The Bill Clinton Effect in My Neighborhood - Not So Much

By: janis
Published On: 2/15/2008 3:03:25 PM

Celebrities and high-flying politicos just don't come to my small town of Culpeper, Virginia. (Okay, okay.... Harvey Keitel was spotted in a restaurant here years ago and Jessica Lange filmed part of a movie nearby in 1998, but that's about as close as we ever come to seeing the hoity- toity in the flesh).  

As I explained in this diary on primary day, I LOVE to Vote, my county is about 96 percent Republican so not only am I resolved to almost never voting with the majority, I also certainly never expect to see a Democratic candidate or surrogate in person.

So imagine my surprise on Monday, the day before the Virginia primary, when THIS happened:

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The former President didn't stay long, but he drew a crowd, signed autographs and schmoozed with the locals.  Caused quite the commotion downtown (the local paper described his stay this way: Main street "went from almost deserted to a place of excitement"  --- and that's HUGE hyperbole by our standards.)

But, alas, this was the result:

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And the lede in that story was:

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Obama won 57 percent of the Democratic votes in the county to Clinton's 42 percent.  The raw numbers?
1,952 to 1,420.  

I'm sure there's no real significance to all this... I just thought it was interesting that after years of Democratic Party anonymity we finally get some attention and not just ANY attention --  We get an on-the-ground, in-person visit from the Big Dog himself!!

And the paw print was negligible.

P.S. Full Disclosure: We do have one other claim to the famous, or perhaps, infamous: None other than Linda Tripp (not John Goodman) does semi-regularly attend one of our local antique auctions.

Crossposted at DailyKos


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