Jim Gilmore: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

The Gilmore campaign has offered a clever but sad response to today's poll which shows Gov. Mark Warner leading Gilmore by 30 points in the race to replace John Warner in the U.S. Senate. In a letter to supporters, Gilmore's campaign manager Dick Leggitt writes:

You may have seen or heard of the new Washington Post poll which shows Mark Warner with a 30-point lead - very similar to the Washington Post poll taken almost a year ago. Do not be discouraged or disheartened by the Post's attempt to influence the U.S. Senate election. It is, after all the Washington Post. Their coverage is pro-Democrat, pro-Obama and pro-Mark Warner and voters who have watched the Post's unfair coverage of Republicans including John McCain, Sarah Palin and Jim Gilmore know this.

While the "liberal media" card is certainly nothing new from a Republican campaign, playing that card so fiercely, in the face of such adversity is pretty impressive. Unfortunately for Mr. Leggitt, the Washington Post is not the loyal Democratic shill that he describes. For his next "blame the liberal boogeyman" screed,  perhaps Leggitt should pick a publication that didn't write these things: 

"[REPUBLICAN Tom] Davis's skills in political strategizing are legendary. He has been known to recite election results from decades-old presidential contests and rattle off precinct results in his district with ease. A former Senate page, he has spent years studying Virginia and preparing for a Senate race, nurturing candidates near and far, contributing money and fostering relationships with party leaders in outlying parts of the state."

Theirs [Tom and Jeannemarie Devolites Davis] is a partnership of politics and ambition that formed a decade ago and grew into something more.

He was a powerful congressman. She was a fledgling state candidate with promise. A master politician with a national profile, he took her under his wing and found his life's love.

They both craved the game, and they both sought power. When he moved on to the Senate, she could run for his seat, or perhaps a statewide office in Virginia. Together, they made a life centered around these ambitions.

So it was that when [John] Warner, a Republican, spied Paul Wellstone, a senator from the other side of the aisle, he greeted him so warmly it bordered on a mauling.

"Quite a day, eh, colleague?" Warner said, his handshake evolving, as senatorial shakes are wont to do, into an arm grip, shoulder grip and neck grip.

Warner pulled in tight and whispered: "The hand of Providence reached down and touched us."

Setting aside the Post's romantic, flowing and quite touching prose, today's poll was co-sponsored by ABC News. If they too are part of the vast left-wing media conspiracy, don't you think they would have held back a bit instead of being the first to break the Jeremiah Wright story?

Lastly, back to the Washington Post, the very fact that they posted Dick Leggit's letter today, in full, without following it with "hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha" is a strong indication that the folks over there make an honest attempt to maintain objectivity, if not a slight right slant. Still, a decent effort by Gilmore and Co. to fire up the base and get out the vote, but it looks like as long as Virginia Dems continue to work as hard as they have, this one is about over folks.