It's definitely a bigger hill for a Republican to climb in a city that's heavily Democratic like Charlottesville. The situation has to be right, and the candidate has to be right, for a Republican to win. |
More often, it's people who already have some knowledge of the campaign and the candidate generally seeking out more information beyond what they're getting - whether it's on television, whether it's on radio, whether it's in print. |
Raising money can be the toughest thing for a candidate to have to do, and it can be a factor that leads some people to decide not to get involved in politics. |
Rob Schilling has been successful in part because he doesn't approach people saying that he is a Republican who advocates every single facet of the Republican Party agenda without fail. He presents himself as a Republican who is also a single member of a five-member city council who can bring to the table certain ideas that maybe aren't represented elsewhere on the council. |
The challenge to the Internet pioneers that are out there is getting the swing voters looking at the Internet - the people who aren't engaged in politics through the traditional mediums. |
Virginia, being a red state, has seen moderate candidates like Mark Warner - like Harris Miller sort of appears to be, in the early stages - see some success. James Webb is almost carrying that trend even further - as a former Republican administration official, as a person with a strong military background. It's something that has worked for Democrats so far - but he has to figure out a way to convince Democratic voters that he can be the one who gets the job done. |