VIRGINIA is a Republican state with a habit of electing Democratic governors. And it’s really not hard to see why. Democrats run on state issues like education and roads. Democrat Tim Kaine stressed these in handily defeating Republican Jerry Kilgore in Tuesday’s election for governor. Kilgore ran on what voters, at least here in Virginia, perceive as national issues: guns, immigration, gay rights, death penalty. That strategy failed.

The odd thing is that if Kilgore had been running against Kaine for the Senate, he might have won. Senate races are highly ideological in Virginia. But governor’s contests are quite different: They are non-ideological. Kaine adjusted to this reality, jettisoning the liberalism of his days as mayor of Richmond. Kilgore stuck to his conservative views with only a few fudges.