I agree with A.W. Morgan’s speculation about Ken Cuccinelli’s 180 on immigration.  Cuccinelli  switched because

The pro-homosexual, pro-abortion Left and Main Stream Media (where distinguishable), have successfully painted Cuccinelli (along with E.W. Jackson, the surprise black candidate for lieutenant governor) as religious extremists. This has panicked “moderate” Republicans into thinking Cuccinelli cannot win the election against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a renegade Catholic leftist. With typical cowardice, they are bolting.

However, I think he really misses the big problem. Both Jackson and Cuccinelli refuse to compromise on issues like gay marriage and abortion, even though these issues—not immigration—are driving upper middle class swing voters away from the party.  However, they are willing to abandon immigration control, even though this issue is much more popular than the purely social issues. 

Criticizing Romney for only getting “barely above his average nationally and far below his white share in other southern states” misses the point.  The reason why Romney did poorer among whites in Virginia than the rest of the South is because for all intents and  purposes, Northern Virginia is not the South.  The biggest “swing counties” in Virginia are the DC exurbs of Prince William County and Loudoun County, which are not uniquely Southern. As VDARE.com’s Eric Sievers noted at least anecdotally, the GOP social issues and class hatred of the Tea Party drives many in Loudoun County to the Democrats. 

However, both counties passed local patriotic immigration reform measures. 

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart has long been a champion of Patriotic Immigration Reform.  Stewart ran for GOP nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 2012, making immigration a central part of his campaign.  As someone who voters in a Swing District supported, he would have been a strong candidate.

Instead, the delegates chose Jackson because he was black and identified with the Tea Party.  There is virtually no chance that Jackson will win, due to his rhetoric on abortion and gay marriage, and is expected to hurt the entire GOP ticket. 

Patriotic Immigration Reformers should not try to align ourselves to the pro-life, anti-gay marriage, Tea Party crowd.  Regardless of what you think of these causes, they are far less popular than patriotic immigration reform, and the leaders of such causes are largely silent or hostile to our cause.