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Again, some took this as a not so subtle reminder that if Wilder were elected lieutenant governor and something happened to the governor, Virginians would have a black man as their chief executive.
Politically, all this is the oldtime religion in Virginia, and there is no doubt that in some circles it will help the GOP cause. In others however, it will have the opposite effect. At bottom, it is probably no better than a wash in 1985.
But at this point, with those three weeks still to go, the message of the polls seems clear. The Republican ticket in Virginia, from top to bottom, is in deep trouble and its trouble may be deepening.
My Republican source summed it up.
“The polls don’t surprise me a bit,” he said. “The entire fall campaign has been a disappointment. If we don’t get this turned around in the three weeks we’ve got left, I expect our entire ticket to go down the tubes, and we’ll be looking at another 1981 — a Democratic sweep — and I’m including Doug Wilder in that sweep!”
In which case, of course, on election night, Nov. 5, for the Virginia GOP there would be no Dickensian balance.
It will simply be the worst of times.
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