Jonathan Martin has written a smart post-mortem of Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds' failed gubernatorial campaign. It comes down to the fact that Deeds waffled between running away from being a Democrat and running with the president, failing to convey a consistent message and exciting neither Democrats nor independents. Former Virginia governor and current DNC Chair Tim Kaine's comments in the story -- basically saying that Deeds should have run with President Obama as a proud Democrat -- should be taken with a grain of salt, given his current position, but I do think he's right. Kaine was also an advocate for not watering down the message. “I don’t think there’s a problem with just [saying], ‘Hey, gosh I’m a Democrat, and I’m proud of it, and let me tell you why,’” he said. “I don’t think you need to back away from it at all.”.Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner both proved that being a Virginia Democrat doesn't require short-changing either identity. It's a lesson that Markos Moulitsas emphasized in 2004 and 2006: Voters are suspicious of people who seem to equivocate about their partisan affiliations. Democrats want someone who will represent them, and independent voters respond well to a clear leadership agenda on the issues they find important. In Virginia, the latter voters were attracted to Bob McDonnell's jobs-focused campaign -- White House officials derided him as a "moderate Democrat" -- not his partisan ID; Deeds could have taken advantage of the same dynamic.Nationally, Democrats are going to be facing a similar choice in the coming year, both in government and on the hustings. The lessons couldn't be clearer: Equivocation doesn't win votes. Campaigning on a real agenda does. Running away from President Obama isn't the same as running away from the caricature of the national Democrats, and it doesn't seem to work. Moderate and conservative Democrats would do well to examine these ideas if they don't want to end up losing tough races next year.
-- Tim Fernholz
