* * What were they thinking?

I’ve generally shied away from political discussion here, but today I can’t help myself. “What were they thinking?” keeps rattling around my brain. The voters of the nearby 12th Virginia House of Delegates district elected Republican Joseph Yost yesterday over Democrat Don Langhrer.

Yost, 25, earned a Masters of Arts in Criminal Justice from Radford University and works for the Mental Health Association of the New River Valley as a Jail Diversion Coordinator. He has a sparse public service record and has never before held public office.

Langrehr, 53, is a Radford University Professor with two distinguished terms on Blacksburg’s Town Council.

Yost raised over $240,000, almost all of it from outside the district.

Langrehr raised 20% of that, almost all from within the district.

Yost avoided almost all the public forums to which both were invited, likely afraid of how weak a showing he’d make compared to the brighter, more experienced Langrehr. We live in a university community with an extraordinary number of brilliant people. THIS is what we give ourselves to represent our interests in Richmond?

The result seems almost inevitable: Yost will become a puppet, putty in the hands of Ken Cuccinelli, Bob McDonnell, and the radical right wing of the Party who bought this race for him. Expect Yost’s enthusiastic support on the Party’s assaults on women’s rights, gay rights, education, and the environment. Yost will have zero clout and will be steamrolled by stronger, brighter, and more experienced legislators. What a disaster!

My district?  We elected Republican Nick Rush, who ran unopposed for a vacant seat. If I'd known he was going to run unopposed I would have run against him, just so the big-money people would have had to spend hundreds of thousands to defeat me.