That’s a lot of national firepower. It should be great, right? Not if the Virginia home crowd reacts as it has in past elections.

In the 2001 governors race between Mark Warner and Mark Earley, then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut a TV ad for Earley. It raised eyebrows, even among Republicans.

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The political calculus seemed to make sense. Earley’s campaign was trailing Warner in the polls. Giuliani had become a folk hero after the terrorist attacks on New York City. Why not use him to shake things up?

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The problem was that Earley, as attorney general, had fought New York City over the amount of garbage it was sending to Virginia landfills. Earley lost.

There was also Giuliani’s earlier suggestion that Virginia should accept New York’s garbage because of the culture his city offered to Virginia tourists.

The Rudy endorsement, like Earley’s campaign, was a dud.

There are other examples, including recent ones involving former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s involvement in Virginia’s 2015 Senate races and former president Bill Clinton’s awkward effort to help Terry McAuliffe in the 2009 Democratic gubernatorial campaign.

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Given this kind of history, Northam communications director David Turner issued a statement in the wake of Sanders endorsement that played the Virginia card. It said, in part: “Virginia Democrats who have worked with Ralph are supporting him because he has been a progressive leader in Virginia.”

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If the message isn’t clear enough, the statement is titled “Virginians Know Best: Northam Earns Broad Support from Virginia Democrats.”

But the statement shows something else: Unlike Perriello, Northam has deep ties to the state’s Democratic political establishment. And they are all backing him for the nomination.

That includes the governor, the attorney general, Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, three of Virginia’s four Democratic congressmen, legislators, local officials and a host of abortion-rights and education groups.

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Make no mistake: Getting the Sanders endorsement burnishes Perriello’s outsider, progressive credentials.

But is that enough to overcome Northam’s home field-advantage, which extends beyond names on an endorsement list?

History gives us a few hints.

In the 2013 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, Northam squared off against Aneesh Chopra. Chopra looked great on paper, a veteran of the Obama and Kaine administrations. Plus, he lived in vote-rich Northern Virginia.

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Northam was a doctor, veteran and state senator with Eastern Shore roots and a degree from the Virginia Military Institute. Some progressives saw him as suspect because he had come close to switching parties in 2009. Some also thought the Northam campaign was “a bit shaky.”

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It made no difference. In a low-turnout primary that year, Northam beat Chopra by almost 9 percentage points, carrying Fairfax County, Norfolk and Virginia Beach along the way.

Roots and record beat star power.

Can Northam do so again this year, in a toxic national political climate in which Democrats don’t want moderation in their candidates, but a spine full of resistance?

Even in these circumstances, Northam is still the favorite, if for no other reason than primary electorates skew older, more informed and more involved in the state political process.

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Perriello may be able to overcome that Virginia tradition. He may also be able to avoid the pitfalls of non-Virginia politicians backing his campaign.

Northam has helped Perriello by running a low-wattage campaign that has allowed Perriello to gain traction and seize the mantle of the candidate of change.

But as the Northam campaign’s David Turner told me, pundits and political handicappers “underestimate Ralph Northam at their peril.”