Meet and Greet with Creigh Deeds at Sen. Whipple's House

Anyway, Creigh spoke for about 10-15 minutes. I didn't take notes, so the following is from what I remember (yeah, bad blogger not to take my notepad with me, I know!). Creigh started by emphasizing the importance of the 2008 elections.  Creigh stressed the possibility of Virginia voting Democratic for president for the first time since 1964, the need to NOT take the election of Mark Warner for granted (Creigh noted that no Democrat running statewide has won more than 52% of the vote in many years), the importance of Warner and Obama victories to Democratic congressional candidates like Judy Feder, Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye (like most others, Creigh pretty much assumes that Gerry Connolly will win the 11th CD). So, that's the first priority - winning Virginia for Barack Obama, Mark Warner, and as many Democratic congressional candidates as possible in 2008.

Creigh then turned his attention to the 2009 Virginia governor's race. He recalled how, right after he lost to Bob McDonnell in 2005 by 323 votes, reporter Margaret Edds had written a column saying that Bob McDonnell had beaten a "nobody from nowhere." According to Creigh, he didn't find that amusing then, and he doesn't find it amusing now.  To the contrary, Creigh does not believe that anyone in Virginia is a "nobody" or that anyplace in Virginia - even the most remote or rural areas - is "nowhere."  In short, everybody matters.  

In the context of investing in clean/green energy technology, Creigh noted that the investment and jobs would go somewhere in the world, somewhere in the United States, and there's no reason it shouldn't be right here in Virginia. Creigh talked about how North Carolina's research triangle started over 40 years ago with an initial investment of just $1 million. Then, people scoffed at the idea that this would ever amount to much. Today, the North Carolina research triangle has created hundreds of billions of dollars in value (and god knows how many jobs).  Creigh noted that Virginia has top-notch research universities, and that we can do the same thing here for clean tech, energy research, etc.

Creigh also talked about the importance of having the best educated workforce here in Virginia, and more broadly of the need for government investment in infrastructure - education, transportation, etc.  Creigh said he's running for governor in large part to deal with these crucial infrastructure issues - transportation, energy, and education.

P.S. I remain neutral in the Democratic governor's primary contest. I like both Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran, plus right now I'm trying to stay focused on 2008 as much as possible...

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