Joe Murray Almost Wins Inside the Beltway and Huck PAC Announces it's VA Endorsements

Last night in Virginia's special election to replace retiring Delegate Brian Moran in the 46th district Republican Joe Murray only lost by 16 votes.  He ran a smart and competitive campaign inside the beltway and almost won.  People are already analyzing the impacts of the Democrats almost losing a seat in Northern Virginia that Obama carried with 75% of the vote in November.  At the very least the Democrats will have to think twice when they think about picking up and holding seats in NOVA this year.  Also Delegate Moran, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor, will have to work extra hard to convince Democrats that he can win in NOVA since he hardly held onto his own seat.

One thing I noticed while following the race for Brian Moran's seat was that the Democrats seemed to be taking the race for granted.  The Democratic Party of Virginia's website spent all its time celebrating its 2008 victories and never prominently mentioned any of the past three special elections on its website.  On the other hand, the RPV was promoting the race on its homepage as well as on its networking site.  The next time the state Democratic Party ignores a race in NOVA the consequences may be even more severe.   

Huck PAC just recently made its first endorsements for the 2009 election cycle.  It endorsed Bob McDonnell for Governor, and Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General.  With its new National Volunteer Team it will be interesting to see how much of an impact these endorsements have on the race.  If nothing else these endorsements should help activate the Virginia grassroots supporters who campaigned for Mike Huckabee, and get them campaigning for Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli.  With the recent endorsements from Bobby Jondal and Rudy Giuliani for Bob McDonnell it is also great to see national Republican figures rallying around Bob McDonnell.