Sibling Rivalry!

Jason and I are disagreeing about the impact of Tuesday’s primary elections. On his comments yesterday he decided to celebrate Chichester’s primary victory as a rejection of conservative values. But was that what the election was about?

Needless to say, Jay didn’t appreciate my criticism of his “Go, Chichester” line:

First problem is taking a line from someone who’s opinion you questioned the very foundation of and using it as representative of an entire group. That’s like Tate declaring his loss by only 100 votes was a referendum when he had less than half of a small portion of the district’s population. But if you want to grasp for straws…

The election wasn’t just a rejection of negative campaigns but of the very people who run them. It was a rejection of bids by the far right faction to oust the more moderates within the Republican party. It was a reminder that the GOP is supposed to be a big tent.

Is that so? Well, this morning’s Free Lance-Star gave the run of the pundits this morning. Guess who they agreed with?

“I don’t see it as being a strong philosophical message,” said Gary Thomson, executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, himself a member of the party’s conservative wing and a former client of Mike Rothfeld, Chichester’s opponent, agreed. “I’m not sure that there’s any message, other than the voters who showed up seemed to be satisfied with the status quo.”

“Voters were rejecting the negative campaigning. A lot of that backfired,” said House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford.

And as for Democrats taking courage from Tuesday’s elections. . .

The primary results have another beneficiary beyond the senators, Farnsworth said.

“Even though his name wasn’t on the ballot, [Gov.] Mark Warner was one of the big winners on Tuesday night,” he said. “The Republican Party in the Senate is going to keep a very moderate-Republican-dominated chamber. Warner would have had a much harder time with his agenda if the Republicans in the Senate looked like the Republicans in the House.”

It feels so good to be so right sometimes. But hey, sometimes all you can do is spell it out.