We used to say that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  But sometimes it is also true in politics.  Ronald Reagan lost to Gerald Ford in 1976.  Ford, the Republican Establishment candidate went on to lose to Jimmy Carter.  But the fact that Ronald Reagan came close to beating an incumbent President during a primary election set the stage for the Reagan revolution four years later.

Cuccinelli lost in Virginia, which is a bad thing.  It is hard to imagine a worse Governor than Terry McAuliffe.  But to people who study this objectively, this was a very bad result…for Democrats.  McAuliffe outspent Cuccinelli $34 million to $19 million.  In addition, by all accounts, Cuccinelli ran a terrible campaign.  He didn’t even know enough to respond to the endless personal assaults by McAuliffe.  In addition McAuliffe flew in all the Democratic heavy hitters to push him over the line.  This included Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.  It should not have been close.  But McAuliffe didn’t even get a majority of the vote.  He only won because an Obama bundler funded a “libertarian” candidate to syphon off votes from Cuccinelli.

What turned this around at light speed was ObamaCare.  Cuccinelli started to make this a referendum on ObamaCare over the last couple of days and the results were dramatic.  Against all odds, he almost pulled it off.  McAuliffe won by the skin of his teeth.  If the election had been delayed a week, McAuliffe probably would have lost.  Contrary to what you may read in the newspapers or hear on television every qualified Democratic strategist understands this.  Unless things change around overnight, Democrats are going to start deserting Obama at a pace that will stagger the imagination.

The disaster called ObamaCare has set off a political tsunami that came very close to sweeping Terry McAuliffe out certain victory.    That tsunami is growing stronger and wider every day and the devastation on the American political landscape will be beyond imagination.  Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, with one exception.  Sometimes, in politics, it matters very much indeed.

TDM