Democratic View

By Kristin Smith
ReporterMy fellow Democrats, Virginia is going to go blue this year and there is no doubt about it. The opposition is weak and is getting weaker every day, especially since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party, and also due slightly to the exposure of the many lies told by the republicans during the RNC.

The democratic strategy is clear and precise; push the republicans beyond their means. Not only is the Obama campaign forcing the republicans to spend money in places where they simply cannot afford to, but they are also exciting the base. Take Virginia for instance, formally a solid red state, now has more Barack Obama offices than anywhere else in the country. The Democrats are putting pressure on John McCain and forcing him to spend money and open offices in rural parts of a southern state that according to history have voted largely republican in the past. .

During the primary season, even when Barack Obama would lose to Hillary Clinton, he would still beat the winner of the republican primaries by hundreds of thousands of votes sometimes even millions. Which leads to my next point that the Democrats are stepping up to the plate to get Barack Obama and Joe Biden elected in ways which Republicans are ignoring. The Republican Party has yet to host any major voter registration drives in Virginia even though there are currently three major voter drives going on throughout the state with the help different Democratic groups.

Even the Longwood University Young Democrats have stepped up and started registering students every Tuesday and Thursday outside of the dining hall from five to seven. In fact, since 2006, two out of every three people that have registered have done so as a Democrat, resulting in a number which amounts to over half a million people.

There is however one race going on in Virginia this year that no Democrat is worrying about and that is the race for John Warner's senatorial seat. Democratic candidate and former Governor Mark Warner is so confident that he doesn't even seem to be campaigning and with nearly a thirty point lead in most national polls he really doesn't need to. His opponent who is also his predecessor for Governor is Jim Gilmore, yes, the same Jim Gilmore that lied to us all and said that he would cut all car taxes. Honestly though, Gilmore cannot really expect to win, especially when his opponent is the same man that took over for him as Governor and turned the state of Virginia into what was voted as "the best managed state in the country."

Even in the 5th district of Virginia, which is where we currently go to school, Representative Virgil Goode is getting a run for his money. The DNC declared his opponent Democrat Tom Perriello as one of the races to watch in this upcoming election. Some may remember Rep Virgil Goode for his derogatory words towards another member of congress for being a Muslim, well it can be well assured that unlike Goode, Perriello is willing to and has fought for people of all backgrounds. Tom Perriello has also already outraised the incumbent Virgil Goode by nearly two to one; Goode and Perriello are expected to debate at Hampden-Sydney in the upcoming month.

So basically what America is looking at right now is the most democratic administration since 1993. Not only is there an expected 10 seat cushion for the Senate but the House of Representatives is looking at having over a sixty seat margin. What this means for Virginians is a better and more stable economy, an increase in jobs, and finally the support for our military that it deserves. America will experience an almost utopia form of existence, we will finally leave Iraq and focus on the real enemy which is Afghanistan and under the supervision of our new Commander in Chief, Barack Hussein Obama, I am almost certain we will be war-free within the first two years of the new administration. No longer will Americans have to worry about healthcare, social security, or our civil liberties being infringed upon by the likes of the patriot act. The age of Neo-Cons will finally come to an end and America will reign supreme again. All the other nations of the world will once again look at us in awe, for it is time for America to return to its moral high horse.