Jim Webb almost lost my wife's vote today

The Virginia Democratic primary is June 13th, and the other day I realized that my family and I would be on vacation that day and unable to vote.  Fairfax County has in-person absentee voting up until the Saturday before election day (and they are open 10-6 on Saturday to vote) so we decided we would go today - this way we could take the kids as we always do and let them vote with us.

My wife and I were talking about it this morning and she asked who she should vote for and I said Andrew Hurst over Ken Longmyer for congress and of course Jim Webb over Harris Miller for Senate.  I thought all was well and good until my wife said "I don't think I can vote for Jim Webb."

Stunned, I calmly decided to be rational, I opened up both candidates' websites so I could compare the two side by side in their own words.  But let's reflect on why my wife had this view.

My wife was convinced this morning that Jim Webb could not beat George Allen.  She said that on election day when it's "D" vs. "R" it's ok to vote for the "D" without knowing much else, but if it's a primary and it's "D" vs. "D" then you have to vote for the better Democrat.  (This by the way is an impressive victory in its own right - before I got married, my wife was Republican.  Fortunately she's incredibly smart and once she got away from her Republican family and could see things rationally she switched allegiances.  George W. Bush also helped).  

Why was my wife convinced of this?  In the last 10 days, we have received 3 full color glossy mailers from Harris Miller, none of them talking about George Allen or even Harris Miller, but all blasting Jim Webb.  Basically calling Webb a Republican, and not just a Republican, a bad Republican.  The type of Republican even Republicans wouldn't want to vote for.  Not just that, but we have gotten robocalls from Harris Miller talking about how bad Jim Webb is.  And, my wife has seen Harris Miller commericals - in Northern Virginia, airtime isn't cheap.  Miller is spending a ton of money to win the primary.

On the other side, my wife has heard... well... nothing from Jim Webb.  In fact, the only reason (other than my talking about it) that my wife would know that Jim Webb was running was that Harris Miller is campaigning against him.  But she does know that Jim Webb hates women and is against any sort of women's rights, and was responsible for the tailhook scandal against women in the Navy (or so Miller claimed).  

So I had to sit down and point out that Miller endorses outsourcing technology jobs overseas (I work in the tech sector, so this hits very close to home).  Webb was endorsed by at least two major unions.  Webb voted for George Allen.  Miller sent personal money to Dennis Hastert's campaign.  Webb was Secretary of the Navy under Reagan - which will play very well with the military in the state, but was also against the Iraq war well before it began.  I could go on, but other diarists have done so far better than I could.

By the end of the conversation, my wife was sold (again) on Jim Webb, and I think I can keep her support solid enough for another hour so we can vote.  But Jim Webb's total silence and absence from mass communication has me concerned.  My hope is that Webb is banking on a really low turnout for the primary (which would be typical) and knows that among the die-hard primary voters he has a huge lead.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

My wife did make a comment though that makes sense - that Jim Webb being portrayed as "not a real Democrat" may actually be an asset in this state.  If the Democratic base is fired up but the middle of the road voters (who are moderate-to-conservative Republicans in Virginia) hear that he is "not a real Democrat" - meaning not liberal, then Webb may win enough of those moderate-to-conservative voters to beat George Allen, whose only claim to fame is that his dad was a football coach.

-Fred