President Barack Obama appears at a campaign rally with supporters for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, left, at Washington Lee High School in Arlington, Va., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013. (courtesy AP)

For Immediate Release – November 5, 2013 – [email protected] Statement of Dan Gross, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

“The election of Terry McAuliffe as Governor of Virginia in a race with a high turnout, and high stakes is yet another demonstration of the changing tide on the gun violence issue. In a swing state that is home to the NRA, Governor-elect McAuliffe campaigned on his strong support for sensible gun violence solutions like extending Brady Background Checks to all gun sales.  He wore his “F” rating from the NRA like a badge of honor, demonstrating the overwhelming support that Virginians, like all Americans, have for sensible solutions to gun violence.  Make no mistake this was a voting issue for Virginians. The Brady Campaign was proud to endorse Governor-elect  McAuliffe, and we look forward to working with him to help make Virginia safer for its citizens.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

128 COMMENTS

  1. Anti’s jumping on TMac’s narrow victory and proclaiming it to be tantamount to the public demanding more gun control…

    This is my surprised face.

    😐

  3. They can proclaim that all they want, but there isn’t a single shred of analysis to back up their statement. Which, you know, is how you know it really came from them.

  4. No, it’s more like a demonstration of how one or two counties can run an entire state–or how one or two states can run an entire nation.

    • 12 hours after the results are in and this governor-elect is already proclaimed to be the gun grabber’s messiah. Good luck with the next 4 years, Virginia.

    • Hey Libertarian Trojan Horse voters, now aren’t you glad you “threw your vote away” to “send a message?” For the first time in years I actually feel relieved to be living in the Formerly Free State. Fools.

      • It seems to me a case could be made for those 45% having throw their vote away on a Republican, when they could have had a Libertarian Governor. Perspectives, I guess.

        • +1 BDub.

          “Reality does not side with you. Neither do the numbers.”

          Reality is what you make of it or take it to be, but the numbers most certainly do not side with you. I’ve yet to see a single shred of analysis that says Sarvis took enough votes from Cuccinelli to cost him the election. In fact, everything I have seen indicates he took more voters from McAuliffe, which makes more sense in a purple state like VA anyway.

        • Too bad they didnt have a libertarian running for gov. Unless you count the democratic backed shrew hiding as a liberatarian.

        • You can keep parroting the same fallacy all you want, Alan, but a single donor who has in the past donated to Obama doesn’t make Sarvis a DNP backed candidate.

        • Since 1990, out of the last 51 independant gubernatorial candidates 6 have won. I will continue to put my vote where it counts or has a chance of counting. Elections have consequenses.

        • Elections do indeed have consequences. If, when presented with two big turds and a small sandwich, you keep picking one of the turds because the sandwich is not big enough to fill your stomach, you’ll keep getting the same choice forever.

        • The GOP’s hubris and arrogance are one and the same. The patent assumption that those who voted Libertarian would have otherwise voted GOP, or not have voted Dem (socially liberal), or would have even turned out to vote for that matter, is farcical as well as patently conceited.

          The GOP does not have any claim on my vote, or the vote of any Libertarian. They can stop counting them. It is not owed them. They have not earned it. And they will continue to lose ground until they understand this.

        • Furthermore. Until someone can demonstrate to me that Sarvis didn’t take ANY votes from MacAuliffe, they should probably shut the hell up.

          As many gun-loving dems on the very site can probably attest, they themselves might have been swayed to vote for Savis (for socially liberal, pro-gun reasons) rather than give their vote to an out-spoken anti-gun candidate.

      • Looks like GOPnicks can not win without Libertarian support. How about nominating a small-government candidate who stays out of my pocket (and my gun safe) AND out of my bedroom?

    • You are as dense as the Brady Bunch. The Republicans took between 65-67 seats in the 100 seat House of Delegates. The state senate is split 20-20 with a number of nominally pro-Second Amendment Democrats. They would probably welch if a bill could pass but they are not going to vote to commit political suicide in a losing cause.. No gun control bill will ever get out of House committee. There is no danger to Virginian’s gun rights.

        • The legislative situation is exactly the same as at Federal level. The House of Delegates won’t take up a gun control bill. This isn’t New York where Democrats control everything.

      • It doesn’t look, from the post-election analyses, as if guns had much to do with the election. However, TM received a 42% margin among single women, versus 9% overall margin among women. It’s safe to infer he lost the married women’s vote, and won on the fear-and-loathing of abortion felt by single women in NVA, and on the Latino vote.

        Clearly the governor’s race was not about guns. (It makes me a bit melancholy to look at my old VA house in Oakton on Google Earth. Miss it in some ways. Just a few miles from the NRA HQ, range. Bull Run Shooting Center was fun. Might have to buy it back if it comes on the market.)

        • The exits polls gave McAuliffe a +9 with women voters. That suggests that social issues were not the deciding factor in the race. The gender gap isn’t based on abortion. It is based on single women, particularly single mothers, substitution of the state for a male partner. That suggests that the Libertarian claim that supperting abortion will attract women voters is false. Abortion is not what attracts male-less women. Big government programs are the draw.

        • “The gender gap isn’t based on abortion.”

          I’m genuinely curious if you have anything to back that statement up; I’m not even trying to be contrarian. The first link I found with polling data is from CNN, so take it would a boulder sized grain of salt if you with, but abortion was apparently a key driver for McAuliffe voters. You’ll also note that more people found Cuccinelli “too conservative” than found McAuliffe “too liberal”.

          http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/politics/election-2013-exit-polls/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+Politics%29

          My take – people will generally fight something being taken away from them (guns, abortion, marriage) harder than the other side will fight something they don’t like being given to someone else.

        • tdinva, I’m frequently in N VA and lived there for a decade (albeit in the suburb that lays between Fairfax City and Reston), and it didn’t strike me that N VA has a large percentage of single moms on welfare. The location in the DC metro area of poverty by sub-zip-code shows extremely small impoverished areas in Arlington and Alexandria counties, outweighted by very affluent population in those same counties. The rest of N VA has very very few no-job single moms. The N VA single moms on welfare vote would also overlap the Latino vote significantly, undercutting the importance of either immigration or welfare (I don’t know which) to the final N VA vote. I’ll watch this in the postmortems, because I really believe the abortion issue sets off single women even if their likelihood of needing/wanting one is very low. I’m open to evidence, but this isn’t a small question for Republicans. Any platform opposition to the growth in public sector jobs would, of course, turn off single N VA women voters. It’s about the benefits. People there aren’t used to the “Walmart Greeter Lifestyle.” Yet.

        • Abortion is an indicator of other politcal preferences. Statistically speaking a woman may say she is motivated by abortion but if you dig deeper other issues like support for government healthcare, welfare (whether she is on it or not) and other big governmen programs she will answer in the afrimative. Yes you can find conservative/Libertarian women who support abortion but statisticly speaking they are a minority. You do the math if McAullife was +20 or more with single women but only +9 over all then not all women were driven away by Cuccinelli’s [quietly] stated opinions on abortion.

          RD:

          First of all , I said single women, espcially single mothers on welfare, not just the welfare crowd. There are a lot of single women living in NOVA. You aren’t going to the right places. Northern Virginia is not white wonderbread anymore. There are large pockets of latina who fit that bill. Many can’t vote legally but you get the picture. McAuliffe voting Arlington County residents rejected a housing authority initiative because they are trying to drive out the latinos from the the county by driving up housing prices. Like most members of the nomenklatura they don’t want inferiors hanging around the neighbhorhood.

          All the polling that has been done over the last 12 years or so has shown that single women vote Democratic and support big government and abortion by a large margin. Married women vote Republican and oppose abortion by a large margin. When single women become unsingle they tend to migrate over time to the (R/AA) side.

        • tdinva: The Latina component of N VA has definitely increased a lot. I notice that even in parts of Vienna a few miles from my old home. I suppose I still see N VA single women as mostly single-without-children, borderline yuppies, or women in the marriage market who don’t want to end up carrying to term the child of the wrong guy. Maybe I’m out of touch; I’ll have to look into that. Your cluster-of-issues analysis seems dead on. Arlington’s desire not to become Honduras Norte rings true. I think TM’s margin among single women was 42%, which definitely means he did not carry a majority of married women.

    • Yup – you get the government you deserve

      It’s too bad that we have to live with the low information voter’s choices

    • I live in Virginia and I’m not worried. The Virginia house of delegates is firmly republican controlled. McAuliffe just stepped into a bee’s nest.

      Bloomberg spent a lot of dough and all he got was McAuliffe.

  6. Blowing a 15 point lead and barely hanging on by 2 points is not what I’d call “overwhelming support”. But that’s just me, I cannot tell a lie…

    • In a race, two points is as good as fifty when you see who’s going to the Governor’s Mansion. Suck it up and move on to the counties.

    • Yawn.

      Dan Gross and Brady folks full of themselves with self serving false rhetoric for no good reason other than to toot their horn and mislead sheeple, as usual. Time to rejoice; their guy narrowly eeked out a win. Now that sure is some endorsement for more gun restrictions – in a pro gun state where McC may even have trouble getting some Democrat legislators to support such measures.

      Hahahahaha…Yawn.

      Nothing to see here people; move along.

    • Nope, it’s me too. I didn’t see the Central VA figures. Can anybody run that down for me? I would have voted for Sarvis, but at the last minute, Ron Paul saved me from that. As a result, on the way to the poll, I decided I couldn’t in good conscience vote for any of the three.

  7. The analyses I’ve seen refer to the government shutdown and Obamacare as some of the big issues in this campaign, with gun politics not mentioned at all, but then we don’t expect the antis not to take credit for this somehow.

    Also, the libertatrian voters are probably more pro-gun than anti-gun overall, and together with the Republican vote they outweigh the vote for McAuliffe. But that would be using logic.

    • This. The only time I’ve seen guns mentioned as a primary issue is by gun rights advocates. Gun control advocate’s steam usually dries up when it comes to getting off the couch.

  8. TTAGs you guys called it. They are treating this as if it was an overwhelming victory. I wish you luck Virginia gun owners.

  9. Wait….

    I thought:
    1. Turnout was LOW
    2. McAuliffe beat Cuccinelli by 3%, (48% to 45%) and the third candidate took 7% of the vote. So in reality, Mcauliffe got the MINORITY of the votes and is opposed by 52% of the VA voters.
    3. Then, there is that “overwhelming support” and “sensible” bullshit…..

    • McAuliffe didn’t get *the* minority of votes. They all got a minority of votes.

      Still, a 3% margin in a three-way race doesn’t exactly scream out “overwhelming support,” does it.

      • Not in my book. Not in any of my books, it doesn’t. But we’re just another lurid mass shooting or two from what could be a shift in balance.

        And I think we all know, at some level, that that can be arranged at the drop of a hat, and it will.

  10. Ok well here is my take.
    Mcauliffe out spent everyone by 15 million or more.
    We also had a DNC funded Libertarian who garnered 8% of the vote. Not that I dislike Libertarians by any means, but my hunch would be that if he had not been there, the race would have gone the other way. I don’t think gun control had much to do with it.

    Now Mcauliffe is facing a number of investigations which will plague his governorship from day one. I say get the recall going now before he even takes office.

    • Yup. And apparently the “Libertarian” was either:

      1. a non-player as little as three months ago:
      http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/10/libertarian-trying-to-shake-up-va-governor-race-has-unflattering-words-for-top/

      who got ‘played’ by an Obama bundler last minute, or a

      2. Sock-puppet faux candidate all along:

      http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/05/revealed-obama-campaign-bundler-helping-fund-libertarian-in-tight-va-gubernatorial-race/

      Either way, the Libertarian candidate siphoned off 7% of the vote, more than enough of the margin of the victory for the Democrat, supported by deep Clinton and Obama supporters pocketbooks, to the tune of twice as much spending as the RNC, who bailed a month ago.

      Lesson learned- whether you call yourself a Libertarian, or a Tea-Partier, or simply a Reagan Republican v2.0, if you want less government interference in your constitutionally guaranteed rights, you better get out of the circular firing squads we see WAY too many gun-owners and OFWG repubs, and educate the new generation why FREEDOM matters, rather than sex, race, or abortion rights.

      Those are the hot buttons the Alinsky-ites use to divide us.
      Lets keep it simple here folks, on 2A rights.

      THAT IS WHAT WORKS, when combined with facts, focus, grassroots up effort, and money-

      Witness Colorado recalls and the wins in various states, the fewer than expected signatures on gun bills in CA by Gov Brown, and politicians retreating from the SAFE act, and the many polls on gun-rights across the nation.

      Don’t let the trolls and sock-puppets divide us…

      • why do you think the Republicans pulled funding, yet dumped an extra Million into the Jersey landslide? I think this was the opportunity for establishment/chamber of commerce republicans to try to crush the tea party candidate to justify their continued “run shitty centrist candidates for president” tactic.

        Abortion isn’t about “right to choose” for those that oppose it. For much the same reason that gun rights supporters are more ardent than opponents, those who oppose abortion (myself included), believe (and science backs this view) that personhood exists before you exit the vaginal canal. To opponents of abortion, abortion is MURDER, not just a tick box or a social issue, which is why you won’t see them dropping that issue, ever.

    • I agree, except you assume Sarvis was a genuine Libertarian. He is clearly NOT; he was just a guy who got the Libertarian Party nomination.

      Real VA Libertarians must begin to ask themselves how such a guy got the nomination, and take positive actions to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

      The Libertarian Party of VA needs to be called on the carpet for this, by genuine Libertarians.

      Which I am not; but I’ve been known to vote for them sometimes. Not this time.

  13. This PR reminds me of a joke we had in the ComBlock around the time of Carter’s time at 1600 Pennsylvania:
    “Carter and Brezhnev entered a foot race. The Soviet news made the announcement of the results, saying that Comrade Brezhnev came in at a respected and prestigious second place”.

  14. Unfortunately for Governor-elect McAuliffe, the republicans have a super-majority ( or very near one) in the house. That means his ability to make Virginians “safer” is going to be limited.

    • It’s not just the legislature.. I’m not familiar with what powers the Virginia governor has, but I’m guessing he can appoint people into certain positions who will make like difficult for gun owners.

      • The governor of Virginia is not a strong executive position. He is entirely dependent on the Legislature to enact an agenda. Any executive order on guns would end up being reviewed by the SCOTSVA. They are extremely strict on interpreting Article I, paragraph 13 (the Virginia Second Amendment). We have constitutional open carry in Virginia because that is how they interpreted the “keep and bear arms” language in the State Constitution. The gun grabbers are stymied by the legislature and the courts. I may open carry in Arlington on the Governor’s inauguration day just stick it in his eye.

        • Thanks for the detail. I have enough to keep track of in NJ politics, so while it irks me that TMac weaseled his way in, any temperance of his ability to restrict your rights is a Good Thing.

        • My fear isn’t so much what McGovernor will do, it’s what the dem AG will do. The AG has fairly broad powers concerning administration of carry permits and reciprocity. It wouldn’t be surprising to see “oh, suddenly VA only recognizes those few permits that we have encoded in law, and therefore the automatic reciprocity clauses those states have mean virginians can’t carry anywhere!”

  15. At least I still work in NC, now I have an excuse to move 30 min South.

    We’re about to enter the shit tornado to Oz.

  16. In all fairness, if Cuccinelli had won, many on our side would be trumpeting it as a rejection of McAuliffe’s anti-gun stance. I’m 100% certain you’d even hear it from some of those that are now telling you its not about guns, but that this was decided on women’s issues and Obamacare.

    • …because it was decided on women’s issues and Latino issues. But, laugh, you’re definitely right that if KC had won, it would have been “a big win for gun rights.”

  18. Looks like the Dem AG eeked out a win, too. If you control the Gov. and the AG office, you can make some trouble, even if you can’t pass new legislation. Anyway, this thing was never about gun control. This was about getting some people in power to help Hillary take VA in 2016. It’s a bad thing for conservatives, no matter how you spin it. How bad remains to be seen.

    Regardless, McAuliffe caught just the first hint of the leading edge of the Obamacare tornado, and it almost took him down. The whirlwind is coming in 2014, Progressives. Get ready to reap it, you soulless motherf^ckers. F^cking reap it.

    • “This was about getting some people in power to help Hillary take VA in 2016.” I think it’s more about lining up VA to support a Hillary national run in 2016. Either Pres or VP. It will be a Clinton $$ vs. Bloomberg $$ race for the Dems’ top spot.

      I have no prognostication about who Bloomie will buy; maybe O’Malley, maybe Emmanuel. Neither one is competent to run water out of a faucet, so they’re both equally qualified.

      • It will be O’Mally for two reasons. Jews are smarter than certain other racial or ethnic groups. They won’t support one of their own for the big chair because of the fear of what happens if he is a screw up. The other reason is that Rahmbo is a dead fish politically in Chicago.

      • it will be O’Malley because Bloomberg gave 1.1 billion to Hopkins, and O’Malley made the MD legislature bend to the Bloomberg agenda. Bloomberg pwns Maryland, including all its politicians.

        pass the popcorn!

      • Yes, I did mean POTUS in 2016 for Hillary. O’Malley is interesting, and would be attractive to Bloomie, but I don’t see him getting the nomination. I think he might be easier to beat than Hillary if he does. Hillary has the “first woman pres” mystique, and she seems to be very well liked by many people. The fact that she’s a farking crook and an incompetent just doesn’t seem to matter, for reasons I can’t fathom.

        • I think O’Mally is going to run and I think he will beat Hillary. Remember the last time Hillary was a shoe-in three years before the election. She got beat by some unknown first term Senator. Can’t remember his name right now. Hillary is always unbeatable until she runs. Then she get’s beat. New York doesn’t count. If you run as Democrat you are probably going to win.

        • Good point. And she fought nasty, too. The Hillary campaign was the first (or at least one of the first) “birthers.” From this time, I think she was also quoted as saying what a disaster an Obama presidency would be. I don’t know about the birth certificate, but she was at least correct about the latter.

  20. Cuccinelli had an uphill fight. The previous Republican governor was implicated in a scandal that rubbed off on Cuccinelli. He had a Trojan horse in the race who was there specifically to get the Democrat elected. His fundraising could not counter the massive amount of money that King Mike pumped into the Democrat’s campaign. Bloomberg has now effectively annexed Virginia as New York City’s most southern borough.

    If anyone thinks that this election turned on women’s issues, take note: women hate guns. Yes, there are some who don’t, but the fact remains that women hate guns even more than they hate their own fetuses. So if Cuccinelli had reversed course and declared himself to be the Second Coming of Margaret Sanger, he still would not have received the female vote.

    BTW, I am strongly in favor of abortion. I don’t think there’s enough of it.

    • You know, you’re right on that count, kids DO tend to get in the way of the progressive liberal life style, and since Democrats as a rule favor abortion, they should be encouraged to support it through liberal use of the practice.

      I’ve got plenty of extra wire coat hangers to give out should they come up short.

      • Don’t worry, abortion rates in blue states are already higher than in red states. Red states do lead on teen pregnancies, though.

        Figuring out why this does not translate to electoral wins for Republicans is left as an exercise for the reader.

    • More like annexed the Governor’s mansion and little else.

      I see a Virginia government shutdown in the offing when McAuliffe doesn’t get his way on medicaid expansion. However, he is going to get the blame and not the Republicans since more medicaid means much higher taxes.

      • He won’t get the blame while NOVA is populated the way it is. Maybe in the rest of the state not so much…

    • It appears to me that the issues of single women and Latinos determined the outcome in Northern Virginia. Married women must have voted for KC by some net margin. As for single women being against guns more than married women, I haven’t seen any studies. If they are, it’s just another mission for Dirk.

    • Not to mention the fact that there’s a distinct whiff of the national Republican establishment not wanting to dirty their hands in this race. The spend significantly more in the 2009 Virginia governor’s race than this one. They’d rather have a Democrat in office than one that’s liked by the Tea Party element that’s a threat to their power in the party. Shame on them.

      Plus, on a personal note, I’m in Richmond this week trying not to let smug McAuliffe supporters goad me into an argument. It’s not good for my blood pressure.

  21. “But to blame a major-party loss on third-party candidates is fundamentally mistaken. First off, it ignores data that the Libertarian pulled more votes from the Democratic candidate than he did from the Republican one—an exit poll of Sarvis voters showed that they would have voted for McAuliffe by a two-to-one margin over Cucinelli.”

    http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/06/stop-scapegoating-third-party-candidates-for-election-results/?iid=op-main-lead

      • Well if GWB wasn’t such a crappy president, Obama probably wouldn’t have been elected. So Obamacare WAS Bush’s fault!

        • Carrying on the theme. It was a third party (the Independence Party) in Minnesota who gave us O-care. Norm Coleman lost his bid for re-election to Al Franken when the Libertarian-like Independence Party ran a spoiler candidate allowing Franken, and a little a bit of fraud, to the race with about 42% of the vote. Franken was Democratic senator #60 allowing Reid to break a Republican filibuster on the healthcare law. Later on Scott Brown took Kennedy’s seat and that was what force Reid into manipulating Senate rules to pass the bill. However, there would have been no bill to play with if it was a straight up Coleman-Franken race.

      • Why is it insane? Why do Republicans insist on believing that their statism is somehow preferable to Dems’ statism for most Libertarians?

        • I am going to tell you something about social conservatives that is the polar opposite of your strawman. Get into your head we don’t care what you do in private. You be can be gay, crossdress, engage in B&D play or go to favorite private club for weekend orgies. Just don’t ask us to validate your lifestyle. What you want is for the government to force everyone else to validate lifestyles we don’t accept and then make us pay for whatever damage you do to your selves or the social order.

          I have this friend, actually she is my best friend, who used to have a nice job in the intelligence community. Ten years ago she decided she wanted to go off and be a prodomme. Well eventually she got outed and the neighbors really ostracized her. It was a pretty emotionally distressing experience for her. She is a good person, very kind and a great friend so I never had the heart to tell her what do you expect from people. B&D is not a normative activity. People are put off by it. You cannot force them to socially accept you as a person. Live with it.

          Your are not the Libertarian you claim to be. You are a bitter and tedious human being who wants the government to force people to bend to your will. So instead of spewing hate against people who think differently than you live with what ever foibles you have and if they are not consistent with social norms that is just too bad. All that is required from free society that you get ot do what you want in the privacy of your own home. What I don’t know won’t hurt me. or anyone else.

    • I appreciate Libertarian ideas, and I like Nick Gillespie’s writing in Reason. But he has an ax to grind, in his defense of the siphoning off of votes by the Libertarian candidate.

      I also distrust “exit polls” conducted and published by ABC, by a former ABC data cruncher, especially when cited by Time magazine. “Lies, damn lies, and statistics” applies here.

      The bottomline is politics at the Governor level, where it matters in a swing state like Virginia, is a knife fight. And this is a two-party system, no matter WHAT the Libertarians, and other fringe parties might like to imagine.

      And if we gun owners don’t remember that, and get out and vote (dems up 7%, repubs down 5% in turnout vs last time…)

      and give money where it matters,

      then we will get pwn’d as the gamers say, over and over again.

      So, yes, if you want to b!tch and obsess, and natter on about abortion, sex, or race, here, go right ahead- its your 1A right after all.

      On the other hand, if you want to talk about the Truth About Guns, and politics, then remember to keep it simple, a single issue- constitutional guarantess of our natural rights.

      And by the way, for those new to guns, that naturally leads the education process to other constitutional topics, where Democrats lose, once voters become informed of how they and their sponsors want to take away those natural rights, in favor of the nanny state.

      NY is already seeing the out-migration of jobs, and politicians are running for cover on the SAFE act. Wait until the manure hits the fan in VA, as McAuliffe doubles down in payback to his masters, and voters wake up to what the 47% chose for the rest.

      • I have to reminding people about political math. McAuliffe needs 51 votes in the House of Delegates to pass a gun bill. He has 35 votes. There will be no new gun laws in Virginia. Like the US House last spring, it will kill any bill that reaches the chamber. Even the State Senate will not pass a bill. There are enough pro-Second Amendment Democrats in the state senate who will stick with it because there is no possible upside for them to vote Bloomberg. Nobody is going down for a lost cause.

        • TDI,

          I know what you are saying. I had much of the same belief until McDonnell and moderate R’s decided to raise our sales tax and we now have an Amazon tax. As long as I live in VA, over the next 4 years, I will not feel safe with any margin in House of Delegates. We need to remain vigilant, because the little tyrant from New Yawk is going to want his payback for his investment. But I do believe Obenshain won the AG, so that helps a bit.

        • Thanks tdiinva, I did NOT know that info, and it makes me feel better about the legislative damage that McAuliffe can NOT do to Virginians –

          but I am thinking more of perception, and influence, from his Governor’s bully pulpit, generating support for Hillary, and other Dems who are demonstrably anti-gun, inside and more important outside of VA.

          That the MSM and Brady campaign seized upon it so quickly tends to validate the concern, and reminds me what an important position is the Governor. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the RNC didn’t pile back in as the momentum swung, even if they bailed earlier. But then again I have been sorely disappointed in the RNC twice in past presidential elections…

        • Jim:

          I understand your concerns but there is difference when your leader asks you to support his program and when your opponent asks you to do the same thing. In the former case you probably go along with it while in the later case you deliver the big F-You. It’s interesting that there is some polling evidence that even with all his problems McDonnell would have easily defeated McAuliffe if eligible for re-election. While he was an albatross around Cuccinelli’s neck he remains popular himself. Go figure.

          I also read article with the single/married demographic breakdown. A absolute majority of marrieds voted for Cucinelli. Singles of both sex voted for McAuliffe. You have to wonder if this a reflection of aphorism attributed to Winston Churchill.; “if you are not liberal when you are 20 you are soft in the heart but if are liberal at 40 you are soft in the head.”

      • Yes, this is a two party system. So when both parties are lame, the only way to deal with it is to throw at least one overboard. A two party system does not preclude that – there’s no law or implicit rule that requires one party to be Dems and the other party to be GOP. And parties have withered and died at the voting booth in this two-party political system in the past. Many people would say that such a shake-up is long overdue by now, in fact.

        • Technically, you are correct. As a practical matter, that doesnt mattter.

          What matters is winning. Libertarian and Independent candidates dont stand a chance in key state or national elections, and this is another example of why NOT to support them, in favor of principle, vs getting the win.

          The only way to reform a large well established system is from within. Key example being Ted Cruz in the Senate. He didnt get elected as an Independent or Libertarian candidate, as I recall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz

  22. Turnout was what, 30%? So the mega money-backed marionette managed to skate by with a meager plurality of a mini-minority? Strong mandate.

  23. For those hating on libertarians, the exit polling is showing that McAuliffe still would have won by 2%. Haven’t yet seen any exit polling from Virginia on the significance of gun control. I can’t imagine that exit polling on gun control was not done considering the parties involved in this race.

  25. Don’t be fooled like law abidign firearms owners in NYS. We got screwed by all the parties to include the republicans who allowed the safeact to go through. Now we’re trying to fight it in the courts which are full of libtards. dont go to sleep for a second and make this guys life hell.

  26. Does anyone think this sets up a recall effort like we have seen in CO? Mcauliffe might over step his bounds with some false confidence that has been pumped into him by obama and bloomberg. if only 40% of va voted what would make the other 60% come out… maybe having their rights stepped on?

    • Yes, everyone thinks that. Well, everyone except those who understand that what you’re suggesting is not legally possible in Virginia.

      • Baha’I didn’t look into it grad school has made me retarded in everything but my area of concentration

    • The only way that would happen is if McA managed to exourinate the media somehow, and they can find/invent something embarrassing/criminal enough to make him resign. Then you still have the LtGov to contend with. I’m not holding my breath.

  28. “The election of Terry McAuliffe as Governor of Virginia in a race with a high turnout, and high stakes is yet another demonstration of the changing tide on the gun violence issue. ”

    In the other Post Matt in Fla already demonstrated that “64.9% of eligible voters (in VA) did not bother to cast a ballot” So, “high turnout”? Hardly!! Spin! Spin! SPIN!!!! Just more Democrat lies. “Period.”

    This statement by the Brady Bunch is just laughable. Period.

    • Crossposting that comment.

      You know when this is all said and done, you know who both sides of this argument should have contempt for? Here’s a hint:

      Population of VA (projected), according to census.gov: 8,185,867
      Persons under 18, percent: 22.7%
      8,185,867 * .773 = 6,327,675
      Votes cast: 1,065,185 (D) + 1,010,335 (R) + 145,558 (L) = 2,221,078
      6,327,675 – 2,221,078 = 4,106,597 or 64.9% of voting age adults did not bother to cast a ballot

      That’s who you should have contempt for.

  29. Recall that ahole,and it wasn’t overwhelming,,he almost lost, the libatards probably paid the third party to run in order to split the votes,

  30. The Mark and Gabby show are also making a big deal about this:

    Last night, Virginians elected a pair of statewide candidates at the top of the ticket who campaigned on common sense solutions to reduce gun violence, and the results sent a powerful message to the rest of the country:

    Candidates who campaign on reducing gun violence — even in purple states — win elections.

    Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe: “I’m a gun owner and I’m a hunter. But I support universal background checks. My opponent and I differ on that.”

    Lt. Governor-Elect Ralph Northam partnered with Virginia Tech families to support universal background checks.

    And a third candidate who stands with us, State Senator Mark Herring for Attorney General, came from behind with our support and is heading into an apparent recount.

    Because of supporters like you, we were involved in each one of these important races, matching the NRA’s investment dollar-for-dollar.

    The more people learn about our big wins in Virginia, the greater the impact. So please join us in spreading the word about last night’s victories on social media or by forwarding this email to your friends. It’s important.

    Like & Share on Facebook | Spread the Word on Twitter

    This is why we started Americans for Responsible Solutions after the tragedy at Sandy Hook — to stand as a counterweight to the gun lobby in Washington, D.C. and all 50 states. And without your continued support of our efforts, victories like the ones we experienced last night wouldn’t be possible.

    Thank you for standing with us as we continue this fight.

    All the best,

    Gabby Giffords & Mark Kelly
    Americans for Responsible Solutions

  34. Anybody wanna buy a farm out in Rockbridge County, Virginia?

    I was going to retire there, but if I am not welcome, me and my money will go elsewhere.

  35. Outside Gun Ban Lobby money bought the election at a cost of $5 to $1 to eek out a narrow win. Bloomer should keep is punk self in NY and Cabbage Head Giffords and Mark Space Cadet Kelley should keep their worthless asses in Tx and stay out of Colorado and Virginia elections.

  36. I’m not going to read over 100 comments, so forgive me if this has been said by another commenter…

    McCauliff won not by a majority, but by the highest number of votes cast for a single candidate, because his opposition was split between two candidates. If the Libertarian Party candidate had not gotten so many votes, then most of those votes would have gone to Cuccinelli and he would have won.

    We need to change the way we do elections in this country. If no one candidate gets more than 50% of the voters, then we should do a runoff election between the top two candidates. If we had done this in this VA governor’s race, then Cuccinelli would have won the runoff election (between just McCauliff and him), and the people’s true favorite would have been elected. (If we had done runoff elections in Colorado, then State Senator Evie Hudack probably never would have been elected either.)

  37. The ‘Brady Bunch’ are going to find out how horribly wrong they are come the 14′ midterms. The gov shutdown and 8% points poached by the ‘losertarians’ sure helped the libtards (democrats).
    We are a two party system, meaning you support your favorite up to the point where there is no conceivable way they will become elected, then vote for the candidate that MOST reflects your views. Elections have consequences. This one will help Hillary (Earthmother) in 16′ (as it took place in a key electoral state). The libtards (democrats) LOVE supporting turd (third) party losers as a divide and conquer tactic. Wise up, all you morons on this forum who threw your vote away, thus electing the gun grabbing libtard (democrat).

    • How can anyone possibly not be swayed by your eloquently-crafted and cogent arguments? Truly you must have worked for years to learn to wield words with such beauty and grace. Someday I hope to be able to write like you, but for now I just sit at the feet of the master.

      • So your a millionaire like me who hates libtards (democrats) and their evil desire to take our freedom (firearms) while instituting a statist hell and false utopia. Glad we are both on board. See spot jump. Watch Jane run. Crack open a James Joyce if you want witty writing.

        • The only thing Joyce and I have in common, clearly, is being Irish and the desire to drink that comes with it. Well, that, and I do still have both eyes.

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