Monday, November 22, 2004

Notes from a Virginia Democrat

A bigtime Democratic activist from Virginia had this piece in Sunday's Washington Post.

It begins:

"Many Democrats in Virginia have processed John Kerry's loss in the presidential election in stages: disbelief (the stunned befuddlement of Nov. 3), sadness (the sinking stomach of Nov. 4) and outrage (the rapidly spreading conviction, beginning roughly on Nov. 5, that the election had been 'stolen' by nefarious, Terminator-like voting machines).

Now many are contemplating a closing stage -- acceptance."

The article goes on to contrast the votes that Governor Warner got in 2001, with the returns for John Kerry, noting among other things:

"Unlike Kerry, Warner carried the 9th Congressional district, the state's most rural and conservative, which stretches west from Roanoke to the Kentucky border. In Lee County, at the very tip of Southwest Virginia, where Bush beat Kerry by 17 points, Warner won by 7 points. He also posted victories in conservative strongholds such as Bath and Alleghany counties, both bordering West Virginia; Kerry lost both."

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