Lynchburg Dems are the best. They have this great energy after electing Shannon Valentine to the House of Delegates, and they can be particularly proud of their accomplishments in a city known for Falwell. They also have rented a wonderful space downtown in a building called the Galleria and folks drop by there all the time.And that's where Jim Webb spoke to the Lynchburg Democrats on Tuesday night.
In the center of the Galleria is an open hall, and that's where the speakers were. I'm pretty good at estimating crowds; I'd say there were around 80 or more including about 30 standing.
We first picked up a friend who had made calls for Shannon. Shannon Valentine gave Jim Webb a great introduction, and it also was a chance for her to express her gratitude to her supporters.
Jim talked for about 15 minutes, took questions and answers for about 15 minutes and then chatted informally with folks. I was so glad that retired Senator Elliot Schewel was able to make it. His wife had another engagement, but if anyone knows Rosel, she is also very sharp on political issues.
There were many questions, and Elliot did ask Jim about a woman's right to choose, but not about parental notification as was discussed earlier today on Raising Kaine.
The acoustics were strange and I had a hard time picking up the questions, although Webb's answers were clear. He explained his priority on national security and how this has played out with political parties. Why he supported various candidates, all things we know about already, e.g, that he views his previous support of Allen as a mistake.
There was even some question about the blogs, but I didn't catch it all because I was talking with people. Senator Schewel asked how did I get involved in this particular race and I explained that I thought we are in a time period where strong principled leadership is a critically needed component of Democratic values.
The most important thing that Jim Webb talked about was this. He noted that the executive branch under Bush had overreached. Of course, everyone there recognized this as understatement. Webb elaborated on this, and he also noted that this is not a necessary consequence of party concentration because under Carter this circumvention of procedure and attendant abuses did not occur.
Tonight Harris Miller was at the Galleria, but I just did not want to listen to him, so I didn't go down.
Also, I didn't check every single Webb sign we put up, but those that I did check are still there!
Come back soon!