This is cross-posted at Left of the Hill

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went downtown on Saturday afternoon to protest the passage of proposition 8 and show my support for the GLBT community. We all gathered between the US Capitol and the National Museum of the American Indian. Although the significance of the gathering spot was supposed to be the US Capitol, I also thought it was very telling that museum for the American Indian was right there because they also represent a group of people who have a history of fighting to ensure their civil rights are recognized by the American Government. Furthermore, the peaceful philosophy promoted by so many Native Americans is also something that we hoped to implement while conducting our peaceful march through the city.

Since the weather forecast was calling for severe rain right about the time the protest was supposed to start, I didn’t really know what to expect in regards to crowd size. When I arrived, however, there was a large crowd of about 1,000 people who were already holding signs, chanting, and listening to speeches various people were giving. As the crowd continued to grow it was telling how diverse the activists were. There were straights, members of the GLBT community, college students, older couples, families, and people of all races who wanted their voices to be heard.

more, including video, below the fold
While we waiting to start marching there were lots of chants of “Homophobia’s got to go” and “What do we want equal rights when do we want them - now,” but my favorite was “Ain’t no power but the power of the people ’cause the power of the people don’t stop.” I liked this chant because it not only rallied up the crowd but it served as a reminder that we actually do have to get out and let our voices be heard if we want change in the positive direction to be implemented. The chant also gained more meaning as “the power of the people” didn’t stop when the rain started pouring on us while we were marching from the Capitol to the White House.

During the march the response we got from the public was largely positive. There were quite a few tourists who seemed to be seeing a protest for the first time and were a little shocked, but we also got a large number of waves and honks from people in their cars. I was very pleased to see that even people who were stuck in traffic waiting for us to get by were actually waving and giving us a thumbs up while only a very few people were shouting negative comments.

The area right outside the White House where many protesters usually go was blocked off as they were sitting up for the inauguration, but we gathered in a little park right outside the White House and, despite being drenched, people continued chanting as the whole crowd filed in. Eventually people grabbed megaphones and started telling their stories which ranged from speeches designed to pump up the crowd to others that reminded us of what we were fighting for.

In the long run, I think this protest can serve as a step in the right direction but only if the community remains strong and reminds Congress and local governments that the GLBT community deserves equal rights. I brought along my little video camera to the event and snapped some footage along the way. While I imagine other people might have gotten some footage, the following video has some of the highlights of the event.

Continue reading " Reaction: Prop 8 Protest in Downtown DC (with video) "

Throughout this campaign season the 2009 candidates have done a great deal to help the Democratic candidates who were running this year. While we had great candidates on the ballot this year, I think the 2009 candidates deserve a big “thank you” for the long hours that they put in on the campaign trail.

Since I recently put up a brief clip of Creigh Deeds on the campaign trail, I also wanted to draw attention to this short little video I did with Brian Moran on election night. Enjoy, but also look for some longer video interviews to come as we begin to turn our eyes to 2009.

Continue reading " Video of Brian Moran on Election Night "

As Vivian Paige mentioned in her write up of the Hillary Clinton rally at GMU, Gerry Connolly was at the event and even gave one of the introductory speeches. He discussed the importance of this election, especially right here in Virginia. He added a new bit to his speech that I hadn’t heard him use before. In an attempt to emphasize the hope an Obama administration brings despite the challenges our country is facing, he used a phrase he had heard in a hymn at church — “hold on, a change is comming.” He repeated this several times during his speech, with the crowd joining in after the first few times. As someone who has seen his stump speech so many times that I basically have it memorized, I thought this was a nice little addition.

After Gerry gave his speech I asked two women in the crowd, Holly and Alyssa, what they though of his message. They both said he did what they expected and that it did reinforce their belief that he would make a good Congressman. When I began to ask them what they thought of his background and positions on the important issues, they highlighted how he’s done a good job in local office and knows concerns of the people he hopes to represent. They also spoke about how residents often hold their local officials more accountable than federal elected officials and hoped that Gerry would bring that spirit of accountability to Capitol Hill.

This was a good sign for the Connolly campaign because Gerry often speaks about how his passion for local government. He then combines that with his experience with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help illustrate how he’ll be a productive Member of Congress who has a history of local leadership. The fact that these two women highlighted those points after hearing Gerry speak for the first time shows that his campaign has done a good job of getting out its message and that he has a history of producing results.

Continue reading " Audience Reaction to Gerry Connolly at Hillary Clinton Rally "

This is cross-posted over at Left of the Hill

In the middle of all the GOTV work that I’ve been doing, I was able to find some time yesterday to attend an event at Centreville High School which featured Caroline Kennedy as the main speaker. Now I was looking forward to this event for several reasons, one being that I live about a mile down the road from where the event was being held so I didn’t have to travel very far. Another benefit of the event being held right in my immediate community is that I had the opportunity to see several of my neighbors at the event — many of whom I had never seen a political rally before. This was not only a testiment to Caroline Kennedy but the excitment about the election season.

The event wasn’t well advertised, which is a shame, but there was still a decent showing of about 200 people who came out to the event. The audience was in for surprise as it was Lynda Robb who introduced Caroline Kennedy. For those of you who don’t know, Lynda Robb is President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter and the wife of Chuck Robb. In other words, she’s the daughter of the last Democratic Presidential candidate to carry Virginia and is married to a man who served as a US Senator, Lt. Governor, and Governor from Virginia. Robb spoke about the energy that is surrounding the Obama campaign and how she believes he is the best candidate to lead our country. She also touched on how, since her father was JFK’s vice-president, she had a unique perspective to see how President Kennedy was a truly inspiring figure and mentioned that “he inspired us all.” These are qualities that she believes so many people have also found in Sen. Barack Obama.

It was on that note that she introduced Caroline Kennedy, who had made several stops all across Virginia yesterday. Part of the reason Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama has received so much attention is that she hasn’t always been involved in politics despite her the family history. During her speech last night she pointed out that most of her public speaking was in support of her “Uncle Teddy,” who she said is doing better and is looking forward to working with President Barack Obama. This simply illustrates how important she believes this election is for our country. Caroline then went on to discuss another Kennedy by discussing how she has had many people tell her about how her father inspired many people to help improve the community through volunteering for the peace core, becoming a teacher, or do something else positive for the community. She then added that one of the reasons she’s supporting Obama is because she believes that, like her father, he’ll also help create an atmosphere where more and more Americans are inspired to do public service in one form or another.

More below the fold

“Barack Obama is the kind of leader that has brought a whole new generation into the process. That’s something that we haven’t seen for a very long time and that’s what it’s going to solve the challenges that we are facing.”

With so many challenges facing our country ranging from the economy to the foreign engagements were are currently involved in, I tend to agree with Caroline here that getting more people involved in public service is one of the ways we can help ensure our country head back in the right direction. As she pointed out, however, another thing we must do is make sure that Barack Obama is elected president.

In addition to his leadership skills, a lot of people have been pointing to the vice-presidential selection process as an example of why Obama is the best candidate. Since she served on the group that helped select his VP choice I think it’s safe to say that Kennedy has a good idea of the process Obama went through in making this decision. She spoke about how the decision was so thorough that it only increased her faith in Obama’s candidacy. After going through all the possible candidates, Kennedy remarked that “We ended up with Joe the Senator.” While she didn’t mention Sarah Palin or John McCain, it was obvious that this story was suppose to not only illustrate how Obama made sure he picked the right person but also highlight how McCain’s pick seemed to be a last minute decision made only to score a few political points.

She concluded by reminded us that this one of most important elections that she can remember and we should go out and make phone calls, knock on doors, and make sure our neighbors vote. As motivation for why we shouldn’t just write this off as an Obama victory, Kennedy highlighted how many pundits remind us that if one vote in every precinct had gone the other way in 1960 then her father wouldn’t have been elected president. With just a few days left until the election, this was a great reminder of the important work that we have left to do in these final days.

Continue reading " Reaction: Caroline Kennedy at Centreville High School Yesterday "

This is cross-posted over at Left of the Hill

In the middle of all the GOTV work that I’ve been doing, I was able to find some time yesterday to attend an event at Centreville High School which featured Caroline Kennedy as the main speaker. Now I was looking forward to this event for several reasons, one being that I live about a mile down the road from where the event was being held so I didn’t have to travel very far. Another benefit of the event being held right in my immediate community is that I had the opportunity to see several of my neighbors at the event — many of whom I had never seen a political rally before. This was not only a testiment to Caroline Kennedy but the excitment about the election season.

The event wasn’t well advertised, which is a shame, but there was still a decent showing of about 200 people who came out to the event. The audience was in for surprise as it was Lynda Robb who introduced Caroline Kennedy. For those of you who don’t know, Lynda Robb is President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter and the wife of Chuck Robb. In other words, she’s the daughter of the last Democratic Presidential candidate to carry Virginia and is married to a man who served as a US Senator, Lt. Governor, and Governor from Virginia. Robb spoke about the energy that is surrounding the Obama campaign and how she believes he is the best candidate to lead our country. She also touched on how, since her father was JFK’s vice-president, she had a unique perspective to see how President Kennedy was a truly inspiring figure and mentioned that “he inspired us all.” These are qualities that she believes so many people have also found in Sen. Barack Obama.

It was on that note that she introduced Caroline Kennedy, who had made several stops all across Virginia yesterday. Part of the reason Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama has received so much attention is that she hasn’t always been involved in politics despite her the family history. During her speech last night she pointed out that most of her public speaking was in support of her “Uncle Teddy,” who she said is doing better and is looking forward to working with President Barack Obama. This simply illustrates how important she believes this election is for our country. Caroline then went on to discuss another Kennedy by discussing how she has had many people tell her about how her father inspired many people to help improve the community through volunteering for the peace core, becoming a teacher, or do something else positive for the community. She then added that one of the reasons she’s supporting Obama is because she believes that, like her father, he’ll also help create an atmosphere where more and more Americans are inspired to do public service in one form or another.

More below the fold

“Barack Obama is the kind of leader that has brought a whole new generation into the process. That’s something that we haven’t seen for a very long time and that’s what it’s going to solve the challenges that we are facing.”

With so many challenges facing our country ranging from the economy to the foreign engagements were are currently involved in, I tend to agree with Caroline here that getting more people involved in public service is one of the ways we can help ensure our country head back in the right direction. As she pointed out, however, another thing we must do is make sure that Barack Obama is elected president.

In addition to his leadership skills, a lot of people have been pointing to the vice-presidential selection process as an example of why Obama is the best candidate. Since she served on the group that helped select his VP choice I think it’s safe to say that Kennedy has a good idea of the process Obama went through in making this decision. She spoke about how the decision was so thorough that it only increased her faith in Obama’s candidacy. After going through all the possible candidates, Kennedy remarked that “We ended up with Joe the Senator.” While she didn’t mention Sarah Palin or John McCain, it was obvious that this story was suppose to not only illustrate how Obama made sure he picked the right person but also highlight how McCain’s pick seemed to be a last minute decision made only to score a few political points.

She concluded by reminded us that this one of most important elections that she can remember and we should go out and make phone calls, knock on doors, and make sure our neighbors vote. As motivation for why we shouldn’t just write this off as an Obama victory, Kennedy highlighted how many pundits remind us that if one vote in every precinct had gone the other way in 1960 then her father wouldn’t have been elected president. With just a few days left until the election, this was a great reminder of the important work that we have left to do in these final days.

Continue reading " Reaction: Caroline Kennedy at Centreville High School Yesterday "

This is cross-posted over at Left of the Hill

In the middle of all the GOTV work that I’ve been doing, I was able to find some time yesterday to attend an event at Centreville High School which featured Caroline Kennedy as the main speaker. Now I was looking forward to this event for several reasons, one being that I live about a mile down the road from where the event was being held so I didn’t have to travel very far. Another benefit of the event being held right in my immediate community is that I had the opportunity to see several of my neighbors at the event — many of whom I had never seen a political rally before. This was not only a testiment to Caroline Kennedy but the excitment about the election season.

The event wasn’t well advertised, which is a shame, but there was still a decent showing of about 200 people who came out to the event. The audience was in for surprise as it was Lynda Robb who introduced Caroline Kennedy. For those of you who don’t know, Lynda Robb is President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter and the wife of Chuck Robb. In other words, she’s the daughter of the last Democratic Presidential candidate to carry Virginia and is married to a man who served as a US Senator, Lt. Governor, and Governor from Virginia. Robb spoke about the energy that is surrounding the Obama campaign and how she believes he is the best candidate to lead our country. She also touched on how, since her father was JFK’s vice-president, she had a unique perspective to see how President Kennedy was a truly inspiring figure and mentioned that “he inspired us all.” These are qualities that she believes so many people have also found in Sen. Barack Obama.

It was on that note that she introduced Caroline Kennedy, who had made several stops all across Virginia yesterday. Part of the reason Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama has received so much attention is that she hasn’t always been involved in politics despite her the family history. During her speech last night she pointed out that most of her public speaking was in support of her “Uncle Teddy,” who she said is doing better and is looking forward to working with President Barack Obama. This simply illustrates how important she believes this election is for our country. Caroline then went on to discuss another Kennedy by discussing how she has had many people tell her about how her father inspired many people to help improve the community through volunteering for the peace core, becoming a teacher, or do something else positive for the community. She then added that one of the reasons she’s supporting Obama is because she believes that, like her father, he’ll also help create an atmosphere where more and more Americans are inspired to do public service in one form or another.

More below the fold

“Barack Obama is the kind of leader that has brought a whole new generation into the process. That’s something that we haven’t seen for a very long time and that’s what it’s going to solve the challenges that we are facing.”

With so many challenges facing our country ranging from the economy to the foreign engagements were are currently involved in, I tend to agree with Caroline here that getting more people involved in public service is one of the ways we can help ensure our country head back in the right direction. As she pointed out, however, another thing we must do is make sure that Barack Obama is elected president.

In addition to his leadership skills, a lot of people have been pointing to the vice-presidential selection process as an example of why Obama is the best candidate. Since she served on the group that helped select his VP choice I think it’s safe to say that Kennedy has a good idea of the process Obama went through in making this decision. She spoke about how the decision was so thorough that it only increased her faith in Obama’s candidacy. After going through all the possible candidates, Kennedy remarked that “We ended up with Joe the Senator.” While she didn’t mention Sarah Palin or John McCain, it was obvious that this story was suppose to not only illustrate how Obama made sure he picked the right person but also highlight how McCain’s pick seemed to be a last minute decision made only to score a few political points.

She concluded by reminded us that this one of most important elections that she can remember and we should go out and make phone calls, knock on doors, and make sure our neighbors vote. As motivation for why we shouldn’t just write this off as an Obama victory, Kennedy highlighted how many pundits remind us that if one vote in every precinct had gone the other way in 1960 then her father wouldn’t have been elected president. With just a few days left until the election, this was a great reminder of the important work that we have left to do in these final days.

Continue reading " Reaction: Caroline Kennedy at Centreville High School Yesterday "

The following is a slideshow of the photos I took while at the Obama rally at JMU in Harrisonburg, VA.

Continue reading " Photos from Obama Event in Harrisonburg, VA "

With just a week left until Election Day, I jumped in my car and made the two hour drive to James Madison University in order to see Barack Obama deliver a speech to an overflow crowd of at least 12,000 people. As a life-long resident of Fairfax County, I have been able to see Obama speak on several occasions but most of the speeches I’ve seen Obama deliver have been in Northern Virginia - territory the McCain campaign refers to as “communist country.” I therefore wanted to attend this event so that I could get a true feeling for how Obama was received in what the McCain camp considers “real Virginia.”

Continue below the fold as I talk about the excitement for Obama and his message by various people at the event. I highly recommend reading the whole thing because I believe each interview I conducted helped to illustrate a new reason why Barack Obama needs to be elected the next president of the United States.
There are always long lines waiting to get into Obama rallies, but this was absolutely amazing. In weather that never made it above 50 degrees, there were rumors that some people had camped out overnight in order to get a good spot for Obama’s appearance. While I couldn’t confirm these reports I did speak to several students who had arrived bright and early in the morning. One group, for instance, had arrived at 6am and hadn’t brought much besides their coats and enthusiasm for Obama. By about 2pm they became so hungry that they had a friend deliver a pizza to their spot in line.

There were also many students who knew they could expect a long wait and brought their books with them so that they could study for tests that they had coming up. A math major told me that she had taken a test that morning, had a take home quiz due the next morning, and had another exam worth 25% of her grade that she needed to study for. When I asked her why she had brought her books out to the rally instead of studying in the peace and quiet of her dorm room, she said that it was “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to be a small part of this historic election and she simply couldn’t miss it. One of her friends chimed in and said that most professors understood that this was a very unique opportunity. Some professors canceled class for the day and others sent out emails saying they understood if students were absent but would be responsible for making up the work they missed.

A group of nursing majors told me that they were excited about having the opportunity to see Obama in person. As their major suggests, they are extremely interested in health care policy. They are supporting Obama because he truly wants to help improve our health care system and promotes policy such as making sure preexisting conditions are covered. As a real world example of why having preexisting conditions covered is important, one of them pointed out that many students are on their parents plan. If they are dealing with any long term illness, it could be difficult to have it covered once they graduate and are no longer covered by their parents’ plan.

With a crowd of 12,000 inside the arena and about another 10,000 watching at other locations on campus, there were obviously many people in attendance who weren’t students at JMU. I spoke to an older couple who had come out to hear Obama speak, for example, because they wanted to be able to hear Obama’s plans directly from him and not from the pundits. They stressed that they were supporting Obama because his policies would help those on Main Street and not just Wall Street. After I asked them a few more questions I found out that they had come directly from John Hopkins where the husband had been received treatment for the cancer he is currently fighting. In my humble opinion, I thought this was truly inspirational. Here was a man who was going through an extremely tough time in his own life, but he wanted to come down to Harrisonburg to show his support for Obama and be a part of history.

Obama’s speech hit on several themes that he’s discussed throughout the campaign but focused on his economic plan. While the McCain campaign has been launching dirty attacks in recent days Obama talked about how he wanted to make sure that everyone in the country has an opportunity to succeed if they are willing to put in the hard work.

In this country, if you try you should be willing to make it. That’s how we create not just more millionaires, that’s how we create the middle-class that has been the foundation of our society, of our culture. That’s how we make sure that businesses have customers that can actually afford their products and their services. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy - from the bottom-up.

This speech gave many people in the crowd a reminder of the inspiring message that Obama has been promoting. A message that focuses on the need to restore faith in the government both at home and abroad and truly return power to the people instead of just the special interests in Washington. As she hoped to get an opportunity to shake Obama’s hand after the end of the event, one woman told me that she was moved to tears by his speech.

The four hours worth of driving (two hours each way) was definitely worth it because it gave me yet another reminder of what this campaign is all about - “change we can believe in.” I’ll be posting even more commentary of my interviews and more of the photos I took like the one above, so keep checking back.

Continue reading " Reaction Barack Obama In Harrisonburg Yesterday "

This is cross-posted on Left of the Hill

Tim Kaine was up in Northern Virginia today and attended various events with Gerry Connolly. I’ll have some more analysis and photos, but the following video is of the speeches Gerry and Gov. Kaine gave at a meet and greet in Annandale.

Continue reading " Video of Tim Kaine and Gerry Connolly in Annandale, VA "

The chair of the Republican Party of Virginia has been in the news recently because he recently said “both Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden have friends that have bombed the Pentagon. That is scary.” I think it’s been very interesting to watch how the Republicans have been responding to Frederick’s remarks. While there have been a few who have come out in support of Frederick’s message, most resonable Republicans have distanced themselves from their party chair’s remarks.

I spoke with Tim Hugo, a Republican who represents my district in the House of Delegates, yesterday and he made it perfectly clear that he thought Frederick’s remarks were “stupid, innappropriate, and wrong.” After our phone call, he even sent me an email reinforcing how he believed “Jeff Frederick was NOT JUST INAPPROPRIATE, BUT WRONG.” (capitalization in original)

What was very telling for me was that Del. Hugo was very direct in his message and didn’t try to explain away Frederick’s remarks.  Frederick’s extreme remarks don’t belong in our political process and it seems as though Del. Hugo and some of the other honest leaders in the Republican Party completely understand. That being said, I think it’s important for the Republican leaders who haven’t already done so to distance themselves from the negative tactics used by Jeff Frederick and other members of the extreme right.

Continue reading " Tim Hugo Says “Jeff Frederick was Not Just Inappropriate, but Wrong.” "

this is cross-posted on Left of the Hill

The candidates for Congress from Virginia’s 11th District held another debate last night. Including a fair number of high school students who had come to the debate for their government class, about 50 to 60 people came out the hear the candidates speak in Vienna. Based on conversations I had with people there and the stickers most were wearing, the vast majority of the audience had already decided who they were going to support and many of them were people who are extremely active on both sides of the aisle. In other words, the people in the crowd were knowledgeable about the issues and were largely there to get more information about where the candidates stand on specific issues.

Even though there were only a few days in between the two debates, I was interested in seeing if the candidates had made any changes to their approach to the debate. After the discussions I had with people on both sides of the aisle, after all, it was quite obvious that Keith Fimian’s approach of literally telling people that the world as we know it is going to end if we don’t elect business executives like him to Congress had really backfired. Unfortunately, he decided to become even more forceful in this argument. It was almost as if he believed that constantly repeating his message and saying it a little louder would make people believe that it was actually true. His performance was so bad that many of the students in the audience were laughing and making fun of him - even the ones who were wearing Fimian stickers joined in.

more below the fold
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the debate came in the first question which touched on how the candidates believed we should go about ensuring that the young men and women in uniform receive the proper treatment if they are wounded in battle. Gerry Connolly told us that he believed that this was an important issue something that we need to take “if we ask young men and women to serve bravely on our behalf, they have to have the highest possible quality health care, mental care, and educational benefits when they return home.” While discussing the importance of this issue, he mentioned that he would have voted in favor of Jim Webb’s GI Bill. He also gave a personal touch by telling the story of a soldier he knows who was severely wounded just days before he was scheduled to come home from Iraq.

Keith Fimian, on the other hand, told us that in order to take care of our soldiers we need to cut taxes and balance the budget. He even threw in how in the business world a person would probably be fired if they came in over budget. Beyond his opening line telling us that we must take care of our troops, he made no effort he tie this into how doing all of this would help our men and women in uniform. I have to admit I was very surprised by this answer and found it to be absolutely disgusting. I knew that a large portion of Fimian’s campaign was trying to scare people into voting for him by literally claiming the world as we know it would end if we didn’t elect business executives to Congress, this an absolutely horrendous move on his part. It really says something about his priorities when he turned a question about taking care of our troops into a discussion of his experience as a business executive.

The discussion continued on like this throughout the debate with Fimian yelling about how we had to pay attention to balancing the budget and give tax cuts. At one point in time he even said that rolling back Bush’s tax cuts to the extremely wealthy would devastate our economy. In other words, he wants to continue a large portion of the economic policy that has gotten us where we are today - facing the possibility of spending hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street while people on Main Street are struggling just to get by. Perhaps the most ironic part of the whole thing is that a Fimian supporter took an extremely large stack of index cards to fill out questions to be asked during the debate. Despite this clear attempt to sway the debate in his favor, Fimian still came across as a candidate who couldn’t reach beyond his one or two talking points.

I think it’s important that readers know that one of the candidates actually showed some competence in the issues important to Virginians (Gerry Connolly), so I will be posting some more in depth analysis of the topics covered over at Left of the Hill.

Continue reading " Keith Fimian Needs to Get His Priorities Straight "

this is cross-posted on Left of the Hill

Keith Fimian is on the board of the group Legatus which was founded by Tom Monaghan. One of the major reasons behind the formation of this group was that Monaghan had just sold his business for $1 billion (yes, that’s billion with a ‘b’) and was frustrated with the fact that many Catholic organizations were drifting away from the orthodox views he thought they should promote. Realizing that many people are getting sick of talking about the extreme social views, Fimian claims this organization has nothing to do with politics and didn’t promote a certain social agenda. If that were the truth, then it might have been the end of the discussion.

Unfortunately for Fimian, his claims don’t seem to fit with the facts. Tom Monaghan, the guy who started Legatus, and his wife have donated tens of thousands of dollars to various extremely conservative candidates - including Keith Fimian.
In fact, according to the Naples News, Fimian’s campaign is one of three biggest recipients of donations from the Monaghan family.

Monaghan’s support for these candidates, all Catholic and anti-abortion, began nearly a year ago.

This strategy shows that Monaghan is less interested in currying favor with established party leaders than providing political seed money for those who support his views, experts said.

“This guy seems really, predictably, interested in changing the ideology of the Republican Party and ultimately the ideology of Congress,” said Clyde Wilcox, an expert in campaign finance and political science professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.In other words, the founder of the Legatus is actually donating a lot of time, money, and energy to his political causes.

I might disagree with some of Monaghan’s politics, but there’s no denying the fact that he has a right to take part in our country’s political discussion. Keith Fimian, on the other hand, still insists that that the organization isn’t involved with politics. The public shouldn’t have to listen to these false statements anymore and Fimian simply needs to be honest about the political involvement of Monaghan and many of the other Legatus leaders. That’s all the voters are asking for, after all, the truth. I wonder if Fimian will ever give that to them.

Continue reading " Dear Keith Fimian: The Voters Deserve the Truth "

I was looking forward to the debate last night between Gerry Connolly and Keith Fimian because I thought it would force the candidates to discuss the issues and give voters more information. After all, with the tremendous attention being devoted to the presidential election, this would have been an easy way for the 11th CD candidates to communicate directly with the voters. Based upon conversations I had with people from both sides of the aisle while waiting for the debate to start, I wasn’t the only person who held this belief. One person even said that he believed this was Fimian’s chance to define himself in a positive frame of light.

Unfortunately, Fimian simply didn’t seem to understand this and gave one of the worst appearances in a debate that I’ve ever seen. He set the tone for his performance during his opening, when he spent most of his time talking about how he was a football star in college who didn’t have a career in the NFL because he got injured. When he finally got around to talking about something that might be considered relevant to the election, it was about how he started his business in a room above his garage. He continued by saying that businessmen like himself needed to be elected to Congress or else the country as we know it would come to an end. It honestly sounded like he had just talked to Karl Rove and had decided to use the same scare tactics as the Bush Administration. Fimian simply substituted not electing a business executive as the thing we needed to be afraid of instead of a terrorist attack.

more after the flip
Throughout the debate, Fimian made sure that he mentioned his business experience and desire to cut government spending in essentially every answer that he gave. When he was asked a question about intelligence, for instance, he automatically included a lot of talk about business management and how that’s necessary in a Congressional candidate. Even the Republicans sitting right in front of me appeared to be confused on why he had tried to turn the conversation in that direction.

The scare tactics continued when he said that people in Springfield are worried about the “fraternity houses” in the area that he implied were filled with undocumented workers. When you combine this with the fact that Corey Stewart called into WTOP this morning to attack Gerry Connolly, this move definitely tied Fimian to some of the measures that the extreme right wing of the Prince William County Republican Party have been using. I’ll give Fimian the benefit of the doubt though, he might not have realized that most people don’t agree with the controversial tactics that Stewart and his cronies have used in order to promote their partisanship.

Just as most people joined me in being excited about the debate and the opportunity to gain information about the candidates, I wasn’t the only person who was disappointed with Fimian’s lack of concrete answers and new ideas.  As people filed out of the debate, one person said, “the only thing I learned about Keith Fimian was that he started his business in a room above his garage.” This lack of talking about the issues and the use of scare tactics is what has gotten us where we are today. In other words, if you’re happy with the way the Bush Administration has run the country, then Keith Fimian is your candidate for Congress.

Continue reading " Will Keith Fimian Ever Actually Address the Issues? "

this is cross-posted on Left of the Hill

I’ve always thought that one of the best ways to see a politician in action is to watch him at a gathering of 30 to 40 people. You get to watch them give their stump speech and also get to see how they work the crowd. It’s especially interesting in these sized crowds because people get a little more time with the candidate which ultimately means that he/she will have to speak about a variety of issues and show at least some in depth knowledge on the topics. I was therefore glad I had the opportunity to attend a meet and greet put on by the Jon Bowerbank for LG campaign last night in Herndon.

details and video below the flip
Not only was Bowerbank there, but so were Creigh Deeds, Judy Feder, and Chap Petersen (who essentially came straight from FedEx Field where he was in the stands for the great Redskins game yesterday). In other words, the people who attended the gathering were definitely in for a treat.

In addition to what we thought of the presidential race, the hot topic of conversation seemed to be Terry McAullife and whether or not he’ll be running for governor. The feeling I got was that most people think he’d be a very interesting addition to the race because he’s personable. A few people pointed to the very warm reception that he received at the State Central Committee meeting as an example of how excited people were about his potential candidacy. Others pointed to the fact that he’s known for his ability to raise a lot of money. Since there’s no donation limit in Virginia, his fundraising connections could go a long ways in making up the edge that Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds have gained from being on the ground in Virginia for quite some time now. As Vivian Paige pointed out in a post yesterday, however, Terry’s still only saying that he “is interested” in the possibility.

When it came time for the speeches, the overall theme from the elected officials and candidates was that the change we all want to see happen will only come as a result of some long and short term goals. The short term goals are electing Obama president and electing people like Judy Feder to Congress so that we have a federal government that will actually work on behalf of the American public. Once that’s accomplished we can turn our eyes to 2009 and ensuring that we elect leaders who will look out for the best interests of Virginians in the state government. What I really liked about the message was that although it was a partisan crowd made up of people from Northern Virginia, there was a feeling that we need to bring people of both parties and from all across our great Commonwealth together in order to help restore the public’s faith in government.

I didn’t take notes during Jon Bowerbank’s speech so I’m working of my memory for some of the highlights. What I really liked was that he understands that the economy isn’t doing to well right now. Although his speech touched on a variety of topics, some of the things I thought worth mentioning were that he believes we need to invest in more infrastructure (Virginia is already a great place to live and improving our infrastructure will make it an even more attractive place for people and bring more high paying jobs), clean energy (in Virginia we have many opportunities and we need to work on a way to produce energy while ensuring that our environment is protected), education (continuing to ensure our school systems are among the best in the country, making sure teachers can afford to live in the area they’re teaching in, and addressing the skyrocketing costs of higher education), and how he has a lot of executive experience.

As the event was winding down, I convinced Jon to give a brief little video statement about the event. Since I was taking the video with my still camera that only holds so much video the statement had to be short and sweet but I think it gives you a little glimpse into what happened at the event. As you can tell from the background noise, the group was so energetic about the message Bowerbank delivered both during his speech and individual conversations that the event was still going strong after several hours.

Continue reading " Jon Bowerbank Meet and Greet "

This is cross-posted on Left of the Hill

Since he’s been making the interview rounds over the last two days talking about his speech, nobody should be surprised that Mark Warner’s speech focused on bipartisanship. There’s been some talk about how that’s a little out of place at the Democratic National Convention, but I tend to think it was a really good move. Obviously we want to make it clear why John McCain shouldn’t be our next president, but let me briefly explain why I think the talk of bipartisanship was a good idea.
First of all, Mark Warner is running for Senate in Virginia. While Democrats have made a lot of progress here, Virginia is still a purple state and Warner has gained his popularity by being a “radical centrist.” Despite being a partisan Democrat, for instance, I have often written about how one of the things I admire the most about Warner is that he has a history of working with members of both parties in order to pass meaningful legislation. It would therefore be out of character for Warner to all of a sudden turn into an attack dog. Sticking to what he’s known for can help to prove that Democrats are really in the business of bringing about positive change.

Secondly, for the past eight years Democrats have been complaining about the fact that George W. Bush has been using scare tactics to create such a bitter partisan atmosphere that only his cronies can have a say in the path the Federal Government takes. We’ve wanted Bush to turn away from this practice and listen to qualified leaders, even if their opinion contradicts his agenda. If we want this from Republicans like Bush, then we should expect this from our own leaders as well. By speaking of reaching across party lines tonight, Warner showed how there are Democrats interested in doing just that.

Finally, Democrats have to reach out to Independents and moderate Republicans if they want to win the White House and increase our majorities in Congress. If we do nothing but attack McCain and Republicans, these voters might just decide to stay home in November out of disgust for both parties or potentially even vote for McCain. If we show that we’re interested in actually governing with the best interests of the American public in mind, however, we could easily increase our majority. This is because people are willing to put aside their differences with certain candidates if they believe the candidate will work in the best interest of the voters and not just the extreme of their political party.

Mark Warner spoke about how putting aside partisanship will allow us to restore Americans’ faith in the government and our reputation abroad. He used his experience in Virginia as an example of how setting aside improve the economy and standard of living for our communities. If our next president and elected officials follow this standard, we can turn the page on the past 8 years and we’ll gain the trust of the American voters. It’s for that reason that I truly believe Warner’s speech highlighting bipartisanship was exactly what was needed during the keynote address.

Continue reading " Why Warner Was Right To Speak About Bipartisanship "

This is cross-posted on Left of the Hill.

Last week Creigh Deeds picked up the endorsement of the Fairfax Coalition of Police and the Fairfax Deputy Sheriffs Coalition. Illustrating how the law enforcement professionals believe he would make an excellent Governor, the International Union of Police Associations joined in by endorsing Senator Deeds. The endorsement came largely because Deeds is a leader who can be counted on to go beyond the empty rhetoric that we often hear during the campaign process.

[I.U.P.A. International Executive Vice President Dennis J.] Slocumb acknowledged that many politicians give lip service to public safety but too often fail to take a stand and prove their support by voting on tough issues.  He contrasted their lack of courage contrasting it with Deeds exemplary service saying, “You have always been beside us in actions that punctuate your rhetoric.  You wrote Megan’s Law that provided public access to the state’s sexual offender registry and you also sponsored the Amber Alert program to protect our children.”

One thing that is worth noting is the fact that the I.U.P.A. usually endorses a candidate based upon not only an examination of the candidate’s record, but also by discussing the candidate with the local organizations and officers. In other words, there is a significant amount of time and energy that goes into deciding which candidate they should endorse in a particular race. Furthermore, it is also important because the local people are primarily the ones who will be interacting with the candidate and will perhaps have a more direct idea of which candidate would be the best person for the job.

One might wonder why Creigh is running for Governor instead of Attorney General if he has a background that would be so useful for the law enforcement community. A representative for the I.U.P.A. told me that it’s important for the chief executive of a state to be someone who has illustrated a commitment to public safety. Furthermore, with Creigh’s background he has illustrated how he is someone whose policy agenda will look after the best interests of the public and the officers.  In other words, the law enforcement community believes that Creigh Deeds is the candidate most qualified to be the Commonwealth’s chief executive officer.

Continue reading " Creigh Deeds Picks Up Another Big Endorsement "

I am now posting at leftofthehill.blogspot.com.

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One of the dilemmas that the horrible traffic situation in the DC area has created is that the George Washington Memorial Parkway has been forced to carry an average of four times the 20,000 cars it was designed to carry. A reasonable reaction someone might have is to simply propose that the Parkway beyond its current two lanes. This is where the story gets a little interesting. As the Washington Post highlights in a quote from Jon James, expanding the highway isn’t that easy because it was designed to run very close to the Potomac.

“The infrastructure wasn’t made to hold the volumes of traffic that are going on it now,” said Jon James, acting superintendent of the parkway. “What we’re trying to do is rehab it so that we can improve things as best we can without altering its historic character and the scenic mission it has. It’s a real balancing act that requires a lot of out-of-the-box thinking.”

more below the flip
Another problem is that the parkway is in an extremely popular national park which provides visitors with a since of history with views of sites such as the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Doing a massive reconstruction of the highway to improve its safety (like most scenic routes, it isn’t a good idea to travel very fast on it) and expand its capacity would take away part of the charm that has made it one of the top ten national parks in the country.

So the question then becomes; which is more important, a historic site or easing people’s commute. This is something that is worth considering because the George Washington Memorial Parkway isn’t the only site that creates this dilemma. An entire book, in fact, was created about the preservation battles over Manassas National Battlefield (the site of the first major land battle of the Civil War). A large reason there has been so much debate over preserving the battlefield is because there has been so much expansion in the DC suburbs in Northern Virginia that a lot of people want to widen the roads that run through portions of the historic site.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I was a history major in college and loved growing up surrounded by the many historical sites our region has to offer, but I tend to think that we should give priority to preserving the history and character of the area. After all, that is one of the major reasons that so many people live here and clog roads such as the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Continue reading " Which Is More Important: Easing A Commute or Preserving History "

Through NBC News we receive the extremely sad news that Tim Russert passed away earlier today at the age of 58. Developments are still coming in, but it appears as though he collapsed after an apparent heart attack while at work and never fully recovered. My thoughts and prayers obviously go out to his friends [...]

Continue reading " Tim Russert Died Today "

I wrote a post yesterday which mentioned how I believe the Supreme Court’s ruling in regards to detainees at Guantanamo Bay provided us with a prime example of why our next president would be so important. To provide a little more information for you, I’ve posted Sen. Barack Obama’s reaction to the decision below.
Today’s Supreme [...]

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