Linwood Holton and Anne Holton Stump for Barack Obama

By: Lowell
Published On: 9/16/2008 6:20:39 PM

The Star City Harbinger has all the details:

This afternoon in the Community Room at TAP (Total Action Against Poverty) on Campbell Avenue, former Republican Governor Linwood Holton joined Virginia's First Lady, Anne Holton, at a campaign event for Senator Barack Obama.  Governor Holton is first Republican governor of the Commonwealth since Reconstruction and is known for his cross-party appeal.  Even his worst critics acknowledge that Governor Holton has a reputation as a thoughtful and somewhat moderate-conservative.

[...]

The Governor declared that he is still a Republican but "a Republican with a degree of rationality and the ability to observe."  And what he has observed over the past 7 and 1/2 years, said Holton, is disturbing.

[...]

The Republican Governor ended his comments by attacking the now-cliched Republican line about Senator Obama's level of experience and compared the Senator to President Abraham Lincoln, who was elected with less experience than Senator Obama, and "saved this Republic."

"Barack Obama has a brain," he exclaimed. "And he isn't afraid to use it."

Governor Holton closed with an admonition to Democrats, Republicans and Independents.  If we want a better country, the aging statesman acknowledged, we need "cross-party participation in government . . . with respect."

Check out the entire article here.  Sounds like a great event!

Comments



Hopefully his words will sway some of the older Virginians... (notthebasement - 9/16/2008 7:23:36 PM)
who may be iffy on Obama...

Hopefully.



Holton Nails It! (cycle12 - 9/16/2008 7:32:15 PM)
Excellent report, Hank; as you know, I was there today, too, and you correctly captured all the important points of the speeches given by Virginia's First Lady, Anne Holton Kaine, and by her father, former Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton, Jr.

When Governor Holton concluded his remarks by placing an Obama '08 cap on his head, the audience broke into a spontaneous standing ovation for him.

Another piece of history in the making...

Thanks!

Steve



thank you gov holton.. (lgb30856 - 9/16/2008 8:17:36 PM)
we need to take our country back.


Sign of the times (Houdon - 9/16/2008 9:24:09 PM)
This is groundbreaking.  Next thing you know, other Virginia Republican stalwarts like Chichester and Callahan will start endorsing Democrats! Oh...wait.  


Thank You, Governor Holton (Great Blue - 9/16/2008 11:15:27 PM)
I remember my parents (Eisenhower Republicans), so happy when Gov. Holton triumphed over the Byrd Machine.  He then was able to govern quite effectively, by working with the Democratic establishment to drag VA into the 20th Century in only the early 1970's!

In an August appearance on On the Record, on Norfolk's PBS affiliate, Gov. Holton chillingly recalled how the Byrd Machine controlled Virginia politics.  When he returned from World War II in 1946, and was considering entering politics, Governor Tuck was elected by just eight percent (yes, 8%!!!) of Virginia's population.

Holton is a rarity:  a Statesman.

www.wvec.com/video/record-index.html?nvid=269051

We've come a long way in Virginia, but we have a long history of voter suppression.  We must stay vigilant.  The "good old boy, good old days" of the Byrd Machine is alive and well in Republican memories