I saw this story in the Independent a few minutes ago.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=591171

During an immagration hearing today for a fellow solider seeking refugee status in Canada (worth a whole new diary), a U.S. Marine testified his unit killed more than 30 civilians in a 48-hour period the Rashid district of southern Baghdad.

I did a quick search and could not find any good insights to the question (I suspect several people have written on this subject).  Does anyone have any opinions or recomended references?

Some anecdotal observations I have (from the view point of someone who lives in rural VA) are:

1.  Different mindsets for the two elections.  Issues facing the voter for Federal elections are more abstract.  Dominate topics are: anything Foreign policy and "moral" or "value" issues (Abortion, Guns, God, Gays, etc.).  The voter sees the Federal government as in control of these issues.  Positions on these "abstract" issues for these voters are formed by perception rather than reality.  For example the idea that Republicans are stronger on defense or that Democrats want to take all our guns away.  A Federal election is a referendum on these issues and of course the Republicans come across as more "moral".

I saw this Calvin and Hobbes strip on an officemates door and then it occured to me.  It couldn't be that simple.  Or could it?

I can picture Dick Cheney walking into the oval office and spotting GWB struggling to get past the first few pages of the 9/11 Commission's report.  Cheney then sighs, places his hand on GWB's shoulder, closes the book and pulls out an old newspaper comic section and says "Here, try this".

As further eveidence of Virginia being competitive this year Zogby has added VA along with Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina to his list of "Battleground" states.  The four states will now be part of their regular tracking polls (20 states in total).  

http://www.zogby.com/

This announcement comes on top of a planned visit by Sen. Edwards on Saturday and four previous visits by Sen. Kerry since winning the primaries.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGA rticle&cid=1031777370727&path=%21news&s=1045855934842

As a Tidewater resident you can can definetly feel the energy in the local Party and see it in the large number of people volunteering to help the campaign (that have never volunteered politically before) and sense that this year is going to be different.