Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who hung onto his seat by the skin of his teeth in 2010, now seems to think President Obama is in trouble in Connolly’s home state:
Would President Barack Obama win Virginia, if the election was held now? Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., doesn’t think so.
“In my opinion, no, today he would not win the state,” Connolly said on The Politics Program With Mark Plotkin Friday.
Some fascinating reasoning there:
Why wouldn’t Obama win? Connolly cites the growing diversity, particularly in Northern Virginia, for changing the state’s political landscape.
“There is no question in my mind that President Obama can make a comeback and will win Virginia,” Connolly said.
The state is growing more diverse, so that hurts the president? Wait, I thought that the Ruy Teixiera argument was that America’s increasing diversity meant that Democrats were certain to win by ever-wider margins, fueling an ever-larger Emerging Democratic Majority™?
The Republican party of Virginia notices that President Obama’s Labor Day speech bashed right-to-work laws . . . probably a tough sell in right-to-work states like Virginia.