All Eyes on Virginia and New Jersey

All races featuring a “D” running against an “R” are proxy battles in the ongoing resistance against Trump. If Democratic campaign managers can’t make that case they suck and need to leave politics.

The good news in that in New Jersey – that case has been made and “R” Kim Guadagno trails “D” Phil Murphy…by a lot. Guadagno, of course also has the baggage of being in the same party as the state’s least popular governor since Governor Syphilis. We all know about polls though, and how willing Republicans are to cheat.. so nothing is done until it is done.

In Virginia it is a lot closer and with most polls showing Republican Ed Gillespie within striking distance of Democrat Ralph Northam. Virginia is the only Southern state the president didn’t win and there are signs anti-Trump sentiment is high. But as Alby pointed out here Russian troll farms are working overtime to try and elect Gillespie.

Another headwind for Democrats in Virginia – Americans are apathetic idiots:

Virginians head to the polls in just five days.

Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie are vying to become the commonwealth’s next governor in a race that is being seen nationally as a referendum on the current admiration — and whether or not Democrats can win statewide in the Trump era.

On the ground in Northern Virginia however, it’s hard to tell that an election is right around the corner.

You can drive for miles without seeing a single campaign sign. It’s also tough to get people to talk about the race without having the conversation veer into Washington politics.

Lyndsay Santoro, who was walking around the Reston Town Center on a crisp fall afternoon, said she knows about the election largely because of the barrage of negative ads on TV.

“I think they’re petty, they’re always like you know, this person did this wrong and I’m going to do this better,” Santoro said. “And then immediately following there’s another commercial that says the same thing, only in reverse.”

Santoro said she leans conservative, but also unapologetically admits she has not done any homework on Gillespie or Northam. And, with less than a week to go, she doesn’t know which way she’s leaning.

“I need to do more research.” Santoro said. “I’ll put it on my to-do list over the next week.”

Peggy Backus says she’s been an independent for the past decade, and following the divisive 2016 presidential election, she’s taking a break from politics.

“I feel like I’ve just really tuned out to all things politics,” Backus said.

Backus adds that she has lost confidence in the political system and, as a result, she is not planning to vote in the Nov. 7 election.