RK ARCHIVE - Leslie, Chap, Jim and a Passle of Bloggers

Chap Petersen: Jim Webb is a "great positive" who has "added so much to the Democratic Party." One of the "best moments in the campaign" so far was when Leslie Byrne was added to his team. "Jim Webb's gonna kick some serious butt!"

Leslie Byrne: During the Democratic primary for Lt. Governor last year, Chap Petersen "acted like a gentleman." The Democratic candidates "didn't tear each other apart." A gentleman and a class act, "Jim Webb is that type" of person. In contrast, "the other guy hits the panic button," and "that's unfortunate." Harris Miller attacks Jim Webb for not being a Democrat, yet Leslie Byrne, "a Democrat's Democrat," supports Jim Webb.

Why does Leslie Byrne support Jim Webb? Because he stands for core Democratic principles like "fairness," "dignity," "respect" and "fair opportunity for all people." "Believe me, [Jim Webb]'s a Democrat. He's going to stand up for all of us, not just those with the ear of the powerful." Jim Webb has the "guts to stand up and ask the right quesitons at the right time." Jim Webb's going to be the next Senator from Virginia.

Jim Webb: Thanks to Leslie and Chap for their kind words, and for "covering my flanks" during this campaign. Thanks also for "getting out and explaining what we're trying to do." "I did not come to this decision [to run] lightly," but "when I put my heart into something, it's 100%." Believes in "rebuilding the Democratic Party, making it the party for people who have no voice." The primary is "completely undpredictable," in part due to low turnout, and in part due to possible crossover votes from Republicans...possibly even some Allen-campaign-organized voting for Harris Miller, as the weaker of the two candidates.

This is a "bottom-up campaign," with "2,500 volunteers." "We don't have the money," but "we have an incredible amount of enthusiasm." This campaign is a great example of "participatory Democracy."

Running to "get away from the Rovian era" of personal attacks and creating divisions among people. Running to stand up to the "abuses of power" we've seen "the past few years."

Other politicians at the event included Fairfax County School Board member Janet Oleszek, Arlington County Revenue Commissioner Ingrid Morroy, and - interestingly - 11th District Democratic Congressional candidate Andy Hurst. Great to see Andy there!!

Bloggers included Myron of "Republitarian," Vincent of "Too Conservative," Ben of "Not Larry Sabato," Anonymous of "Anonymous is a Woman" (anonymous to me no longer! LOL), James Martin of "Virginia Progressive," and Paul of "Virginia Centrist." All great people. All wearing each others' name tags. Ha.

In conversations with a variety of folks, the general consensus was that Jim Webb leading the Democratic ticket this year will help EVERYONE up and down the ticket, including people like Al Weed, Phil Kellam, Andy Hurst (if he wins the nomination over Ken Longmyer). I even heard an estimate from a very respected source that if Webb is the nominee, it will add 5 points or more to every Democrat on the ballot. Yet another reason to support Jim Webb over you-know-who. As if we need any more!

P.S. There were well over 100 people at the event today, although it was hard to get a good count because people were coming and going and were spread out through the house, pool area, etc. Beautiful home, by the way, in the heart of Fairfax City. Thanks to Chap's parents for hosting it!

Comments

would have joined u, but still housebound until tomorrow (teacherken - 6/4/2006 6:28:01 PM)

per doctor's orders. Lots of meds, sleeping 12 hours a day, and slowly recovering.

I am curious, and if you want, answer this question offline. Since I am unaware of any polling on the race (for a turnout of under 5% it is simply not a cost-effective thing to do). I am wondering what the experienced pros there are saying about the state of the race, and on what basis.

I note the the rate of disappearance of Webb signs in N Arlington has gone done since we started discussing it openlyg and talking about possibly staking out to catch people.

I also note that in my drives around N Arlington I still have not seen a single Miller sign on someone's lawn.

Last question -- are there any other major endorsements in the pipeline? If answering here, by all means don't tip who, just say yeah or nay.

I am spending about a month at William & Mary for an NEH seminar. Hopefully there will be an office nearby where I can help for the general. For now, I really want to see a maximum win for several reasons
- it is easier to heal the party after a lopsided win than a narrow one, which tends to engender much more bitterness, and what ifs
- it might discourage nastiness in future Dem primaries by showing that it is coutnerproductive
- it might even serve as a warning shot to the Allen folks, although I don't think they know any other way of running a campaign.

The general sentiment is that we need... (Lowell - 6/4/2006 6:36:14 PM)

to work our butts off the next week. We need to contact as many voters as possible, including phone calls and door-to-door canvassing. Help in Fairfax would be particularly appreciated. Overall, I'd say that most people are optimistic about a Webb victory. I think the question is more the margin than anything...

As far as endorsements are concerned, I would be very surprised if there weren't any more forthcoming.

Stealing Signs is a crime (ChrisRK - 6/5/2006 12:00:28 AM)

It IS larceny if they are stolen from the street (as long as they are permitted). If someone steals enough it is grand larceny.

I am sure the Allen people are doing this. It is a very Republican tactic. Tim Hugo had someone on his staff whose sole job it was to steal his opponents signs. Thats right, he hired someone whose job it was to break the law.

But what do you expect, these are Republicans.

Allen's guy from Iowa told a Webb volunteer at Viva Vienna, that he was going to "destroy the Webb campaign" by "tearing down every Webb sign in the state."

But what do you expect, these are Republicnas.

Sign Knockdowns (loboforestal - 6/4/2006 9:37:08 PM)

Happens every election. Not worth getting excited about: it wastes too much energy. Just try and put one up again and keep one sign to plant to plant at the precinct on Tuesday morning.

Do specific things to help Jim ...

1) Donate. They still have time to make this money work. Never donated on-line? Try it. Drive the check down to HQ otherwise. Fed employees can donate $199 without getting on Allen or Miller's hit list.
2) Get a lawn sign. Go to HQ and get some or contact them.
2) GOTV: make damn sure your precinct or one you're covering has the voter lists and flush voters. Improvise if you have to. Use an old list if you have to. Take charge if you have to. Target our voters. Get them to the polls.
3) Persuade your friends.
4) Vote.

These are all quantifiable actions you can take. How many people did I persude? How many did I get to the polls? Make the numbers work.

Persuasion is Key (ChrisRK - 6/5/2006 12:06:13 AM)

The most important of these is persuasion. Persuade not just your friends but your neighbors get a list of voters in your precinct and call them or, better yet, go door to door for Jim. In a primary, GOTV is not that important because these are very frequent voters so they will probably vote. A reminder helps, but is not as important as persuading them in the first place. Once they are sold, they will generally vote. Furthermore, GOTVing in a primary is problematic anyway because you can't just GOTV known Dems as you can in a General election. You have to ID every voter as a Webb supporter first. Combine this with the shorter time of the campaign and you see the problem. Persuade, persuade, persuade. Webb's message resonates and calling and talking to voters in a primary is very easy because they are all Dems and primary voters are usually interested in talking about the candidates.

>106 people present (thegools - 6/4/2006 6:55:16 PM)

As Chap Peterson was introducing Jim Webb, I did a very careful count of heads. All told there were 106 people standing in the yard, this includes Chap.
This did not include a few people sitting on the porch and others inside the house getting food (who were listening from inside), nor did it include the volunteers manning the table around in front of the house.

Dan from Raising Kaine was there (Dan - 6/4/2006 8:14:05 PM)

Hmm, somebody missed that one. Actually, the event was really nice. A lot of Webb supporters, a lot of energy. Andy Hurst was working the crowd. A lot can be achieved on Tuesday June 13th. Webb warned us that we never know how primaries can turn out. We need to tell everyone, friends, neighbors, etc, to get out and vote.