For the Virginia GOP, 2008 has been a trying time. As Jim Gilmore girds for an Election Day beating and the commonwealth teeters on the verge of voting for a presidential Democrat for the first time since 1964, Republican hackles have been raised from Abingdon to Alexandria. But is 2008 a sign of things to come?
Jim Gilmore blinked into the bright stage lights in the Greater Richmond Convention Center. He had just taken the Republican nomination for United States Senate after a heated convention battle with Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Fredricksburg) -- but somebody forgot to turn down the lights, one participant remembered.
As Gilmore and his family stood squinting into the glare, there were not a few Republicans who thought this year's senate race had been gifted to former Democratic governor and Senate candidate Mark Warner.
"It was like the air was let out of the balloon," Marshall said.
It certainly wasn't the first time that Virginia Republicans have felt a little down and out.
As Virginia's second consecutive Democratic governor prepares his final budget, a Democrat prepares to claim a Virginia Senate seat held by Republican legend John Warner, Democrats control the state senate and aim to increase their role in, if not take, the state House of Delegates, Virginia Republicans are facing dark times, indeed.
"We have a death wish," said now-retired State Senator Russ Potts (R-Winchester).
But is the recent spate of Democratic electoral success a sign of things to come or a simple reflection of a few tough years for a party that hasn't lost a presidential election in the state since 1964? Do state Republicans have a "death wish?"
While 2008 appears to confirm Potts' thesis, 2009 may be an entirely different story.
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