---

---

Published: June 17, 2009
By Ken Odor
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

But only about 6 percent of registered voters bothered to turn out to take part in the process that chose him.

The man referred to is state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, who won a convincing victory in last Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the party’s nomination for governor.

Deeds will square off against former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee, in a rematch of sorts of the election four years ago when McDonnell squeaked by with 360-vote margin in the election for attorney general.

Stories abound of endless robo-calls to likely voters before and during Election Day, to the point that some folks report they just stopped answering the phone.

And voters were also inundated by television commercials for the candidates, particularly from top money-raiser Terry McAuliffe, who saw an early lead in the public opinion polls vanish into thin air in the last days of the campaign.

So it’s unlikely that many can claim they were unaware that the primary was being held as an excuse for their absence from the polls.

Still when the dust settled, about one out of every 16 registered voters turned out statewide to settle the question of who would be on the ballot for governor in the fall for the Democrats.

And in many districts where there were no Republican nominations being decided by primaries, voters who normally favor the GOP were eligible to vote in last week’s primary too.

One thing the turnout shows is that you can’t “buy” an election, as Deeds raised and spent far less than second place finisher McAuliffe.

Political junkies like this writer are always astounded by low turnout by the voters. To many of us it’s hard to understand why voters don’t vote in any and all elections, given how little time it takes and how easy it is.

Only total disinterest or perhaps cynicism toward the governmental process would seem to explain the stay-aways.

At any rate, with the primaries and the convention done, prognosticators are already hard at work handicapping the fall election.

Things are different for McDonnell and Deeds this time than they were four years ago, when George Bush was president and both Virginia Senators were Republicans, so it’s hard to predict which way the all important independent voters will break with a new team in power.

Consensus has it that after a string of Democratic victories, Virginia is no longer a red state but leans toward blue these days.

One thing’s for sure and that is national political observers will be watching the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey for an indication of the public’s satisfaction or disapproval of the policies of President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress in their first year in power.

Let’s hope turnout will be robust in the fall.

And while we’re hoping, we encourage folks to write the Gazette with their opinions on politics at all levels, from the Board of Supervisors and the School Board on up to the highest office in the land, not to mention your opinions on the myriad of other matters important to the local community.

Help us facilitate a healthy debate on the issues of the day, local, state and national, with your letters to the editor.

So write us when you agree with us and write us when you don’t too.

We look forward to hearing from you.

---