First, I have noticed our optimistic elder statesman Heathcliffe has been silent since about Oct 5 and I wanted to check in with him and make sure he has been alright.  Certainly hope he and his family are doing well.

Next, I keep reading about the importance of the Virginia governor's race and have noticed one thing has been left off - reports keep reporting how it is a referendum on Biden and Biden's agenda and so on, but what they keep leaving out is the temperature, or lack thereof, of Terry McAuliffe.

I don't know about others, but to me, Terry McAuliffe has always exuded this sort of unctuous aura around him that goes back to the Clintons.  To me, he is not exactly an inviting politician and always seems to be on the personal make and if he goes down, it probably has more to do with his candidacy than that of Biden.  But of course, I could be wrong. 

Still, I see him from that old Clinton school where personal hubris has been a destructive force in both Clintons and people like McAuliffe (and on top of that, where people like this are too stubborn and arrogant to learn from too many good lessons).