The Washington Post highlights the four vulnerable Democratic congressmen who will need to face the voters in 2010. The bottom line:

Republican leaders think that they can reclaim at least two of the three seats they lost last year, when President Obama became the first Democrat in 44 years to win Virginia. They also think that the political climate has changed so decisively that they can unseat U.S. Rep. Rick C. Boucher, a 28-year incumbent from the far southwestern part of the state, where antipathy toward Obama and national Democratic policies run strong. And they are planning a well-financed challenge to Gerald E. Connolly of the Washington suburbs, where victory is possible although more difficult, they say.

What the Post avoids mentioning — because that might remind readers of their own ill-fated crusade for his opponent — is that Bob McDonnell won big in each of these districts running against the Democrats’ national agenda. Even in increasingly Democratic Fairfax county, McDonnell prevailed. How much stronger will the GOP message be in that affluent suburb, what with a new bevy of taxes passed in the name of health care?

And these Democrats shouldn’t count on Obama to help them. Indeed, they’re going to have to put some distance there. Obama’s disapproval rating exceeds his approval rating in Virginia. So the task for Democrats will be to explain to voters that they’re somehow different from Obama or that they will defend their constituents’ interests. But that’s an uphill climb after voting for the tax- and spend-athon and ObamaCare. Republicans are understandably delighted, having watched McDonnell test run their anti-government and anti-Obamaism message. And Democrats who enabled the leftward lurch are right to be nervous.