In the op-ed, Deeds expressed his willingness and intent to raise taxes to meet his transportation plan's goals.

While Virginia has moved measurably to the blue end of the spectrum over the last 10 years, much of the state remains deep red.  The influx of more liberal-leaning folks into the Washington/Richmond/Norfolk corridor has transformed northern and eastern Virginia into a bluish substate. At the same time, vast swaths of the state west and south of Richmond have held onto their ruby red tradition.  The result renders Virginia more a blue and red state than a purple one.  In addition, the larger, predominantly-red areas to the west and south are much less urban than the more-concentrated blue pockets to the north and east.  This combination of delimiters is what makes Deeds' op-ed statements damaging and potentially fatal to his gubernatorial aspirations month after next.

Confessing the willingness to raise taxes is probably not the best idea in a battleground state like Virginia, but the expressed desired to raise taxes to fix transportation issues may be particularly acrid to voters in less urban, GOP strongholds already energized by the first 9 months of Obama's presidency.  McDonnell would be well-served to broadcast Deed's admission often, long and loudly across the southern Piedmont and western mountain regions of the state.  Turnout in these areas has not kept up with other side of the state in recent elections.  If McDonnell and the GOP will make these voters aware of what they face in terms of higher taxes for transportation "fixes" if Deeds were to win, I believe McDonnell will benefit from a massive turnout - relatively-speaking for this off-year election - large enough to provide a winning margin over Deeds in November.



Filed under:  Governors - 2009  Virginia - 2009  VA Governor - 2009 

Blunt has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997 and, as minority whip, has held the number two GOP position in the House.  His son, Matt, recently served as Missouri's governor.  Carnahan is Missouri's current Secretary of State and daughter of Mel Carnahan, a former governor who was tragically killed while campaigning for a senate seat and Jean Carnahan, who was appointed senator after her husband won that election posthumously.

With two strong candidates in a battleground state known for close statewide elections, Missouri's senate contest next year should be fun to watch.  Some folks have listed it as one of the more likely senate seats to switch hands next November - and well it may - but to The Blogging Caesar, this race will be true tossup all the way to Election Day.



Filed under:  Senate  Missouri  MO Senate 

Update:  This week's poll has been published.  The GOP's advantage stands at 4 points.  That's an improvement from last week but doesn't match the 7-point leads they enjoyed previously.  Rasmussen offers this explanation of the movement in the numbers over the last two surveys.

Update on the website rework:  I've completed converting all the previous content to the new format.  You may have already noticed some of the changes.  Each post now has it's own page with the title in the URL and in the browser title bar.  These particular changes were made with search engine optimization in mind.  But, that's not all that I have in the works.  For one, Mrs. Blogging Caesar will soon be getting in the blogging business treating such subjects as health, nutrition, gluten and other food allergies, as well other health issues.  And I will be adding to the topics I blog about too.  So, look for an expanded array of choices for your reading pleasure in the coming weeks.

Update:  Since I need to do a little more testing on my blogposter program, I thought I'd use the opportunity to explain a little bit about it.  Election Projection involves a lot of gadgets and formats which make it difficult to incorporate blogposting software such as wordpress for someone of my limited knowledge in that area.  So, to solve that problem, I've written a program to do that kind of thing for me - in a language, C++, that I do have experience with.  Well, here goes my test of the "Updating" function...

Update2:  We are back from the beach.  The family and I had a GREAT time!  Lots of miniature golf, swimming and eating.  The weather stayed nice until the very end - even though the forecast predicted showers during the latter part of the week.  Now back to blogging...



Filed under:  Website administration  The Blogging Caesar 

Aided by the slanted, disingenuous coverage of our stateside media, Obama's team has been allowed to perpetuate a lie about recent events there which have tested Honduran resolve to maintain the democratic process they have come to cherish.  According to mainstream media accounts, this two-month-long saga has been an unjustified subjugation of democracy in which an overzealous military "rousted Honduran President Zelaya from his bed at gunpoint and whisked him away--in his pajamas--to Costa Rica."  Honduras is now, they say, "deeply divided" and, they warn, "could easily spin out of control."

In order to punish the wayward beneficiaries of the military coup, the United States government has threatened to suspend aid to Honduras, and the U.S State Department announced last week that it would provide only emergency Visa service at the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa.  No non-emergency Visa requests will be considered.

Hold on now!  How about a little dose of reality?  The truth about the "coup" differs enormously from the tales coming from the press and the White House.  But these tales persist, not because the truth has been hidden, but because they fit the socialist template these liberal strongholds require.  To find the truth, one need look no further than a detailed account provided by the new president of Honduras in a recent Wall Street Journal Op-ed.  In this brilliant, clear and methodical telling of the events leading up to President Zelaya's ouster, interim President Roberto Micheletti lays out exactly why Zelaya had to be removed.

You should go read the whole thing, but in case you don't, let me include here Micheletti's list of key undisputed facts.  I have highlighted for emphasis much of these important bullets.

If you care to see just what measure of influence Chavez has had on Zelaya, you can read this article.  Chavez seduced the former right-of-center former president with the mother's milk of politics.  Again, my emphasis added.

Second, it's hard not to conclude that the Obama administration's foreign policy designs are firmly planted in cultivating solid, friendly relationships with socialist totalitarians.  President Zelaya, along with Mr. Chavez, looked to be another potential member of Obama's diplomatic inner circle.  Now that the democratic process in Honduras has attempted to remove that possibility, Obama's government seems ready to use whatever it can to restore Zelaya to the socialist dictatorial fold.

As I end, let me insert the last bullet in President Micheletti's list of undisputed facts.