In 2007, the House of Delegates picked up four seats – two of them in Hampton Roads. And in 2007, the State Senate picked up four seats – again, two of them in Hampton Roads.

How did we pick up those four seats in 2007? I believe it was a combination of things. First, we had really good candidates. Second, we had extremely active caucus members. Brian Moran, as chair of the House Caucus, spent a tremendous amount of time in Hampton Roads. Creigh Deeds, although not Caucus chair, spent a tremendous amount of time here helping Senate candidates. The coordinated campaign – warts and all – did an excellent job on the ground, bringing in volunteers to help paid staff. Finally, the candidates and the caucuses raised significant amounts of money.

Reading through the various sources over the last few days one would think that the only goal this year is to win the governor’s mansion and that the only place that matters is Northern Virginia. I can only hope that I am misreading these early signs.

The announcement that DPVA Executive Director Levar Stoney was taking a leave of absence to be political director of Creigh Deeds’ campaign for governor was the first shoe to drop. Wedesday’s announcement that DPVA communications director Jared Leopold is also heading over to the Deeds campaign left me wondering who the heck will be running the DPVA through the fall.  According to vpap, there are 68 69 contested House of Delegates races this fall.  While it is arguable that each of these races is competitive, truth is that resources will be tied up fending off challengers. That makes the role of the DPVA even more critical.

The House Democratic Caucus does the bulk of its fundraising through the Commonwealth Victory Fund. As of 3/31, the PAC had a paltry $35,442 on hand.  The caucus was a little better off, with $243, 022 on hand, but nowhere near the amounts they are going to need to help fund the races. Note that the second largest contributor to the Caucus has been Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, who contributed $483,000 in 2007. (He was actually the top contributor in 2007.)  I don’t expect to see those kinds of numbers from him this year – he has a challenger. And that $100,000 from John Stryker in 2007? Forgetaboutit. It’s unlikely to happen this year.

None of this bodes well for Democrats gaining the six seats necessary to obtain the majority in the House of Delegates.  And it seems that no one is even talking about that anymore. What’s at stake here? One word: redistricting. Without some gains in the House, we are staring at virtually the same districts as we have now for another ten years! Do you really think bipartisan redistricting is going to be implemented without Democrats at least gaining some House seats?

And then there is the emphasis on Northern Virginia.

Yeah, I know that NoVA represents a significant portion of the electorate. But let’s be real: they can’t do it alone. NoVA may turn out lots of votes, but they can’t pull the load without help from the rest of the state.  Hampton Roads, historically, has come through time after time.

Within days of winning the nomination, we learned that Deeds is moving his headquarters to Northern Virginia. “Resources” was offered as the reason, not a completely invalid one but one which makes the argument that the Democratic ticket is regionally diverse less believable. Already AG candidate Steve Shannon is from NoVA, and LG candidate Jody Wagner seems to spend most of her time there, based on her tweets.

It is a constant refrain of residents outside of NoVA that they are ignored. I hear it from almost every corner of the state.  Here’s what The Virginian-Pilot editorial board said last week:

Steve Shannon of Fairfax County has not distinguished himself during his short tenure in the House of Delegates, and he remains a stranger to voters outside his district. If he wants to be the next attorney general, he should start explaining now why he’s qualified for the job.

Hampton Roads is supposed to be a part of the golden crescent, yet the editorial board knows little of Shannon. Knowing the editorial board, I know they didn’t say this without justification.

And then there are the blogs. During the primary, all three candidates had bloggers’ dinners – in NoVA. Wednesday night, Deeds had a bloggers’ dinner – in NoVA.

Let me let you guys in on a little secret: Hampton Roads bloggers enjoy the support of the main stream media. That’s right: our blogs, in addition to reaching the very small number of blog readers out there, are included in The Virginian-Pilot as pundits. Right alongside folks from the likes of The New York Times and The Washington Post. Instead of reaching a couple of thousand visitors a day, when our posts are published in the Pilot, we reach about 200,000 households.  Does The Washington Post include blog posts in the daily paper or have a whole section in the Sunday paper devoted to blog posts?

Two years ago, Hampton Roads Democrats delivered four seats. In 2009, we will defend our House seats and pick up a couple more.  But it sure would be nice if we didn’t have to do it alone.