Virginia Democrats are reacting with great enthusiasm on the Internet. "For Virginia, it takes Virginia off the swing state map. I can't imagine even Republicans other than the Trump backers would suggest that Virginia would still be competitive this year," said Larry Sabato of UVA’s Center for Politics.
A former Virginia governor with foreign policy experience, Kaine has deep ties to President Barack Obama, who hand-picked him to run for the Senate, and is highly popular in his home state. "You can see he's from Virginia, which has been a key swing state in the last two presidential elections, and the outcome in Virginia most closely matched the national outcome," says Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics.
Virginia is critical for both Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Without Virginia, most political analysts say it would be impossible for Trump to win enough Electoral College votes to win the White House. UVA political scientist Larry Sabato said he was changing his rating for Virginia from leaning Democratic to likely to vote Democratic in November.
Chaos reigned Sunday ahead of the Democratic National Convention, as the party’s head was forced to quit, thousands of protesters took to the streets and delegates threatened a walk-out over Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential pick. UVA political scientist Larry Sabato said that “unless the Clinton campaign has an agreement with the Sanders bunch to let her leave gracefully, it could be a mistake” to let Wasserman Schultz take the podium.
In between the two conventions (hence the clever, if undecipherable, title) the only poll that was in the field during whole of last week was the LA Times/USC poll which, among likely voters, showed Donald Trump with a three-point lead over Hillary Clinton 45 percent to 42 percent. With the average convention bounce, according to UVA’s Larry Sabato, being 5.9 percent for Republicans, we can expect Trump to score about +2 post-convention.
Democrats today will formally adopt a platform that attempts to bridge the camps of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders without serving as an albatross around the nominee’s neck. “Most people are cynical and believe that what’s in a platform doesn’t matter,” said Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics. “That’s truly wrong. The best studies of platforms over the years indicate that two-thirds or three-fourths of pledges are either adopted in whole or part, or the elected official makes serious attempts to get them adopted in whole or p...
Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and an influential professor at the University of Virginia whose books explore the issues surrounding intellectual property rights, and how the regulations are more likely to inhibit original thought rather than encourage it.
We're way past trying to figure out which candidate is most likable. Now we're just figuring out which candidate makes us want to tap our brakes if we saw them in a crosswalk. “People want to know that the next four years is not going to be a dumpster fire,” said Larry Sabato, a UVA politics expert. Low bar: set.
All eyes will be on Clinton to see if she can create momentum. "Ideally, she would be able to improve her high unfavorable ratings," said Larry Sabato, a UVA political science professor. "That's tough, but maybe they have some tricks up the sleeve."
(By Boris Heersink, a Ph.D. candidate, and Sidney M. Milkis, White Burkett Miller Professor, both in UVA’s politics department) The Republican National Convention this week has received mostly negative reviews from reporters and pundits.
(By Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics) Vice-presidential candidates can be divided into two categories: political choices selected for what they can deliver on Election Day and governing picks who can do some heavy lifting in the White House. By choosing Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton will get both.
Leah Smith popped her head above the water, glanced up and started mouthing, “Oh my God.” She had just swam the final of the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha.
This system, although pretty complicated, made sense back in the days. But it doesn't work now. "Today it's a very different world," says Andrew Hayashi, a professor at the UVA School of Law. "The main problem with the current system is not so much the general level of property taxes in New York City, but the big disparities you may have in property types."
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine has made the short list of potential vice president picks for Hillary Clinton. The UVA Center for Politics says picking Kaine as her running mate might give Clinton Virginia on Election Day. "It would be a really good way for Clinton to almost certainly lock up Virginia," explained Geoffrey Skelley of the Center for Politics.
Heading into the convention, Trump's favorability numbers made him the most unpopular presumptive presidential nominee in the history of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. While there have been highly polarized party conventions before, this one is definitely much worse than usual, according to Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics.
Dr. Jose Gurrola II, a doctor at the UVA Health System, has been using 3-D-printed skulls at his otolaryngology clinic to teach students how to perform a nasal endoscopy: inserting a camera with a long scope down a patient’s nasal cavity.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a hot topic for the area as people debate the safety, need and effects of a new natural gas pipeline in the area. Which is why the University of Virginia and James Madison University are teaming up and tapping into what people think about the situation.
Head football coach Bronco Mendenhall blew into Charlottesville with his own vernacular, talking of creating a culture of “earned, not given” and of building “will before skill.” He said he’s been surprised by how quickly his team has increased its “work capacity” and embraced his way of doing things.
Once they get a taste, little kids may obsess about any given thing, such as Thomas the Tank Engine, dinosaurs or princesses. "In some cases, [an intense interest] is just enjoyable. It's [just] something they like," said Judy DeLoache, a UVA professor of psychology. "It's perfectly normal. There isn't anything weird about it."