Virginia Turns Blue!
So here we are, the day after the election. Obviously, Obama was declared the winner. Was it a close race like a lot of others predicted? No not really. Maybe earlier in the night when the first polls were just closing and the votes had only just begun being counted could the race have been considered close. Seeing as how Obama won some 70ish more electoral votes than he needed, I’d have to say the outcome was not too close, and I had never expected it to be close.
With that being said, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Virginia, my home state, go blue. I watched Virginia very carefully throughout the night, and somehow knew that this election, Virginia was going to change. It had been showing signs of change already. In 2006, Virginia did once again elect a Democrat, Tim Kaine, and that for me was somewhat of a foreshadow of things to come.
Early in the night, Virginia seemed to be holding its ground, and some of my Democrat friends were worried that Virginia may not be changing this time. Here’s how the precincts looked early on in the night.
However, Virginia is typically determined by the two counties at the very top of the state, Loudoun and Fairfax. Fairfax has been voting Democratic for a while now, so it didn’t surprise me that the county was declared a blue region. However, Loudoun, where I live, has been red for the longest time, and probably for as long as the state has been red. So, I was pretty surprised when I saw a 53-47 Obama victory in my county.
Essentially my vote mattered a whole lot more than most other people’s. Sure everyone’s vote counts, but let’s be honest, Obama was declared victorious only moments after the polls closed in California. Did they really have to painstakingly count the votes there? Probably not.
In reality Obama did not necessarily need Virginia to win. He won a lot of the battleground states, and I attribute that to excellent campaign management. Obama has an extremely coordinated grassroots campaign that was highly effective considering the global current events. You could maybe attribute some of it to luck, but in the end it looked like McCain was just not winning too many Independents voters and even disillusioned some of his own party.
For now though, we’ll see what the next four years brings.
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Let's Talk Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 3:01 am
I hope that the next four years will be the start of fixing what George has run into the ground. Here’s a very nice photo of Chicago last night, Make It Stop
Terry Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
Red or Blue doesn’t really matter. Did they vote for the guy that can put this country back on the right path is the question that should be asked.
Alberto Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
@Terry: True, we will see soon enough.
Let's Talk Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 9:28 pm
Terry I think that you asked a very good question “Red or Blue does not really matter. Did they vote for the guy that can put this country back on the right path is the question that should be asked.”
If I recall Obama has always said that we are not a red state nor a blue state, we are the United States of America.
About voting for the person that can put this country back on the right path. Just look at the path to Obama’s election. It was not a decision made by only African Americans but a decision made by all the people representing this country.
One example is, we are finding out from the press that Sarah Palin was qualified to be President and was not properly vetted. Click Palin
That tells us that McCain was not making smart decisions during this campaign and the quote that he made that the economy was sound. The next day Wall Street dropped.
So between the two men that America had to choose from, was not I think that America made the correct choice,
Let's Talk Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
Sorry for the typo, it should have said:
One example is, we are finding out from the press that Sarah Palin was not qualified to be President and was not properly vetted.
Alberto Said,
November 6, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
@Let’s Talk: I would definitely have to agree that Sarah Palin as a vice presidential choice was an error. It was an impulse decision to get someone the Republican base would like who also happens to be a woman to grab disillusioned Hillary supporters. I might be wrong, but it sure looked that way if you ask me.