So a little while back, I reported that internal polls for Republican candidates in Virginia’s state legislative elections were looking better – that the number of men who self-identified as Republicans jumped – from the low 30s to the high 30s.
Today I report that the news in those internal polls continues to be good. Surprisingly good. They’re showing a markedly better environment for Republican candidates, and campaign pollsters aren’t quite sure why.
One strategist familiar with the results speculated, “It may just be that there are Republicans out there talking about their issues. The campaigns in aggregate are spending a bucket load. And they have good stuff to say. It may just be that there are folks going, ‘Right. I remember that I agree with those guys, regardless of the fact that I’m angry at the President over Iraq,’ or whatever other issues.”.I’ll offer two theories. First, I wonder if the Virginia Democratic party, which had been represented by a particularly conservative, or at least not-liberal crop of candidates in recent years (Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb) is now suffering from having Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi dominating the headlines..Secondly, there’s been a lot of talk about illegal immigration in the local news lately.