In 2008, Obama won Virginia but . . . . . . . . . . . .

Virginia fell into the Obama column in 2008 by a margin of 7 points on the strength of Obama's popularity with North Virginia independents; first time since 1964 Virginia went Democrat in a national election. In the past year, however, Obama has lost 30% of that vote and suffered through the 2010 midterms, which he laughed off, pretending the election results had nothing to do with him. 86 new Representatives were swept into the House and 6 new Republican Senators were elected. It was a great year for incumbent Republicans, as well. 15 GOP Senators up for re-election in 2010 all won their election contests and all 52 incumbent Republicans won on the House side of the ledger.

While Obama was want to ignore the 2010 elections, he did not forget the value of winning Virginia in 2008. Understand that at the time of the 2010 midterms, the Republicans polled worse than their Democrat counter-parts. In fact, they always poll worse than Democrats. That is one stat that does not count for much -- what people think of congress, but don't tell Obama. He thinks that congress used to be popular and now they are not and he can ride to victory on the wave of that expressed discontent. Understand this rather startling fact: while "congress" is scoring a 9% approval rating as a collective in a poll taken just last week, its GOP membership has a 65% approval rating when surveyed on an individual basis. And, congressional elections are all individual/local elections. Only presidential elections are national. That is why the GOP intends 2012 to be about Obama. If they can tie the individual, congressional elections to Obama, they can have the kind of success they had in 2010.

In the last six months, the Obama machine has made more than 1,600 appearances in the state of Virginia. We are talking about personal appearances, radio presentations, Democrat leadership presence in the state, robo calls and the like. The Obama campaign left the starting line on April 4, of this year and is will down the track, with Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin in its sights.

Understand that 23 Democrat Senators are up for re-election this year compared to only 10 GOP members. If the GOP won 13 of the 23 Senate seats held by the Dems, they would capture a super majority in that House . . . . . . not likely but, certainly, possible. What is more probable, as relates to GOP influence in the Senate is this: they could win 10 of the 23 Democrat incumbent seats, giving the GOP a 57 vote total (they need 60 to have a super majority) and the ability to move legislation through that body.

Obama officially began his 2012 campaign in April - earlier than any other president in modern times. Now you know why.