Blood In The Water: Warner Only At 53%

Rasmussen just did a poll for the yet-to-be-started Virginia Senate race, and Mark Warner, oh ye-of-70% approval, has a 15 point lead on Jim Gilmore. Not too bad, consideirng people were saying Warner was up by 30 points a few months ago. More interestingly, is that Warner is only at 53%, which means there are plenty of voters out there for Gilmore to go out and win. With the weak showing of Hillary Clinton in Virginia, and I believe she will be the nominee, Gilmore has all the oppurtunity to make this into a real fight. Don't get me wrong, I wish my guy was up by 15, but my guy WAS up by 15 last go around and we know what happened there.

I'm writing a little more here than I did on my blog. What this shows is that, even before this race starts, is that Virginians aren't sure about Mark Warner. The number that Democrats continually throw in our faces is that Mark Warner had a 70% approval rating when he left office, and its that number that is given the Dems the sense of superiority in this race. Also, its was believed that Warner was up by 30 points before this. What Jim Gilmore needs to do, and what George Allen did not do, was focus on specific issues and forcing Mark Warner to answer them. Gilmore needs to be on the offensive at all times, and pound Warner into the ground. Nothing is more representative of Mark Warner than his campaign homepage, which is a self-serving blog that is completely devoid of issues. There is no page on specific issues and where Gov. Warner stands on them. Nothing on taxes (though I bet I know where he stands there), Iraq, health care, education, et al. Its telling, because that is the campaign Mark Warner wants to run . . . coasting through Virginia, flashing his toothy grin and laying claim to everything good that has happened in this Commonwealth since Jefferson. But in this hyper-political season, with a wide-open Presidential race, Warner won't be able to stay quite long, and its clear with these polling numbers that Jim Gilmore will have the oppurtunity to lay into Warner's record and lack of vision or explaination as to what he will do in the US Senate.

We know what kind of US Senator Gilmore will make . . . on that is a true conservative who will fight for low taxes, victory in Iraq, and free enterprise.