As Guardian America's Daniel Nasaw reported yesterday, Republicans tried to turn yesterday's Virginia state elections into a referendum on immigration. And the result? Incumbent Republican state senator Jay O'Brien - endorsed by the right-wing Washington Times as "a leader in combatting illegal immigration" - was ousted by his Democratic challenger George Barker.
State-wide, Democrats took control of the Virginia senate and made gains in the house, confirming that the state - which voted for George Bush by eight percentage points in 2004 - is trending blue. It also suggests that immigration policy may not be the reliable vote-winner that the GOP thinks it will be in the 2008 general election.
In its state election wrap-up, the Washington Post quotes a Republican state senator who thinks his party's problem is that it has moved away from the centre:
If you want to take a look at who's winning in the Republican party, it's middle-of-the-road Republicans who have not moved too far to the right that they're considered extremists.
