Virginia: The Triumph of Experience Over Hope
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2005.26.0.245-265Abstract
Each fall, the nation’s newspapers’ Sunday comic sections include a classic representation of unfailing optimism confronting harsh reality. Lucy Van Pelt, the crabby protagonist of “Peanuts” fame, once again offers the eternally hopeful Charlie Brown the opportunity to relish the thrill of place-kicking a football into the crisp autumn air. Though he knows he’s been cruelly tricked before, each year Charlie Brown finally succumbs to the possibility that this will finally be his year. As he races toward the ball, Lucy once again snatches it off the ground, leaving our hero flat on his back, ruing his gullibility. Every four years, Virginia’s Democrats approach the Presidential election with much the same script. With varying degrees of encouragement from presidential candidates and national party leaders, the only question confronting them seems to be how close they can get to the ball before it is snatched away. In 2004, the ball stayed on the ground longer than usual, but ultimately Virginia once again cast its electoral votes for the Republican ticket in the national election. President George W. Bush defeated Senator John F. Kerry by a margin of 53 to 45 percent, almost identical to the 2000 election results despite a significant expenditure of resources on behalf of Kerry.References
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