Nancy Breeden was not sucked in by the euphoria that swept Barack Obama to power and landed him the first victory by a Democratic presidential contender in Virginia in more than four decades."I was going to vote for John McCain but it terrified me that if anything happened to him we would have this totally ignorant woman as president. So I voted for Obama as the lesser of two evils," said the 77-year-old, as she half-watched the news on a television larger than almost anything else in her living room.
"It's turned out exactly as I expected. The man has absolutely no experience. I'm disillusioned with him about everything. His healthcare plan is a disaster. He doesn't know how to deal with the rest of the world."
Breeden is voting Republican in next week's election for governor of Virginia. Opinion polls suggest voters will resoundingly reject Obama's candidate in favour of a man who once blasted working women and feminism as the biggest threat to the family, opposed contraception for unmarried couples, and questioned the constitutional separation of church and state.
The Republicans are portraying the Virginia governor's race as a referendum on Obama after nine months in power, and the Democrats' looming loss of the governorship as evidence of deepening disillusionment with the president.
The Democrats, sensing a significant defeat, are shifting responsibility for that on to the cyclical nature of Virginia politics and a poor candidate who failed to make sufficient use of the party's greatest asset -- Obama.
In reality, the result will reflect the divide over the role of government and the uniqueness of Obama's election. Democratic campaign managers acknowledge that it is almost impossible to inject the same energy that gripped the presidential race, with its  unprecedented turnout.
But the Virginia contest has also seen a re-energised Republican party emerge which, despite a lack of focused leadership and a coherent national platform, has tapped in to a resurgent anger among many conservative voters.
"It's a good feeling to have the wind at our backs," said Corry Bliss, a Republican campaign manager in Virginia. "Being a Republican was tough when we had the Bush factor. Now there's a bit of buyer's remorse [over Obama]. I think he is still personally popular, but his policies are unpopular. People are worried about the economy. People are asking: 'What does healthcare reform mean for me?' "
Obama pulled off a 7% swing to the Democrats in Virginia in last year's election, the first time the party has taken the state in a presidential race since 1964. He did particularly well in the north of the state, which is largely a commuter suburb of Washington. However, he did poorly among white males in the rest of Virginia, where conservative views on government, guns and abortion prevail.
Among the districts to flip over to Obama was Prince William County, which sits on the dividing line between the old Virginia and the growing liberal colony in the north. George Bush won the county in both his election victories. Last year, Obama took the county seat, Manassas, with 57% of the vote. Breeden's was one of them.