If you said a week ago that McAullife would barely win, you were probably a troll.

[cthulu2016]

If you say today that McAullife should have done what all right-thinking people said a week ago he would do... then you are probably a troll.

And yes, we have always been at war with Eastasia, thank you very much.

And also, go Herring! A sweep would be sweet. I really don't enjoy having a RW attorney general.

From a northern Virginian with many solidly Democratic friends and acquaintances, here's my rear-view mirror theory. This is stated after-the-fact and is not offered as an obvious prediction to make or what everyone should have known.

People really dislike McAullife, the race was 100% anti-Cuccinelli and the polling showing it an easy win probably suppressed Dem turnout a little because the voting was primarily defensive, not positive.

(Fun datum from the exit polls... the libertarian got 10% of pro-choice voters, but only 7% overall. It appears there was protest voting on both sides.)

I think McAullife could have done better, given the antipathy for th Coochster, but nobody likes McAullife. He is not likable, he has no history in VA, he has never held elective office.

And that is what it is.

It was not a negative referendum on Obamacare or any of that. It is just about the candidate.

[Laelth]

1. That theory fits the data I have seen.

Once again the old adage is proven true: all politics are local.

-Laelth

[hooverville29]

2. Nobody wants to say it, but a factor introduced itself during last 2 weeks of campaign

Cuccinelli hit it hard, and a person showed up to campaign and chose that subject to emphasize in his speeches. Nobody wants to talk about it today, because if it was a factor (a -5% factor), then we might be on the way to some trouble a year from now unless it's turned around.