Hasta la vista, Terry

I shouldn't admit this, but I like Terry McAuliffe.

Quick, raise your hand if you have half a clue who that is....I thought so.

McAuliffe is a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton; he was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee for the earlier part of this decade. He is one of the most partisan Democrats you will ever encounter, which is intriguing to me because he is not only Catholic (though not a terribly devout one, by his own admission), but also a wealthy entrepreneur who made his money starting businesses.

So what is there to appreciate?

In terms of ideas and associations, nothing. But Terry McAuliffe lives life with verve and zest, has a blast doing it and strikes me as a fun person with whom to hang. I read his book What a Party! about a year and a half ago; it is one of the most entertaining political reads I have ever come across, replete with stories of all he has done, the people he's known and the uproar he's caused. I highly recommend it.

SIDEBAR, a la columnist Rich Galen: Probably one reason I remember the book so well is because I accidentally left it in a Starbucks in Indianapolis for a couple of weeks. I have an unfortunate habit of this sort of thing since I take a book everywhere I go; I have left books in Wal-mart carts, church benches and restaurants more times than I care to recount, and poor Terry's tome was one of them. I did recover it, eventually...Also, I probably wouldn't have read the book if I hadn't heard about it on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. Hewitt interviewed McAuliffe for a whole hour and 10 minutes in, McAuliffe (who had never met Hewitt before in his life) was calling him "Hughie."

Well, anyway, the point of all of this is that Terry McAuliffe won't be the next governor of Virginia. In yesterday's Democrat primary, he was defeated in a stunning upset by state Senator R. Creigh Deeds. (Quick, raise your hand if you had ever heard HIS name...OK, thanks, I raised mine, too.)

I had assumed McAuliffe was a shoo-in, with tons of cash and star power behind his campaign. (He is a fundraiser extraordinaire and brought boatloads of money into the DNC during his tenure there.) This is a wonderful thing for the Republican candidate, Bob McDonnell and for the party, in general, but it would have been an interesting race for political junkies. It may still, but for other reasons than Irish drama.