Did VA General Assembly Democrats Hurt Obama?

By Paul Goldman

This is what we call a 200-proof political column, what a soldier in combat has to do. There is no room for sentimentality or value judgments here; as General Sherman wisely advised, war is hell.

Fact: The better Governor McDonnell does, the worse it is for President Obama.

Why? Because – and I realize this is not the general view – Governor McDonnell is my 100-1 long shot sure bet for the GOP VEEP nomination if VA Democrats keep laying rose petals before his feet.

Here’s why. I don’t see Mike Huckabee as a serious national candidate, the same for the Newtster, or Haley’s shooting star out of Mississippi. Those dogs don’t hunt.  

Electoral math wise, the Republicans need a presidential candidate to carry Indiana, Ohio and at least one other state they lost in 2012 in the zone from Pennsylvania to Iowa. If not, they are sure losers. The party and the voters will figure that out.

Florida and North Carolina are two must-win turnover states for the GOP ticket in Dixie. That’s where the VEEP has to help. With Florida Senator Rubio out and the Tarheel state having no one, hello Vice-Presidential candidate Governor Bob. A hundred gets you $10 large. A grand=$100K. Lay it down.

Thanks to the VA Democrats, I should say. By saving McDonnell from his liquor disaster and from a transportation plan that Mark Warner pointed out greatly adds to the red ink of debt and billions in interest payments Republicans claim to be against, VA Democrats have made McDonnell a credible VP choice.

Or put another way: It gives a party now strapped to delusional southern candidates a sane one, a television-friendly Southern Catholic conservative from Notre Dame, the first ever GOP Dixie choice like that. Potentially very powerful because they need a Southerner on their ticket.  

McDonnell on the ticket is Tim Kaine’s worst nightmare. Florida, North Carolina and Virginia have more than half the swing electoral votes the GOP needs to take back the White House.

VA Democrats said they had to add $4 billion or so to the debt, and zillions in interest payments, for the good of the state.

The National GOP thanks them.