Jeannemarie the Duck; Chap is Hiring!

By: Lowell
Published On: 10/8/2007 8:30:19 PM

From Chap Petersen's campaign...another Republican ducks debating their Democratic opponents.  What, Jeannemarie doesn't want to explain the fact that she's a self-proclaimed "Republican in Name Only" (RINO)?  Ha.

Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis drops out of Fairfax City Debate

Republican refuses to debate Democrat Chap Petersen

Fairfax City - Tonight was supposed to be the next debate in the 34th Senate District between Democratic challenger Chap Petersen and Republican Jeannemarie Devolites Davis.  Instead residents of Fairfax City will be treated to a Town Hall forum with Chap Petersen.

This change of scheduled events is due to the refusal of Sen. Devolites Davis to debate her Democratic challenger in front of an audience with recording devices present.

According to communications between the City Democratic and Republican Committees, it became clear that Sen. Devolites Davis would not be willing to participate if her words were to be recorded in any manner.

By the way, the Petersen campaign is looking to hire a canvasser for every precinct in the district.  If you're interested in helping Chap beat this, please contact Petersen campaign manager Joe Abbey right away at joe@fairfaxsenator.com

Thanks.

[UPDATE: See the "flip" for a letter from Chap about hiring neighborhood coordinators.]

Friends, Virginians, citizens of Fairfax:

As we enter the last month of the campaign, our biggest challenge is the record amount of money spent by my opponent. As you know, we cannot match her dollar for dollar on the airwaves. Therefore, we are preparing for a battle of "get out the vote"; going house to house to capitalize on the 50,000 doors I have personally knocked on within this Senate district since my first campaign in 1998. We need help making sure every one of these voters is contacted personally about voting in this low turnout election.

We are hiring neighborhood coordinators to talk to these voters on the ground for the last month. We will be prepared to fight Jeannemarie's negative campaign at every door within hours if needed. Call it an old fashioned version of "rapid response".

Do you know college students or recent college grads interested in working for our campaign for the last month? Are you looking for some seasonal work which involves person-to-person contact? These positions will be paid and will be a great entry level position for anyone interested in working on a campaign.

Here's how you can help us with this project:

1) If you are interested in working as a neighborhood coordinator, email my campaign manager Joe Abbey at joe@fairfaxsenator.com

2) If you know of someone who would be a good fit for this position, please forward this email to them ASAP and ask them to email joe@fairfaxsenator.com

3) If you would like to contribute to help fund these positions, click here.

Our time is VERY limited to interview and hire these staffers, so please help us find these staffers TODAY. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Chap Petersen

Comments



Is that a duck or a chicken? (Kindler - 10/8/2007 10:44:59 PM)
Well, it's definitely easier to flood the mailboxes and airways with negative advertising against your opponent than to actually have to debate him.


Good turnout (Teddy - 10/8/2007 11:46:30 PM)
despite the fact Devolites-Davis did not show. Of course, Fairfax City is pretty much Chap Territory.  Chap did not sneer at his opponent for suddenly bailing out.  He did not have to, the audience understood what was going on. (Davis did not want any recordings made of the proceedings, which, since it was a public forum, Petersen refused, so shy little Jeanne-Marie decided she would not show up).

The questions were tough, even though the audience was pretty much in Chap's camp: everything from alternate fuels to education and transportation, but, rather surprisingly, no one brought up the so-called immigration problem.  They did, however, get into how was Chap answering the barrage of negatives in the daily Davis mailouts (which must be costing Davis a fortune--- all-voter mailouts in slick four color pieces, sometimes two a day--- not a cheap form of advertising; where is the money coming from for all that?)  Turns out most of the attack ads were selective distortions, and all Chap had to do was tell the truth. It's kind of sad to see how desperate Davis has become. 

Chap's message was: it is time for a change, a fresh approach, and you will not get that by sending the same ol' same ol' folks to Richmond.  How true.



Imagine (snolan - 10/9/2007 8:39:58 AM)
a democracy where candidates all had equal access to the public airwaves, and therefore all the money that currently gets donated and spent on political campaigns could be used to actually fix the problems the politicians claim to be fixing...

sigh

sorry - this moment of nostalgia brought to you by the letter N and the numbers 3 and 6.



Job Interview (Evan M - 10/9/2007 3:44:06 PM)
I just don't get ducking debates when you're running for legislative office.

By definition, the job of a member of the Assembly is debate and public discussion. Debates during elections are job interviews, period.

People who skip job interviews shouldn't get the job.



JMDD/Petersen Debate (Mary I - 10/9/2007 5:01:59 PM)
For another version of what went on, see Bruce's comments on NLS.


Neither side would compromise (Teddy - 10/10/2007 2:22:44 PM)
according to Bruce, who went on to blame essentially Petersen for not compromising.  Where have I heard this before? Oh, yes, from Bush on a national level as well as on a Texas level when he was governor. With this brand of Republican, compromising is always, always the job of the Democrats, who, if they do not cave in to the non-negotiable demands of the Republican, are not being serious about compromise.  In other words, it's the Republican way or the highway. Anyway, it was a very enlightening non-debate at Old Town Hall. 

As for the endless stream of D-D's slick mailouts, they are now in the realm of over-kill and are probably counter-productive.  Insofar as the million-dollar televsion ad buy soon to be on the airwaves, well, I do not have a television set so forget that.  Even if I did, I would have to wonder at the expense for a State senate seat--- the very idea rather puts me off, and would have even back when I was still a Republican.  You'd have to wonder at 1) what is the candidate intending to do to recoup this kind of money if they are (re)elected, how odd; and 2) where is that kind of money coming from anyway, and what does the donor expect to get in return? Hmmm