Four devastating polls are showing embattled Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam either in a dead heat or losing to Republican Ed Gillespie in the week before the Soros-fueled LVFPAC ad depicting Gillespie in a pickup truck sporting a Confederate flag and running down minority children in an alley.
Roanoke College has the race tied up at 47%, while Rasmussen has a similar dynamic at 45%. Meanwhile, The Polling Company (R) has Gillespie up by 2 points in a 45-43 contest while Firehouse Strategies has Gillespie up by 3 points.
All of these are a far cry from Northam +13 as advocated by the Washington Post in October. Or Northam by 17 as reported by Quinnipiac University. Or even the error-riddled CNU Wason Center polling showing Northam up by 7 points.
Once again, campaigning by polls is at play just as it was during the Clinton-Trump presidential race in 2016.
Oddly enough, Real Clear Politics has abandoned the Quinnipiac poll (inexplicably) to narrow up their own averages, showing Northam with a scant 1.2 pt lead — without much explanation as to why the Quinnipiac outlier isn’t being allowed to skew the poll hard left. One suspects the reason is simply that RCP doesn’t need the embarrassment when Gillespie outperforms the polls by 4-5 points.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is embroiled in a barely-reported civil war between the progressive and liberal factions — the latter being drummed out of the DNC upon additional news that Hillary Clinton orchestrated a palace coup to prevent Vice President Joe Biden from assuming the Democratic nomination in 2016.
It gets worse. Former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder has enthusiastically endorsed Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Justin Fairfax this week, while refusing to endorse either Northam or Herring due to their rough neglect of the black LG candidate:
“Justin, in my judgment has not been dealt a good hand,” Wilder said in a brief interview after announcing his endorsement of Fairfax at the end of “The People’s Debate,” a two-hour program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, sponsored by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.
“And I think it’s very good that he would be seen as someone credible and worthy of endorsement.”
Frankly, Wilder couldn’t be more correct. Fairfax — though perhaps not aligned with the values of this publication — has indeed been left in the cold by a Democratic establishment that really hasn’t firmly grasped the values of the African-American community. Useful during elections; not useful for leadership? That seems like a raw deal indeed.
Northam’s entire campaign seems to have been one giant square peg crammed into a round hole. Norhtam’s discomfort with sanctuary cities — having voted against a measure to ban them out of pure political calculus — has seen him flip-flop this week to the position Gillespie advocated for in August.
Northam’s staff have been both publicly and privately derisive of the candidate himself, viewing him as both lazy and insufficiently energetic to motivate the progressive base. Even mid-level DPVA staffers have been scolding the campaign effort as early as September.
Northam hasn’t been able to lead the members of his own party. Northam has labeled his opponents as hateful bigots and racists, while members of the Virginia House of Delegates — specifically Northern Virginia Democrat Barbara Favola — have described their members opposite as evil.
Third party organizations have engaged in voter intimidation, Northam has ditched fellow ticket mates in an effort to buck up his sagging poll numbers, Northam has taken dark money from outside groups bent on firearm confiscation, called Trump a “narcissistic maniac” only to watch Trump’s approval ratings hover in the low-to-mid 40s before reversing himself to say he would work with the president, has watched helplessly as Democratic unit chairs have resigned in disgust, has taken over $3 million in Planned Parenthood blood money, and like an albatross — cannot get away from his own personal support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
The whole campaign has been a mess from start to finish. If this is how Northam campaigns, why should anyone trust him as governor?
