I voted in the primary but I know a number of folks who didn't.  A small minority (very small) were totally apathetic.  (This maybe b/c I generally don't "hang" with apathetic folks)  The majority of the folks I know who did not vote absolutely refused to participate in our electoral process.  They are young, brilliant, passionate, talented, and doing a lot of good work in their local communities.  Their view of the world is that the entire system is flawed and voting for the "lesser evil" is not going to fix the system.  So they put their energies elsewhere and are working locally to create their own world.  They have an anarchist philosophy founded on personal empowerment and believe the less government the better.

This is what I saw occurring in my community web. Hope this helps....buzz buzz M

That's pretty cool. :)

Was a dear friend, lifelong Republican.  He is career Navy, retired.  His home is decorated in two colors - Blue. Gold.  He is troubled by the drift in American foreign policy and national security.  He is all ears.

He served under Mr. Webb. He asked me last evening how he can meet Mr.Webb.  I believe that a face-to-face with fellows like my friend would win a vote.  This gentleman still commands alot of respect from his subordinates.  And he stands capable of contributing to his candidate.

Let's be sure that candidate Webb spends his time over the next few months scheduling face-to-face meetings with undecided voters.  Who knows -- he might meet, oh... I don't know... a couple hundred people. 

That should carry him to victory!

The candidate meets with a like-minded cohort who seek true leadership and know what it looks like. They in turn take their support back to organizations, and a circle of friends with similar interests.  Their campaign funding lets undecideds and disgruntled Repubs hear about Mr. Webb.

And don't forget The Rule - every Republican that votes for Webb means that Allen has to find 3 votes to get ahead.

But enough, I have already violated The Other Rule: Never Wise Up a Dummy.

He wants to see and hear the candidate.  He would never read a blog.  Jim Webb is now the Democratic candidate for US Senate - he makes his news by showing up. So if it means an old school bus and a map of Virginia - heh.

Merry Pranksters

That would be cool for Jim's company to take a bus trip and people could meet them along the way.  Maybe a couple weeks, including weekends at some of the many Virginia festivals (music and otherwise).  Or maybe Jim could meet up with the bus at various places.

Woody Harrelson made a bus trip along the West Coast, the SOL tour (Simple Organic Living). A lot of people were touched.  And remember Paul Wellstone's bus rides.  Hit the road in honor of the great Paul Wellstone.

Maybe I'll grab the list of Virginia festivals that was posted on another group.  Lots happening all over the state.  Visibility

August is County Fair month. How about a bio-diesel bus?
Names:
Virginian
Born Fighting
Ut Prosim

Although I personally really like Born Fighting and am glad we had it in the early stages, I've been approached by too many people asking us to change it.  I explain it is his book and they say that's good but they won't wear anything that says Born Fighting.  So as Teddy was asking Mudcat, what is a good theme, and let's come up with a great slogan.  And I'll still wear my Born Fighting Tee and keep my Born Fighting bumper sticker.  Brain storm anyone?

Uniting Virginia
Virginia Unites
.....
.....
.....

A good list of County Fairs in Virginia is at http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=246

I'd love to see some promotion for Webb there, if we can do so.

To drive the bus, or set up the soapbox, or ...whatever.  Thanks Ray, I forwarded this to the campaign yesterday.  I want Virginians to see Jim Webb in person. 

The USAToday stats weren't clear on exactly how they came about turnout numbers. 

Specifically - in VA we had an open primary so all registered voters are eligible.  Meaning the divisor may be larger than a state where only registered Dems/Repubs are eligible to vote.

Not that this would drastically change our low numbers, but comparing an upper 30% to a 3% may be apples and oranges.

1) People didn't know their was an election (campaign sign thieves don't help..)

2) People didn't care

3)People are too lazy (they don't research the candidates, they don't want to get off their rear-ends...etc.)

Maybe one factor in voter apathy is the concentrated and continuous debasement of the electoral process, mainly by Republicans (although Democrats are not entirely blamefree). The final result of godawful negative campaigning, deceit, lies, and viciousness is to turn normal people off, leaving only extremists to participate.

There's also a growing sense of the futility of voting: chances are becoming greater and greater that opposition votes will not even be counted, or will be miscounted, and opposition voters will be turned away from the polls for a variety of "reasons," like, for example, Katherine Harris' baseless removal of many Democratic voters from the rolls because of supposed felon records, or the "loss" of provisional ballots. 

Then there is gerrymandering, which pretty well guarantees certain seats will go to a certain political party, so why bother to get up and go out to the polls when the result is pretty much fore-ordained?

Unless we repair the integrity of our electoral system, democracy will indeed fail. The greatest threat to our national security is not a bunch of self-appointed wild-eyed terrorists. It is exactly this: the citizenry opts out of participating, preferring not to be bothered with what even the ancient Romans regarded as an onerous duty, and called the "public thing," res publica.

I work a polling place at an elementary school the day of the election.  School was open and the school had an event which brought parents to the school that day.  I can tell you that a vast majority of them did not know about the election, and for the few that did, they did not know anything about the candidates.

I believe my this is indicative of how the rest of the state went.

Why is this? 

Try next to nothing on the TV.  A few mailers, mostly disposed of with the junk mail people receive.  See Webb's 40% name recognition.  Blogs reach only a tiny fraction of the electorate.

Virginia does not hold many primaries, people are not used to elections in June.

Next comes a belief that Allen in not beatable. One we have to change for Webb to bring in the money.

Lastly, mostly right leaning papers and TV staions are not going to give the Democratic Primary much free press.  If Allen had to fend off a challanger, we would have seen a whirlwind of coverage - on both sides.

This all adds up to very low turnout.  It is not a mystery.

I work a polling place at an elementary school the day of the election.  School was open and the school had an event which brought parents to the school that day.  I can tell you that a vast majority of them did not know about the election, and for the few that did, they did not know anything about the candidates.

I believe my this is indicative of how the rest of the state went.

Why is this? 

Try next to nothing on the TV.  A few mailers, mostly disposed of with the junk mail people receive.  See Webb's 40% name recognition.  Blogs reach only a tiny fraction of the electorate.

Virginia does not hold many primaries, people are not used to elections in June.

Next comes a belief that Allen in not beatable. One we have to change for Webb to bring in the money.

Lastly, mostly right leaning papers and TV staions are not going to give the Democratic Primary much free press.  If Allen had to fend off a challanger, we would have seen a whirlwind of coverage - on both sides.

This all adds up to very low turnout.  It is not a mystery.

Is a strong democrat...

and she just said she never votes in primaries...that she never has and probably never will.

I think most people in Virginia are independents and therfore would not vote in a party primary. 

Other reasons have already been stated (end of school year busyness, not used to voting in June, burn out with elections every year instead of every other year)

A few points:
1. As mentioned in one of the posts already comparing closed and open primaries is an apples to oranges comparison.  The turnout numbers percentagewise are lower in an open primaries.
2. These turnout numbers were predicted over a month in advance.  This suggests that the turnout numbers were consistent with previous trends. 
3. The turnout was respectable in areas where there was some media coverage, advertising, or visibility (Arlington and Fairfax I seem to recall were close to 10% turnout range).
4. Both campaigns were relatively low-visibility, the campaign periods were shorter than normal, only die-hards tend to follow June elections.

Having said that Webb still needs to increase his visibility big time.  Obviously money is a big part of the equation here.  He also needs to press the flesh--a bus tour of the state is a good, inexpensive way to increase visibility and generate some cash. 

I'd like to see more events posted on the Webb campaign website. We could help to publicize them, and invite people that we know to come out. Maybe we could host some.

The bus tour idea sounds great; I hope that Jim is planning something along those lines.

Personally, I'd also like to get more involved in sending LsTE and with call in shows. Can we share media contact lists?