If you live in Virginia, please vote tomorrow. For any number of entirely uninteresting reasons, I’ve pretty much skipped covering the primary season in Virginia politics. People like Mike@Blueweeds, Waldo, Vivian, and Steve have given you pretty much all you need to know, though.
I’ll be voting for Brian Moran for Democratic nominee for Governor, Michael Signer for Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, and Miles Grant for Democratic nominee (i.e., general election winner) for delegate in the 47th District.  My first two choices are, perhaps, obvious. I think Terry McAuliffe is a charlatan of the worst kind, and cringe at the idea of defending him against neo-troglodyte Bob McDonnell in the general election. See the link to Waldo, above, for more about that. As to Deeds, I refuse to reward pandering to bigotry when I have other choices. No matter the infinite ways his supporters try to spin it to you, this man put our fundamental rights up for a popular vote when he supported the Marshall-Newman (anti-equality) amendment in 2006. So, despite the fact that I think he is generally decent on all other issues and stands a good chance against McDonnell, I simply cannot vote for him. That leaves Brian Moran. Moran is a reliable and thoughtful Northern Virginia Democrat. That means, to me, that his policy positions meet my threshold tests for most important issues (even while he fails in some, like the death penalty, or occasionally panders, as with the asinine move-Gitmo-detainees-to-NoVA matter). Further, in my limited personal interactions with him, he strikes me as confident without being demanding or needing affirmation (an important quality in a candidate, I’ve decided.) Further, I am confident that, given the chance, he can beat Bob McDonnell. On the matter of Mike Signer, I’m going with him because Jody Wagner hasn’t given me any particular reason to vote *for* her. My personal and public knowledge of Signer – as a competent individual who wants to try to use the generally-useless office of Lt. Gov. as a bully pulpit on some issues – gives me the comfort I need in casting that vote.
And that leaves us with the 47th District for the Virginia House of Delegates. In conversation, I’ve termed my dilemma as being faced with “an embarrassment of riches.” We have five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, the gaining of which will almost certainly secure them the seat this fall. Every candidate has appeared at my door (tho’ I haven’t always been around to answer it) many times. I have, truthfully, wavered amongst four of the five candidates throughout the primary season. And the only reason that that isn’t five out of five is that I think Parkhomenko needs some additional time on this planet before he can really represent the 47th (that may sound condescending, tho’ I really don’t mean it to be. I expect good things out of him, and can imagine supporting him in future efforts). Every one of the other candidates have strengths that I respect and would like to see brought to bear in Richmond. That said, I can only cast my vote for one. And that one will be Miles Grant. To say that I’ve disagreed with Miles on many things would be an understatement.   I have never, however, been given reason to question his sincerity or commitment to his positions. And be sure of this – his positions are Arlington’s positions. There is no watering down of our ideals so they can past muster in Richmond or at some fundraiser on the southside. In the course of the primary I’ve seen him articulate – forcefully – the idea that Arlington needs to send an outspoken voice to Richmond. While I think that Tobar, Hope, and Howze would all do fine jobs, Grant’s willingness to act as a pointman for decency and forward-looking policy is what gains my nod. I truly have no idea who will win this contest tomorrow, but I hope that the winner will seriously examine the constituencies of each candidate and bring them into not just the general election, but his ongoing representation of the 47th District.
Nikhil Verma
OMG, I pray you guys nominate Moran. And I actually thought Democrats in Virginia were “pragmatic”, lol. And this is from a “Republican” who voted for Warner and Kaine.
Mark, you have 3 candidates and 2 of them stand a good chance of winning. You endorsed the 1 guy who will get destroyed, thanks to his far left positions.
Nikhil Verma
As a Republican who’s voted for Warner/Kaine, here’s my personal advice to Virginia Democrats. Stay in the middle and stay pragmatic. The moment you all drift to the left, you are screwed. This may be a blue state, but it’s not Massachusetts or California.
Look at the Republicans with Specter. When either party insists on ideological purity, voters resent it and throw the offending party out of office.
MB
Yeah, I’m not too worried about your evaluation of what is “far left.” Remember, we all actually live in the *real* world, and not some fever-swamp of imagined positions and persecution.
Nikhil Verma
Well forget the labels of “far left” and “far right” and all that stuff. Would you not agree that Moran is the worst positioned of the 3 for the fall? That is to say, he would be by far the easiest to attack, based on a number of reasons. So for VA Dems, why would they ruin a good thing that they have going in favor of someone who may be more progressive, but also more controversial?
I suppose you could say McAuliffe is just as controversial in some ways, but he also has money and name recognition.
Nikhil Verma
Mark, I wasn’t trying to mock your endorsement of Moran. Although it did come across that way:-)
Owen Sloan
Well, lookie here. Look who won the primary. Deeds won everywhere, even brother Moran’s district.
Blacknell sounds like you’re the one who is out of the mainstream for voters since your guy came in last. Even Dem primary voters didn’t agree with your position, seeing as how your guy finished last with Dem voters (and didn’t even win his brothers cong dis).
Good to know your back to usual strategy of attacking people you don’t agree with and showing your angry side.
Owen Sloan
Oh, and Signer and Grant both lost too. Again you are the one who doesnt live in the real world. Not other commenters like you say.
MB
Heh. There’s a difference between being angry and not being interested in indulging the silliness that is calling Moran “far left.” Political conversation here is not going to be held on the terms of those who are so misinformed they think that Obama’s a raging socialist, that the media is hopelessly biased to the left, or that Bob McDonnell is a moderate. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. You want to go get nods and assents in an echo chamber? Go elsewhere.
Also? Sock puppetry is not nice.
Nikhil Verma
First of all, when I comment, it’s under “Nikhil Verma” or “Vermelia” (my friends nickname for me).
Owen also reads your blog and was using my labtop that I take with me to work. I did NOT tell him what to write or what to think.
I never said McDonnell’s a “moderate”. Nor have I referred to Pres Obama as “socialist”, either (although he’s starting to make me wonder). So I’ll agree with you that the labeling is probably unnecessary.
However, if you don’t want people to call Obama a “socialist”, or Moran “far left”, then doesn’t it also follow that you shouldn’t call others names too? Or imply that they’re misinformed, just because they have different views than your own?
Crystal Clear Conservative
There’s no way Nikhil Verma is a sockpuppet. Well, if you know Nikhil, he’s usually good at predicting elections. I know, because he predicted that Hillary would lose to Obama five months prior. He’s the political Nostradamus.
MB
CCC- First, I didn’t accuse him of being a sockpuppet. But I certainly and openly doubted the authenticity of Mr. Sloan here (who doesn’t strike me as all that informed). That said, via email and whatnot I now understand the situation.
And yes, I do know (and even occasionally like!) Nikhil. But no way no how is he getting the “Nostradamus” label. He’ll have to work a little harder for that.
~
Nikhil – there’s a completely cogent argument I could make about the false equivalency of erroneously calling someone a socialist or far left, and calling someone a moron or detached from reality. But I’m going to skip that and just point out that I’m pretty committed to the common understanding of the English language, and will continue to behave as I do on this site :)