How to Lose with Class

No sarcasm here, because that's actually what Terry McAuliffe did last night after last night's blowout loss:

This email hit inboxes less than three hours after the polls closed in Virginia:

Earlier, I called Creigh Deeds and congratulated him on becoming the Democratic nominee for Governor. And I told him something that I know you all will agree with: he MUST be the next Governor of Virginia. Creigh Deeds will carry on the proud tradition of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and he will get Virginia's economy back on track.

Bob McDonnell, on the other hand, has done everything he could to stand in the way of Virginia's progress. He voted "no" on Mark Warner's budget reform. He said "no" to Tim Kaine's transportation reform. He even said "no" to President Obama's economic stimulus plan, rejecting $125 million of your taxpayer money that is now going to other states.

With Bob McDonnell sitting on millions of dollars in his bank account, Creigh Deeds needs our help to gear up for the general election. So please, make a contribution to his campaign and help continue the progress we've made over the last seven years.

Click here to contribute to Creigh Deeds' campaign.

I have been following politics for about half of my lifetime. And I have never seen a vanquished candidate in a primary exhort his supporters to financially support the primary winner within hours of the polls closing in the election.

This is particularly impressive when you consider how his former boss handled her primary loss about a year ago:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton took the stage before supporters Tuesday night and finally asked the question that so many people had been posing: “What does Hillary want?”

She listed some policy goals and demanded respect for her supporters. But she did not really answer her own question, demurely suggesting instead that it was up to her backers to advise her by e-mail on what she should do next.

What the crowd gathered at Baruch College in Manhattan for her final primary night celebration wanted was clear, from those outside chanting “Denver, Denver,” urging her to go all the way to the party’s convention in August, to those inside interrupting her speech with shouts of “Yes, she will! Yes, she will!”

And while Mrs. Clinton reminisced about her campaign and talked of a need to unite the party, she did not concede, and indeed did not acknowledge that her rival, Senator Barack Obama, had passed the threshold of delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Now that a year has passed and she's been named secretary of state for reasons I will never understand, it's easy to forget just how truly disgusting her campaign was.