Well, when moving back to Virginia, I was a bit bummed out to be moving out of the exciting political arena of Ohio. In Ohio I truly found my vote counting as Ohio shows the heartbeat of the nation. They decide every presidential election as they waffle back and forth between republican and democrat.

In VA it’s a whole other story. We’re a conservatie state and generally vote republican. However, with more and more governmental jobs opening up in Northern VA, we have seen a greater influx of democratic voters. Still, I have always felt as though my vote does not mean as much since you can generally predict the outcome of a November election in Virginia come January 1. You simply go down the ballot of hopeful candidates and issues and choose the republican/conservative items.

The problem with voting on party line alone, you do not truly learn about your candidates. I cannot in good conscious claim either party or vote on party line. I have voted cross the board in the past.

I just heard that 33,000 votes are still be counted in Fairfax. This is a major suburb of DC and so while there are plenty of natives, a lot of people there are the new move-ins that could swing the area even more democratic. This is the home of most of Virginia’s democrats. The majority of the state is filled with conservative republicans. Generally speaking, our democrats are fairly conservative in comparison to most.

At this point, the news channels have the democratic candidate ahead while the VA secretary of state has the republican candidate ahead. So who knows where we are going. But with Fairfax being the deciding factor, I’m going to say there’s a high chance that we’re going for Webb. The difference is hardly 2,000 now, but how quickly that can change with so many heavily democratic votes still to count. Our state law requires though that a vote this close be recounted.

The bad thing about a Webb victory is that it now looks like he will be the deciding factor for the Senate. It could come down to him with Senate currently at 49 Democrat to 48 Republican at this point. If Webb wins, Senate is going to the Democrats. I am not a republican or a democrat, but I do not like this. Do not cheer if you are a democrat. Webb is not a true democrat. He’s actually a republican.

What? Sacrilege!

I kid you not! Researching the two, I could barely find a difference. It boiled down to the fact the incumbent was a Republican. So Webb ran on the democratic ticket. I know plenty of people went in and voted for him purely because of that without realizing he might not quite be what they were hoping for as a democrat.

Webb was a marine and has a son who is a marine. He may be toting the party line of the democrats these days with the Iraq war, but this guy has been in the trenches. He knows we can’t remove our troops. He knows we still have troops in Japan and Germany. He knows better than most that once the United States moves in to occupy a country because of a war, we never fully move out. Not only that, he’s a published author who is on the Commandant of the Marine’s reading list. He’s most definitely pro-military and pro-gun. He’s definitely not conservative in his writing, but that’s OK. He wrote about marines, for marines. I’ll leave it at that. His books were a bit much for me, however my husband enjoyed them when he read them while serving a year in Okinawa, separated from his family for absolutely no discernible reason.

So if we actually see the Senate head toward the Democratic side, it’s not going to be by much of a margin. And I have a theory that Webb will not be quite the win that many are hoping for. I honestly look at, as far as VA is concerned, a win by either Webb or Allen as the same result. They are just too similar on far too many issues. But on a national level, with it looking like the Senate might possibly be only one vote over majority… it’s a whole different ball game.

Now, my personal view on a Democratic Capital Hill with a Republican White House is not positive. I don’t care who the people are. This will lead to our federal government grinding to a complete and total halt as the bickering starts up. I’ve seen it happen, and it’s never pretty. Stupid items put into laws and fingers flying as to who’s fault it is. “OH you wanted that? The president vetoed it!” “But, Congress put in this stupid item that I couldn’t pass.” I hate it when the two are at odds. Especially so close to the end of a particular president’s stint. It just never goes well, truthfully. All because the ever so wonderful politicians in Washington cannot play together well. They are worse than preschoolers! We might as well let the neighbourhood Minnieland run the country as they’ll get along easier.

I need to head to bed, but it’s been exciting to be in a state that matters again! However, I’m very discouraged. Mostly because of the probable grinding of political gears as well as the possible not-win of the Senate to the Democrats. I am elated to no longer see moronic political ads from either party. All I care about right now is whomever is in office when my satellite bill heads to the hill later this month, they use their brains to give me back my channels. I’m also discouraged that Senate might go towards the Democrat when not really being democratic. Seems like a disappointing win for the democrats and leads me to question as to what will truly happen. Will the conservative Webb vote more with the Republicans, or will he feel he must support the democratic party that put him on the ticket?

–Lady Ozma

OK, the worst and most evil sentance said in this entire process: “Blue America has moved across the Potomac into the Confederacy.” I would like to say as a Virginia native, we are NOT part of the Confederacy. Do not refer to us in that way. To us now, all the stupid war 150 years ago meant was 1. We got torched over and over and 2. Now 150 years later we have to hear about it for 12 years of 13 in school. Stop with the southern cracks. We’re Mid-Atlantic. Enough said.