Comments on: It’s A Convention. So What?

By: Riley, Not O'Reilly

Riley, Not O'Reilly — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:06:08 +0000

Looks like Veronica showed her true colors on NLS:

Look out all you NoVA guys. We’re going to pick up 2 in central.
Go Carlos!
Go Albert!

Posted by: veronica corningstone | March 15, 2007 at 01:47 PM

http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com/doh/2007/03/pollard_is_in.html#comment-63342540

By: Riley, Not O'Reilly

Riley, Not O'Reilly — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:53:45 +0000

Sure they had until 5 yesterday. But there is that little issue of having proper notice to hold a meeting at which the decision would have to be made. In this case, a meeting could not have been held before the deadline.

So what if Moultan tried to remove Chichester? As you said, the move was defeated. Woulda, shoulda, coulda…

By: veronica corningstone

veronica corningstone — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:55:19 +0000

They had until 5 yesterday to make the decision as to primary v/ caucus. While Chichester certainly waited until the 11th hour, the party did have the opportunity to make a choice.

And Moulton attempted to remove Chichester from the party (ultimately defeated), which would have given him control of the process before Chichester retired.

By: Riley, Not O'Reilly

Riley, Not O'Reilly — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:44:52 +0000

Veronica, had John Chichester chosen to run for reelection, state law grants him, not Russ Moulton, the choice between a primary and a convention. Now, with it being an open seat, it would be up to the party to decide between the two. HOWEVER, John Chichester waited so long to announce his retirement that we are passed the deadline to request a primary and therefore a convention MUST be held to nominate the candidate.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:40:09 +0000

What party registration does is forever cement the Republican party and the Democratic party in our political structure.

Not a good thing in my opinion. Especially in light of how far they have strayed from who they are “supposed” to be.

By: Conventions are still not the Silver Bullet « Renaissance Ruminations

Conventions are still not the Silver Bullet « Renaissance Ruminations — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:28:31 +0000

[…] Posted by bwana on March 15th, 2007 With the “No Mas” announcement by John Chichester, the political maneuvering in Virginia 28 has commenced as to whether a convention or primary should be used to nominate his potential successor. This is a matter of no small controversy, as seen at NLS and BVBL. […]

By: Bwana

Bwana — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:46:53 +0000

Yes, we would…

There is a difference between the party activist who will be sure to vote no matter the venue or the time commitment and the run of the mill voter who typically votes for the party nominee in the general and maybe in a primary, will vote GOP at the election.

There are issues in deciding on a convention or primary that go beyond crossover voting between parties. There are also questions of accessibility to voters of various ideological stripes and interest within a party.

Party registration does not obviate these issues…

By: 10thdistrictrepublican

10thdistrictrepublican — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:19:57 +0000

We would not be discussing any of this if Virginia had party registration.

By: Veronica Corningstone

Veronica Corningstone — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:52:54 +0000

This is a big deal because Russ Moulton purposely took over the S28 nominating committee to remove Chichester from office- and he said so in public. Moulton represents the most extreme social Republican elements in the party, and is not the best representative of the party or the district. He crafted a committee and a process to get as extreme a candidate as possible.

So it wasn’t that Chichester was relying on Democrats to nominate him. With the deck completely stacked against him in a convention he needed a primary to allow the actual Republicans (fiscally conservative, respectful of privacy issues) the opportunity to have their voices heard.

By: Not Larry Sabato

Not Larry Sabato — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:46:50 +0000

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

By: Greg L

Greg L — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:44:12 +0000

I understand your previous commentary on the lawsuit that Cuccinelli is engaged in, but I take issue with the implication that this necessarily benefits a conservative unless you’re saying there’s some intent by “moderates” to try to ram their candidate through a nomination process by encouraging Democrats to participate in a primary contest. A convention benefits those who work hard. Regardless of what ideology a candidate represents, that opportunity to win is dependent on nothing other than legwork.

By: Not Larry Sabato

Not Larry Sabato — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:18:30 +0000

What a bunch of crap! I didn’t imply any opinion on what happened. If you look at my history, I am a big proponent of the Cuccinelli lawsuit to shut down the crossover voting.