A Strong Republican Gain

I am very much from the Reagan School - someone doesn't have to agree with me on everything; just most things.

Along those lines - Artur Davis coming on over at this time is a huge loss for Democrats - and a great gain for Republicans.

Smart, independent, and a man of his own mind.

I am in the process of changing my voter registration from Alabama to Virginia, a development which likely does represent a closing of one chapter and perhaps the opening of another.

As to the horse-race question that animated parts of the blogosphere, it is true that people whose judgment I value have asked me to weigh the prospect of running in one of the Northern Virginia congressional districts in 2014 or 2016, or alternatively, for a seat in the Virginia Legislature in 2015. If that sounds imprecise, it’s a function of how uncertain political opportunities can be — and if that sounds expedient, never lose sight of the fact that politics is not wishfulness, it’s the execution of a long, draining process to win votes and help and relationships while your adversaries are working just as hard to tear down the ground you build. …

On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country. You have also seen me write that faith institutions should not be compelled to violate their teachings because faith is a freedom, too. You’ve read that in my view, the law can’t continue to favor one race over another in offering hard-earned slots in colleges: America has changed, and we are now diverse enough that we don’t need to accommodate a racial spoils system. And you know from these pages that I still think the way we have gone about mending the flaws in our healthcare system is the wrong way — it goes further than we need and costs more than we can bear.

As Alexander Burns at Politico reminds us, this is the guy who gave President Obama's seconding speech at the 2008 Democrat convention.

Nice.