there are republican candidates on the ballot in three big races tomorrow in three quite different electorates, but their fates say a lot about the political moment. in virginia, the attorney general, ken cuccinelli, the pro transvaginal ultrasound tea party candidate, is limping his way towards an embarrassing defeat in a state that is reliably republican at the state house level, where the current governor, bob mcdonnell, won handily three years ago. in new york city, which hasn t elected a democrat in 20 years, republican candidate jim loada is about to get trounced most likely with loyalists referring to 1950 charges of communism against bill de blasio. and in new jersey, governor chris christie is a study in contrast, particularly compared to ken cuccinelli. christie appears to be waltzing into an easy re-election, having successfully mastered the atmospherics, if not the
what he intends to do out of this election is win big, maybe by 20, 25 points. cuccinelli will have a solid loss in virginia. the narrative is going to be exactly. i am the one who knows how to win. and he s been saying this in his speeches. pea says republicans in the other 49 states will be looking to new jersey to see how to win, and he s going to go to these republicans and say you need to change in order to win. the republican pace is very good at resisting that message, but the question, how long can they go on getting beaten up and losing and continue to resist it? the other thing is the establishment candidate always wins the republican primaries for president and they said this about mitt romney about john mccain, he s too moderate to win, he s a rhino. they get beat up in the primaries. but i think chris christie s banking on a strong enough personal appeal and people intuitively trust him. i ve found out going around new jersey yesterday and today, the first thing pe