…a chance of actually winning a debate against Ed Gillespie.
Let’s face it — two debates, two losses. With tomorrow’s CNU Wason Center poll coming up and the total sham of a poll that the Washington Post produced, the narrative at the moment is darkening for Northam in a big way. In a race Northam is supposed to dominate in a campaign where Democrats average D+7.8 on the generic ballot, Northam still seems to be languishing, with Gillespie on the wrong side (right side?) of the margin of error.
Something will have to give at UVA-Wise for Northam to really reset the tone of the gubernatorial race. Outspent and outfought, with out-of-state money from New York just pouring in to bailout what has to be one of the worst campaign efforts since Deeds ’09? Northam’s options are few indeed.
Lynn Mitchell over at Bearing Drift has some details on the debate itself:
Moderator for the event will be local anchor Paul Johnson from WCYB, and reporter Carmen Forman from the Roanoke Times will be asking questions. Issues to be covered will include topics of importance to rural Virginia as well as the rest of the Commonwealth.
There are issues unique to the southwestern part of the Old Dominion. Indeed, the Roanoke Times posed a number of questions in their Sunday editorial.
Expanding UVA-Wise to offer graduate programs? Sounds reasonable… though UVA’s massive $7 billion endowment matched with the $2.3 billion slush fund aggregated on the backs of taxpayers is well overdue for a reckoning.
Rural Virginia’s demographic problem? It’s a national problem, but as Agenda 21 (yes — that’s a real thing) pushes people towards the cities and local modes of living become more expensive, Virginia’s rural localities get caught between the pincers of unfunded or partially funded mandates to localities combined with the nature of changing economies — and with the rise of both service and “gig” economies matched to Manufacturing 2.0, the future doesn’t have to be bleak.
What is the future of the coalfields? Once upon a time, Southwest Virginia was to Virginia what Fairfax County is to Virginia today. Of course, as Delegate Glenn Davis is so fond of reminding folks, the worst thing you can do to coal is burn it. Between mining operations that require fewer laborers and the immense opportunities of energy alternatives and existing opportunities (Dominion Energy is looking at $500mil plus of economic benefit to the region thanks to their hydroelectric power plant), some regional focus might be warranted…
Rural homesteading? The Roanoke Times mentions tax breaks and student loan credits for those moving to and revitalizing rural areas — a state HB-1 visa program of sorts? It’s an idea… might not be the best one, but it is most certainly an idea.
Adopting the Missouri model for post-secondary education? Perriello was the first gubernatorial candidate to pick up on the program modeled in part after what I proposed in Fluvanna County back in 2010. With the overwhelming number of jobs (99%?) requiring a college degree or similar level of certification — high school just doesn’t cut it in a world where college affordability has far outpaced the ability of the working poor to buy the credentials.
Workforce development? Certainly it’s not just 18-24 year olds we are talking about here. Those who have found themselves displaced by Schumpeterian “creative destruction” have found the move to the coalition of the aspirant sic creative class both heavy-handed and overwhelmingly destructive. What lies in store for them?
Rural broadband? Google is already partnering with localities to make this a reality… but with concerns that it might affect pollinators, are there alternatives?
For those of us who count ourselves to be among the traditional Jeffersonian yeomanry and have looked for, sought, and created our own versions of Scrutopia? These are great questions where rural Virginians desperately are looking for answers. These are the backs on which the “coalition of the ascendant” and creative class built their hipster-driven economies in urban Richmond and Northern Virginia.
Can Northam speak to the rest of rural Virginia outside of the concerns of the Eastern Shore? Will Gillespie close the deal and solidify the already high confidence that rural Virginia has placed in him to focus on jobs and employment?
We shall see Monday at 7pm.
One thing is for sure. Should Northam collapse during this debate, or should Northam stammer or misplace himself, should Northam commit a gaffe or appear as out-of-touch with the values of rural Virginia, should the 58% of meetings that he missed come back to haunt him in an area where economic development is vital, critical, and essential not just to the economic future of rural Virginia — but the survival of communities and families who have lived there for generations?
…that snowball probably envies his chances over Northam’s.
