percent of the vote, compared to Del. Steve Shannon, D-Vienna, who garnered 28 percent of the vote.
Democrats did score convincing double-digit wins in the tiny city of Lexington, home to the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University, but fewer than 2,000 votes were cast in total in the locality.
Outside of Lexington, Republicans rolled all the way up the valley to Roanoke, where Deeds posted his only win outside of his native Bath County, 57 percent to 43 percent with 79 percent of precincts reporting.
Deeds won both Bath and neighboring Allegheny County by more than 20 percentage points.
All four of the Northern Shenandoah Valley's Republican incumbents in the House of Delegates also went on to huge wins, pulling in at least 70 percent of the vote.
It just goes to show what an ignorant and unenlightened electorate we live in. The Shenandoah Valley deserves the backward governance it will get.
This election confirms once again what I long have suspected, and that is that the average intelligence of the electorate in the Shenandoah Valley simply isn't very high.
This election confirms once again what I have long suspected and that is that the intelligence of the electorate in the Shenandoah Valley simply is not very high.
Well, the Virginia Taliban won - looks like the Commonwealth is in for a hard few years. The people of the "Valley" will get more of what they voted for - low employment and low wages. They deserve it.
What a bunch of hypocrites. Maybe if the Democratic Pary would have put up some decent nominiees they would of had a chance. I guess you three are no different than the morons on the right that put bumper stickers on that read "Nobama" or One Big A-- Mistake America. Aren't you proud?
Your comment suggests that you believe ALL of Shenandoah Valley voted Republican which of course, it did not. Instead of insulting the entire Shenandoah Valley, maybe you need to check your facts before YOUR intelligence comes into question.
Wow the comments from the losers...Doesnt surprise me that when the left doesnt get what they want they have to resort to name calliing. Typical of them...Things are bout to CHANGE around here!!
Left and liberal has always considered itself more intelligent and enlightened then the working class republican who's back our nation was built on. As for the hard years ahead for the people of the valley.....I suppose the low employment and low wage issues were at the very verge of being solved by the democrats that just got routed ? I think the people of the valley are reaping the benefits of the last round of bad decisions. These elections are a message to the president, or at least he should take it as one. He will never see the one thing every first term pres wants to see.
A suggestion to the GOP, you might want to keep in mind that you can leave office the same way and at the same speed as the folks you are replacing for the same reasons.
nice to see that people that care about family values are viewed as ignorant and uneducated...
I have a great idea, why don't you liberals go back to where you came from, we were better off before you came into our local towns and tainted them with your know it all, self serving ways! We will gladly point you in the direction of the nearest interstate exit out of dodge!
And just how are things going to change? Are you all going to repeal the theory of evolution. Perhaps decide the world truly is flat??
"Family values" is a Republican/Conservative code phrase for hating gays, anything"liberal", anything non-Christian and being afraid of anything that looks different from what you are used to. Sorry but those are not "values", that's hatred, fear and yes, ignorance.
In case you missed it. Things are bout to change round here, was a play on the presidents oft commented phrase. And how do you repeal a Theory, just curious.
"Family Values" means a little something different to everyone. I'm sure from your comment you expect you "values" are differnet to the previous poster. Your comment reflects the very reason our country is in the shape its in. People try and associate themselves to a party. They may buy into 30 percent of the philosophy of that party but they are branded none the less. And for some reason it's apparently a travesty if one side happens to agree with something the other side says. It's a shame our servicemembers past and present put their lives on the line for adults to act like children.
The worlds not flat? Boy, u liberals really R smart...Congrats to the winners...The GOP!!!!!!!
After reading all of the comments here, it seems that someone needs to remind everyone of a little something that apparently a lot of us have forgotten! The following is not a quote, but rather little bits and pieces of a couple of well known documents you may be familiar with.
WE THE PEOPLE of the UNITED States...
...and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for ALL!
Sorry folks, but one little group or party does not get to call dibs on the entire US. I have yet to find anything written (other than these posts anyway) that says the US is for only the liberals, or only the moderates, or only the conservatives, or only the lefts, or only the rights and so forth and so on. No matter what our views and beliefs are WE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!
You speak of the big, bad government taking away our freedom. I hate to point this out, but freedom and unity is being done away with by the very people who blame government for taking it away!! Re-read some of these posts! Listen to yourselves!! Government has not ruined our country! WE the people are the ones helping that along at a fast rate!
We vote for our elected officials, but in a lot of cases, we vote for the lesser of 2 evils, not the best man or woman! Campaigns have been reduced to lies, cheats, thievery, slander, etc. If you think about it, these people are running for office to represent US. Maybe if WE were a better lot, we could have better representatives. If all we are is just a bunch of name calling, juvenile, back stabbing, nit picking, slanderous, rowdy, uncivil, haters of anything and anyone who is the least bit different than ourselves, then we deserve to have one of us represent us. Birds of a feather as they say....
Maybe if a particular party wins an election, they ought to make the "loser" second lieutenant or vice delegate or something along those lines in order to force the parties to work together. The shame put on America is NOT entirely a government issue, but rather what WE have put upon ourselves.
You know folks it seems to me that we are no longer "one nation under God". The notion may feel good and raise the hair on your neck but on the ground, it is flat not so. All sides covet their own arguments because the stakes seem so high. In reality, we are no longer even a functioning democracy any more other than in name, and it is time to face that. When the common good can not be pursued because of some outmoded vague fear of "socialism", something in our national psyche is deeply skewed. It seems clear to me that we are in fact a Plutocracy/Oligarchy, where the powerful and moneyed few control everyone. And they (the political class) do so by buying off the legislative process that was formerly meant to represent the electorate, and by exploiting the most easily exploitable with fear to achieve their own ends. This fear drives the far right. That much seams clear.
We should ALL be profoundly ashamed that our service people are dying in Iraq, by any intelligent estimation, a sham war that was clearly for control of oil at it's root. How their sacrifice gets linked to preserving American freedom is baffling and despicable to me.
And while we are all pontificating here, what I see as killing this country is blind self-interest from the corporations on down to every one of us.
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