Wednesday-morning quarterbacking

I generally "do" only local politics, but I'm gonna step out and talk a little bit about yesterday's results. First off, while it was thrilling to see Jerry Kilgore lose (I guess Virginians just weren't ready for a governor so in touch with his feminine side), I'm not sure Tim Kaine's victory should make Democrats delirious with joy (read his issues page). Both men are social conservatives--pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage--and neither had a plan for dealing with the state's real issues, such as our wheezing transportation system, that sounded as if more than a few moments of thought went into it.

Still, Kaine was more liberal than Kilgore on immigration and wild exurban growth, so it's not all bad news for left-of-center Democrats. Nor is the fact that his victory put the lie to the Times-Dispatch's claim that Kilgore's "philosophy generally reflects Virginia's philosophy." These days, a typical Virginian is as likely to be a naturalized Salvadorean Catholic as a branchwater-and-bourbon Episcopalian who went to all the right schools, and until Richmond's paper finds a way to speak to the whole state, its pronouncements are gonna appear ever more anachronistic and provincial.

Locally, the election of C.T. Woody as sheriff looks like another signal that Richmond politics are changing. There was a time that a buffoon like Michelle Mitchell could serve as long as she liked, painting her name on everything that wasn't nailed down instead of doing her job and fixing blame on others when she got called on it, but with her defeat and Mayor Wilder's surprising tenure so far, is it too early to forecast an end to cronyism and incompetence in city government? Probably, but let's take this as a promising sign to the contrary.

Finally, I'm thinking of sending Norman over at One Man's Trash a bottle of Scotch to get him through the next few days, but perhaps he'd rather wait until January for it.