This is starting to look like a replay of 2005, where Tom Kaine pulled ahead right at the end of the Virginia campaign. Four straight polls, all conducted this weekend, show Jim Webb ahead:
No matter the type of poll, it is all converging to a small, but real, Webb lead right now. He clearly has the momentum as the race draws to a close. Hundreds of people are showing up at every campaign event, and right now it is very easy to smell a big upset brewing in Virginia. When I do my Senate update, I will project Virginia as a Democratic pickup.
Whether Jim Webb is a progressive, a conservative, a libertarian, or whatever, it is becoming clear that campaigns which have the people-powered, progressive movement behind them are smashing all expectations this year. Look at Sacramento area candidates like Charlie Brown (CA-04) and Jerry McNerney (CA-11), who are both far surpassing expectations for competitiveness. Brown and McNerney might be substantially different from one another on the ideological front, but they have the movement fully behind them. The same can be said for Jon Tester, Ned Lamont and Jim Webb. All three are probably very different from each other ideologically, but all three won primaries where they were once way behind and opposed by the party establishment. All three have also significantly risen in the general election. That even goes for Lamont, who was down 24 points to Lieberman in the general election trial heat in the final, pre-primary Q-poll.
The people-powered movement can supply the resources to do remarkable things for Democrats of all kinds. Lame-ass, elitist, corporate Democrats who still view grassroots as a destructive, left-wing force on the party need to wake up and realize that the progressive movement does not only support progressive candidates. We are here for the good of the entire party, because as progressives we know we are all in this together. If only all Democrats held such an enlightened perspective.
