Tuesday's Special Election Should Send Message

CQ Politics' Bill Pascoe (@wpascoe) makes a good point in his analysis of the results of yesterday's special election in the 37th Senate District.

Even as Republicans and conservatives approach giddiness and near euphoria over the state of the special election campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, the results of a special election in northern Virginia yesterday should remind them not to take anything for granted.

Pascoe's point in the article was that just because the GOP won a major victory by sweeping all three statewide offices and picking up seats in the House of Delegates, you still have to do the work and turnout the vote. It is clear from the election returns that those inclined to support Hunt simply did not show up at the polls yesterday in those areas where they could have made a difference - precincts that Ken Cuccinelli carried in 2007.

According to blogger Not Larry Sabato - Hunt flipped several precincts that Cuccinelli's 2007 opponent carried but had little or no margin of victory in precincts that Cuccinelli carried. Hunt also was skunked in the absentee ballots, losing them by almost 500 votes in an election that he lost by a total of 317 votes.

The lesson Pascoe point's out to the GOP rings true for gun owners as well. Every election is important and we must be engaged in those races where we can make a difference.

Losing this seat will impact our cause in the State Senate. Marsden is an NRA "F" rated candidate. Depending on who the Democrats tap to fill what was Cuccinelli's seat on the Senate Courts of Justice Committee (they will now fill that seat by having an additional member in the Senate) will decide our chances of getting pro-rights legislation out of that committee. With Deeds going squishy on the gun show issue, one more anti-rights vote could get the gun show bill out of committee.