understand, but it occurs to me from a distance, larry, that youngkin has created the playbook. even if he loses in a tight race, he s created a playbook for how you appeal to the trump base but still maintain a distance from the former president. my view is that trump wants to be close enough to lay claim for the victory if it happens. but far enough away to say well, wasn t me, because youngkin never allowed me to come into virginia. talk to me about the trump factor. sure. it worries me, michael, that you do understand how trump s mind works. what you just said is exactly right. he comes in, not physically, but he comes in to make, i think the fifth or sixth endorsement of glenn youngkin, the day before the election. so if he wins he can say, look at the difference i made, they elected a trump republican. and if youngkin loses, he s going to say did you see how youngkin avoided me?
referendum on trumpism. the torchbearers were trying to forcing the issue. joining me now to discuss is dr. larry sabito, a professional of politics, congratulations, larry, on a 50-year association with uva. i m told you began when you were age 6. i thought that tony morrison s beloved was the 11th hour intangible in this race. it turns out it s tiki torches. how do you see it? who benefits? well, it was ill-advised, let s say that, first of all, very ill-advised. because right now, maybe people outside of charlottesville don t know this, there s a major civil suit unfolding that will probably go on for weeks and weeks where the neo-nazis, the unite the right rally people,
walk the line without offending trump supporters. that s why he doesn t want to talk about donald trump but he wants to benefit from his base talking about critical race theory, quote, unquote, refusing to say in september whether he would have certified the election had he been in congress. you know, it s a line and that s why this is one of the reasons it s such a big bellweather election, because they re testing a 2022 post-trump strategy in virginia. you have to understand the overall dynamic historically in virginia has actually been what swings the governorship to the opposite party from what the president was just elected from. right, with mcauliffe being an exception. larry, you ve got a democratic candidate very critical of some of his own democrats the last few weeks for not getting this infrastructure bill over the finish line. what happened last night? another delay. what does that mean for mcauliffe? it sure doesn t help him.
talking about how it s he and he alone on the ballot. on the ballot is virginia against terry mcauliffe, and it s amazing what s happening right now, because, boy, these polls are really showing this momentum. polls don t win elections, votes do. but what s happening right now is you can see virginia just racing by terry mcauliffe. virginia is racing by him. from different backgrounds a and creeds on the trail we are not likely to see trump at these large elections. he is likely to stump alone. larry sabito s crystal ball newsletter. someone who lives and works in
chance? well, look, i ll start with what o rourke said last night, true to form, beto o rourke has had his name beto since childhood and there s pictures of him wearing t-shirts calling him beto so to say he changed his name is not true. cruz, ben s right, like traditional politic, you say all sorts of things about each other and then come back together. senator cruz is a true leader who can really lead the state and inspire not just the people of texas but around the country to get involved. look at his fund-raising. he has raised more money than any other senator running for the senate seat. online and what about out of state? no pac money. a lot of it out of state. o rourke is the future of texas and the future of this country. larry, you know, is cruz s defeat on the presidential campaign trail, you know, largely explaining why this is such a tight race? that s one reason, fred. we ve actually seen this over the years, a number of cases.