Easy Enough

Virginia is for lovers, and for the foreseeable future, Virginia is for Democrats. The Democratic candidate for governor, Ralph Northam, defeated his Republican challenger on Tuesday in an election that saw our "President" once again backing the losing choice. Not that you would guess that from The Twit In Chief's post-election tweet: "Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!" Ed was the Republican that, a few days before, the "President" had been saying would "totally turn around" Virginia's "high crime and poor economic performance." 
We may never know what sort of Virginia Ed Gillespie might have created. As a Republican, he has just been set adrift by the head of his party. It seems likely that Herr Trump will go ahead and delete those messages of support from his account in the same way he disappeared those pumping up Luther Strange, an Alabama senator that lost his chance to run for reelection in a primary runoff a few weeks back. The winner of that Alabama election, Roy Moore, said in the aftermath, “Together, we can make America great,” borrowing someone else's slogan and adding, “Don’t let anybody in the press think that because he supported my opponent that I do not support him.” Roy Moore understands one of the cardinal rules of politics: It's not what you kiss, but when.
Meanwhile, up the coast in New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy will be replacing the term-limited (and conscience limited) Republican Chris Christie. No word yet as to whether or not Governor-elect Murphy has tickets to see Springsteen on Broadway. 
Back in Virginia, the Democrats can feel smug in the number of seats they picked up in their state legislature. Sixteen seats, putting them in a dead heat with a previously Republican-dominated House of Delegates. Including one for Danica Roem, who takes over the spot vacated by twenty-six year incumbent and author of a proposed “bathroom bill” prohibiting trans people from using the bathroom of their choice. Ms. Roem, who ran primarily on transportation issues, is coincidentally transgender. 
And so we look to the future, knowing that each one of these elections means exactly nothing in the big picture if there are not results attached to them. Status quo is no longer an option. What are we after? Hope and change. 
Sounds easy enough.