"Obama Hangover"

Via Drudge, from Boston.com:

As he is quick to point out, President Obama is presiding over two wars, a sour economy, and an epic fight to rebuild the nation’s health care system.

Now he has tacked on state and local political races. With an off-year election fast approaching, Obama is stepping up his commitment to Democratic candidates in hopes that an infusion of campaign charisma might pump up turnout.

What the party is finding, though, is that the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture. Some Democratic candidates running for local office around the country call the phenomenon the “Obama Hangover.’’ It is proving tougher to recruit volunteers and get people to vote.

[...]

Obama is trying to inspire voters with the “fired up; ready to go’’ fervor that made last year’s race riveting political theater.

But Democratic candidates are hard pressed to scratch out victories this year in the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races, and in a congressional race in upstate New York’s 23d District.

[...]

Worse for the Democrats, if any one constituency is energized this season it’s conservatives, who are angry about rising deficits, some pollsters said.

“There’s real anger on the right, and that anger isn’t matched by enthusiasm on the left,’’ said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “So the emotion is on the side of the far right.’’

A clean sweep by Democrats looks unattainable....

Virginia's off-year election is Tuesday, November 3. According to the Washington Post:

A year ago, the sidewalk would have been full of volunteers ready to fan out into the neighborhoods with satchels full of campaign fliers. But on Saturday morning, it was just Tiffany Quivers, standing in front of a Fairfax County strip mall in a "Seize the Day" T-shirt, getting a last-minute primer about the Democrats on the Nov. 3 ballot.

[Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor] has lagged in the polls since summer, especially among the independents who have been key to recent Democratic successes in Virginia. The campaign now sees its hope in rallying the core, liberal Democratic activists who have so far been uninspired by his candidacy and the broad coalition of minorities, young people and less-engaged voters who led Virginia to support Barack Obama after four decades of backing Republican presidential candidates....

In fact, BHO has become a liability for Creigh Deeds, the Democratic Party's candidate for governor of Virginia:

Deeds kept the president at a distance over the summer as the moderate and rural voters who have made up his base grew uncomfortable with Obama's domestic agenda.

Nonetheless, BHO will be campaigning for Deeds on Tuesday, October 27. The kiss of death for the campaign of Creigh Deeds? Very, very possibly.

The Democratic Party may well taste defeat here in Virginia.

And as Virginia goes in this off-year election, so typically goes the mid-term Congressional elections the following year.

If the Democrats do lose in Virginia, watch for a big temper tantrum from BHO.