Kaine's victory in Virginia makes it more likely that there will be a partially troop withdrawal from Iraq. While I already thought the politics of the war was making the withdrawal next summer very likely, Kaine's win is going to hit the panic button in the GOP. As this quote from the NY Times makes clear the GOP needs to change the dynamic.
Our voters, going into the midterm elections, are mobilized and energized; theirs are despondent," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Reflecting Democratic euphoria over what was perceived as a shifting electoral tide, Mr. Emanuel added, "Virginia is a bright, bright red state - shining red."
Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, countered that Democrats also won these races in 2001, only to suffer losses in the 2002 midterm elections. "It will mean exactly what it meant for them in 2001: not a thing," Mr. Forti said.
And getting some of the troops out of Iraq is the only way they control that do it
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