Early in the gubernatorial campaign, it was smart politics for Democrats to try and tie Glenn Youngkin to Donald Trump. They trotted out the two pieces of tape (audio or video) where Youngkin had said anything nice about the Don-Don, and played it ad nauseum on the airwaves.
But the gambit seemed not to work, either in having voters connect the very un-Trump-like (personality-wise) Youngkin with the former president, or in goading Trump into a tirade response that could then be used by Democrats for the remainder of the campaign.
A little later, Democrats tried again, with a flurry of mailers (I got one) that appeared to be from Trump himself, pledging his support for Youngkin. Only they were put out by the Democratic Party of Virginia. Tacky, but perhaps it fooled a few.
By that point in the campaign, it was becoming clear that Democrats were on the defensive and that Terry McAuliffe was having a hard time enunciating why he actually should be governor. (Shades of Ted Kennedy’s horrific rollout of his attempt to unseat Jimmy Carter, for those who like their history.)
Perhaps having arrived at panic mode, Democrats tried it again in the sparsely attended rally in Arlington Tuesday that attracted President Biden. Conservative media outlets spliced together all the Trump references made by Biden and McAuliffe at the event, and got a good chuckle out of it. One wonders if there are any voters left actually paying attention?
The tactic, ham-handed as it is, may work; there’s no question that Trump’s election in 2016 heavily scarred the GOP brand in Northern Virginia. Democrats just have to convince enough of those folks that a vote for Youngkin is a vote for Trump, and they’ll have a big leg up when it comes to the final result.
Will it do the trick? One guesses no, unless the Don-Don simply can’t restrain his baser impulses and decides to insert himself into this race at the last moment. No doubt the Youngkin team is holding its collective breath and won’t be willing to exhale until Tuesday at 7 p.m.
All the emphasis on Trumptrumptrumptrumptrumptrumptrump also suggests that Democrats, who are beleaguered for the moment at the state and national level, simply do not have positive messages that resonate with the swing voters. Otherwise, those messages would be the focus, not a warmed-over rendition of the same thing that started the campaign all those months ago.
Just a couple more days until this is all over. Or so we all can hope.
SEND ME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE, DR. FAUCI: Because the federal-government messaging about COVID and vaccines hasn’t been confusing enough, now the CDC is telling people that if they have “mood swings” they should go to the front of the line and get COVID booster shots.
Mood swings? My entire life is a [flipping] mood swing, and the only reason I typed “[flipping]” is that I think I’ve used up my weekly allotment of the alternative in recent blogs. (See how stressed I am: I’ve never used such improper language before. Ah-hahahahahahahahahaha!)
Anyway, with two jabs already in me, I’m in no big rush to get the next. Let me know when us “normies” (the ones not over 65 and with no real or imagined underlying conditions) should stand in line. Because if having mood swings is the determinant, everyone I know will be there.
ANOTHER MONTH SHOT TO HELL: Come Monday it’ll be a new month. Goodbye, October; hello, November!
- Scott McCaffrey