From the ground in Virginia | TechRepublican.com

Patrick has a good post on the Virginia election. I was working a bit with Lynn Chapman to unseat a one-term Democrat for the 32nd delegate seat in Loudoun county (west of Fairfax). We failed.

Loudoun has been the fastest growing county in the country for the past few years. Major issues: traffic, education, taxes, immigration in that order. The Dulles Greenway (which goes part Dulles airport) costs about $3.50 per pop and is going up to $5 dollars in the next 5 years. There are 12 elementary schools in the main town of Ashburn (there were two schools 9 years ago). Immigration is challenging but not a HUGE deal like in neighboring Herndon.

The main challenge for the GOP is the purple-ing nature of the county. The blueness of the counties that surround the Beltway are moving out here for larger houses and more land. Loudoun county had a bare majority last year for the marriage amendment and some precincts voted against it overwhelmingly. Here's what I found post-mortem:

No meticulous local GOTV. The local campaign managers had a targeted list of GOP activists and supporters but basically "hoped" they would come out to vote. There were plenty of poll boosters giving out sample ballots and literature but there were no poll watchers to call back the people who had and had not voted. (Note: the Dems didn't do this either... but it was there for the taking).

Robo calls for GOTV are ineffective. Basically, Richmond set up a massive auto-call to remind people to vote on Monday. No call on Tuesday and no one called in person.

Mailers crafted in Richmond will not work. While 2nd amendment issues were prominent in one race in Fairfax they had no bearing on the race out here. The RPV sent out 2 big glossies touting NRA endorsements and gun rights... a non issue for the new Suburban-ites in Loudoun.

Lack of coordination across local candidates on the GOP side. Small entrenched factions for supervisor and other offices worked together ignoring other new GOP candidates trying to take a stand.

No bussing of support for the GOP. The Dems got the local unions to ship a gambit of people into town and literally lather the town in Dem candidate sinage. Of couse sinage isn't everything but its one thing we didn't do.

That's my 2 cents.

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