Update: I  referred to the "primary" below, but in fact, Virginia  Republicans have switched to a nominating convention. National Review's Jim Geraghty decries this as undemocratic and likely to produce weird results, adducing the case of the nomination of the somewhat off-message (and possibly slightly loony) Christian preacher E. W. Jackson as Lieutenant Governor.

As I've explained before, this is (drum roll!) coded racism on Geraghty's part—unmentioned by Geraghty, E. W. Jackson was black. See E. W. Jackson, Dave Weigel, And The "Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations".

But a nominating convention may be harder for plutocrats to control than the primary process, because the ad money factor won't trump Gillespie's weaknesses.