I believe that the GOP won the Attorney General's race by less than 1/10 of one percentage point, and the Lieutenant General's race by just over one percentage point. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the GOP ticket, in a state that Bush carried in 2004 by a considerable margin.
Bush carried the state before, in 2000, by seven percent over Gore. But Virginia elected Mark Warner the Democrat as Governor, after Bush had an 80% approval rating following 9-11.
Since 1973, Virginia has had a Governor from the opposite party of whomever was President. During the Clinton years, they had Republican Governors. During Reagan and Bush I, they had Democrat Governors. During Nixon, Democrat, during Carter, Republican. A set pattern.
Nobody claimed it was a ringing endorsement of anything to barely eak in an Attorney General. So, I'm sure everyone can agree on THAT statement of yours, that it was not a ringing endorsement. LOL It is, however, a stubborn fact that the other Republican candidates did considerably better than Kilgore. Which does say something about Kilgore.
But if Kilgore HAD won, he would have been the first VA Governor since the 70's to be of the same Party in power in the the White House. Too bad he wasn't a better candidate and campaigner...HE COULD HAVE MADE HISTORY!!