How Mark Warner Almost Got Beat

National Journal: “When Gillespie – previously a lobbyist, Republican National Committee chair and Bush White House aide – entered the race at the start of 2014, few observers gave him much chance to win. He was positioned to be the GOP’s sacrificial lamb, and even as the race tightened in the closing weeks, many Republicans still figured Gillespie had a better shot at the governorship in 2017 than the Senate in 2014.”

“But Gillespie sensed from the start that this year’s climate would favor Republicans, and he pounded Warner incessantly as an alleged Obama clone who voted with the president nearly all the time in the Senate. Recognizing that Warner’s stint in the governor’s mansion was still fondly remembered by most Virginians, Gillespie and his fellow Republicans claimed repeatedly that ‘Governor Warner wouldn’t recognize Senator Warner today.'”