Two Narrow Losses

 

The good news today is that it's my wife's birthday. After that, the news is less encouraging.  Tuesday's narrow losses--the governor's race in Virginia and a parental notification initiative in California--are regrettable, but pro-lifers will, as always, press ahead with steely determination. Setbacks are inevitable. Dwelling on them is not.

 

You've probably heard that in Virginia pro-life Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore lost to pro-abortion Democrat Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine. The margin was narrow--roughly 5% in an election in which nearly two million people cast ballots.

 

I happen to live in Virginia, so I had a chance to watch the election up close. Some of the post-election analysis is stunningly obvious while other interpretations run the gamut from unconvincing to misleading. It's worth mentioning that the pro-life candidate for Lt. Governor won and the pro-life candidate for Attorney General is narrowly ahead as a recount looms.

 

Just by way of starters, it comes as no surprise that the Washington Post vigorously supported Kaine in its editorials and all but portrayed him as a male Mother Teresa. (He once served as a missionary to Honduras.) The Post's determination to elect Kaine extended into its news columns where the paper ran one flattering profile after another. The Post's increasingly harsh denunciations of Kilgore were a regular feature, especially as November 8 approached.

 

There is no question that Kaine ran his campaign as a referendum on the hugely popular outgoing governor, pro-abortion Democrat Mark Warner. (In Virginia, you can only serve one term as governor, although you can come back and run again after sitting out an election cycle.)

 

Both Warner and Kaine portray themselves as "moderates," most especially on the abortion issue. Both are confirmed pro-abortionists but try to come off as if they are open-minded, even mildly supportive of some protective legislation. In fact, neither is.

 

But what drew the most attention was Kaine's eagerness to talk about his Catholic faith. Pro-abortion Democrats have been fishing around for a way to be in favor of abortion yet come across as comfortable with religion and people of faith. Kaine was smooth, and it'd be fascinating to know how many voters confused his professions of his Catholicity with opposition to abortion.

 

The parental notification constitutional amendment was narrowly rejected by a California electorate that rejected all eight special election ballot initiatives yesterday. Under Proposition 73, when a girl is 17 or younger, doctors would have to notify parents in writing at least 48 hours prior to the abortion, except in medical emergencies. Proposition 73 included a proviso to allow a girl to bypass notifying her parents by obtaining a waiver from a judge in a confidential juvenile court proceeding.

 

Tomorrow we'll talk about several items, including last night's PBS special, "The Last Abortion Clinic."