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April 14th is the deadline for filing: get off the fence and run!

I am in the race! And with the support of many many Democrats. Please read this. I have written it for you and other Democrats and progressives and independents and independent Republicans in the District. Thanks!  Brad Blanton:
If you had a representative in our “representative” government really giving voice to your convictions, what would you want them to say?

Would you want someone with the courage of their convictions to speak the truth—absent political expediency?  Would you want someone to be a champion for peace? 

These are questions that I’ve dealt with deeply as a psychotherapist in Washington, D.C. for over 25 years, and are behind my decision to devote the remainder of my life to public service. I intend to use my professional expertise as an author, seminar leader and social scientist, and my devoted enthusiasm for honesty, to win a seat in Congress in District Seven in Virginia. I want to represent the voices of many people with a variety of perspectives, but whose values are at variance with those in the White House today.

I am selling my home and dedicating the next year of my life--and over $100,000 from my own (modest) pocket–to this work. I need your help to bring into being a new majority in my district and in the country. I want to invent, with your help, some new kind of affiliation out of mutual self interest that reaches across the ways of thinking we are used to, and then have that new majority reflected in Congress.

I think George Bush is wrong. Many of my Republican friends who initially supported him agree. Many who thought George Bush would be a true conservative are now asking, “What has he conserved?  Money? No. Peace? No. The environment? No. Unity? No. Freedom? No.” So now we are asking together, an even more ominous question.  “What has he depleted?”

Some of what we have lost is expressed Jimmy Carter’s new book, Our Endangered Values. The US is holding children as young as 8 years of age who have been captured in Afghanistan and Iraq in prison camps–including Guantanamo. Worse yet, Donald Rumsfeld knows about it and has known for quite some time, and continues to keep them there. "After visiting six of the twenty-five or so US prisons, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported registering 107 detainees under eighteen, some as young as eight years old.” The Journalist Seymour Hersh reported in May 2005 that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had received a report that there were "800-900 Pakistani boys age 13-15 in custody." The International Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the Pentagon have gathered substantial testimony of torture of children, confirmed by soldiers who witnessed or participated in the abuse. In addition to personal testimony from children about physical and mental mistreatment, a report from Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib, described a visit to an eleven year old detainee in the cell block that housed high risk prisoners. The general recalled that the child was weeping, and "he told me he was almost twelve," and that "he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother." Children like this eleven year old have been denied the right to see their parents, a lawyer, or anyone else, and were not told why they were detained.

The people in our government have gone too far. These are not the values we stand for. This growing realization, along with a growing sense of nausea, is now growing a new majority.

There are other values we have been surprised to see transgressed: Starting a war under false pretenses, imprisoning people without recourse to the courts, arranging for people to be tortured here and in other countries—including innocent people. These actions clearly reflect a belief that the ends justify the means. Even if done in the name of a so-called “war on terrorism” —these are not the moral values we stand for. More and more of us are coming to see that the means create the ends. These means are too mean. Means that create more hurt and conflict and terror are contrary to creating peace. Jane Addams, (Nobel Peace Prize, 1931) said, "True peace is not merely the absence of war; it is the presence of justice."

The fundamental injustice of corporate favoritism over the health, happiness and common wealth of the people, is the source of many of these other injustices. The defense industry needs conflict to stay in business. An ever larger group of us are beginning to get this.

Congressman Eric Cantor still confesses to completely support the goals and methods of the Bush administration. Those of us who disagree think honesty is what’s been missing. We believe honesty leads to a new progressive conservative agenda. We believe a deeper level of honesty will allow all the people of the world to do a better job of conserving human, financial and natural resources, to everyone’s mutual benefit. Trust is built through openness, not secrecy. Allies, who tell and are told the truth, rather than being manipulated with false evidence, provide the best mutual security.

Here is a brief history of my short political career. With a little help from my friends in 2004 I got my name on the ballot for Congress and we got over 24% of the vote. We spent only $4000 on the whole campaign. Even though nobody really knew anything about me, a quarter of the voters in the district, even back then, didn’t want to vote for an incumbent Bush Republican.

Since then a lot more has come out about lying and secrecy and illegal activity by Bush loyalists. I expect to be one of the replacements that will change the balance of power in Congress. My main base of support in District Seven is Independents, who vote for the person, not the party. With no Democrat in the race, many loyal Democrats are also my enthusiastic supporters. A growing number of Republicans now agree that the priorities of the Bush administration are not really the moral values we stand for. When I am elected in November, I won’t be alone. People opposing the current administration will likely be the new majority in both houses in 2006. We will create solutions based on a new perspective, put some constraint on the last two years of the Bush administration, and possibly remove Bush and Cheney from office.

If I get enough money and play my cards right, I can win:
• We have in hand a detailed Campaign Plan laid out by a grassroots agency with proven experience winning campaigns.
• Polls show significant, growing disapproval of congress's performance.
• My opponent, Eric Cantor, is a Bush Republican whose voting record is almost exactly like Tom Delay’s (98.5% correlation).
• George Bush and those around him are getting caught lying, cheating, stealing and proving their incompetence—creating an apparently unending supply of investigations and indictments.
• The war in Iraq and the economy are probably going completely to hell by November.
• We have a full time campaign manager, a brilliant advisory group, a support group of a couple of hundred people, and are hiring a full time fund raiser/field operations director in January.
• Our excellent campaign mottos are funnier than Cantor’s. (THE TRUTH WILL (up) SET YOU FREE!)
• We have already raised $20,000, plan to raise $18,000 more by mid January, and one and a half million by September.
• We are contacting and creating networks of people through personal contacts in key precincts and World Cafés are being conducted on an ongoing basis.
• We will register 20,000 new voters for an extra margin of victory.
• We have a growing network of support all over the country, and a year to campaign.
• I can get on national TV and radio shows I have been on before as an author and replay them and give them out as DVD’s in the district.
• We’re in one of the least expensive media markets in the U.S.

In November, 2005, in the election for Governor, Democrat Tim Kaine won. Bush came out at the last minute to campaign for Kilgore, (who lost 2 points overnight in the polls as a result!) Kilgore did carry our very gerrymandered congressional District—but by much less than expected. 60 of the 234 precincts in our district went for Kaine. 130 were just barely won by Kilgore. The remainder (44 precincts) got him a winning margin of less than 2% in this district while losing overall by 3 1/2%. 

A big majority of the Independents, all the Democrats, some Republicans disillusioned with Bush, a lot of newly registered folks, and some newly inspired folks who registered but didn’t vote the last time, could make up a new majority in this district. I have a good chance of winning those 190 precincts that Kaine won or came close in.

We plan to do a press release in late January about the support we have and the money we have raised this early in the campaign. If I can show strong financial backing, the media will take this challenge to the incumbent seriously and it will set the tone for the entire campaign. If you are willing to give money, your contribution now is worth a lot because all future fund raising efforts depend on money being used now to meet new people to contribute money later.

The maximum legal contribution is $2100 per individual, or $4,200 per couple. Please give at this level. If you can’t do it all at once, contribute as much as you can now—and then pledge the rest for the months following. If you like you can give us a credit card number and permission to charge some each month.

I need to raise $1,400,000 more to cover what it takes to win. My opponent already has 1.2 million dollars in his war chest. You can call me any time, day or night, particularly when you want to contribute money. The campaign number is 540 778 9932. Home 540 778 2982. Cell 540 421 6668. Please stand with me to create a new majority. Give until it feels good. Tell everyone you know about this campaign unceasingly. Sign up for our newsletter, list the names of your friends who would want to know about us, and ask them to give money to us all year long. Here’s to the new majority! 
  Brad Blanton 
P.S. Also, please come and bring a bunch of your friends for a full day of work at the polls on Election Day. We need 2000 volunteers that day. Then stay for the party! 

How can anyone compete with that? Jefferson clearly has the advantage here. :-)

Jefferson also did a few less important things like purchase 1/2 of America for like $25 and write some document called the declaration of independence. You know, the normal stuff that most Americans do in their lifetime.

It's not about wings or even party, it's about vision, experience, and excellence. 

Would I like to live in Jerry Kilgore's America? no.  Do I enjoy living in George Bush's America?  No.  But I'd love to live in Mark Warner's America, that's for sure.

Preferably with somebody besides Davis in congress from the 11th.

Another comment from that same thread: "The Dobsonites should have known better than to think their leaders were 'one of them.' It's hard to believe they fell for it. Rich people are rich people. Aint nothing more important than money. And rich people lie so easily... that's why they're rich. Can't believe they fell for it."

Wait they have already done that!

Special operations forces are the military of the future. Smaller units can get into areas that big units cannot. This is critical when dealing with Terrorists.

It's the Christians raising a fuss over what others want to say. So now i'm going to say Happy Holidays just to get under their skin.

Don't our congressmen/women have more important things to worry about?

Can someone please explain to me, by the way, how on earth saying "happy holidays," especially to a mixed group of people where you don't know their religions, can possibly be offensive?  Isn't it just common courtesy?  Now, when it comes to the US Government, we get into separation of church and state issues.  Simply stated, the government should not be favoring any one religion over any other.  Thus, the President of the United States, acting in his official capacity as President, seems to be absolutely right - at least in a constitutional sense - in saying "happy holidays."  Obviously, in George W. Bush's personal life, he can wish whomever he wants "Merry Christmas," "Happy Kwanza," "Happy Hannukah," or whatever.  So what's the problem here again?  Or is this all just a big distraction from the pitiful performance of "conservatives" in Congress and the White House the past few years?

sigh.

Hey, maybe Pat Robertson can go down there and so can Jerry Falwell, both can set up satellite campuses of their institutions.  If they're reading this and are serious about morality, setting up something like that might be a good step in their "right" direction.

Everyone needs to remember that the Mississippi and Alabama coast's economy was based on tourism. So, if Representative Wolf and others are serious about rebuilding the Gulf Coast the right way, they'll need to come up with viable alternatives that did the same thing the casinos did: create jobs for citizens and build revenue for localities that didn't have much previously. Or else, we will have a different set of moral problems to deal with, that may have bigger consequences.

On the other hand, if Affleck runs it'll be a nationally watched race in all the grocery store celebrity magazines. That means George Allen will get cheap publicity nationally. In 2008 everyone in the country will know George Allen's name. That's bad.

Win or lose, if Allen does have quality competition, he would have to spend significantly more time on the Senate race and less on the Presindential.  That may give the advantage to other R candidates for the nomination.

Here's the link to the daily press article on Absentee ballots. Hope it works.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--gop-absentee1101nov01,0,2441133.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--gop-absentee1101nov01,0,2441133.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/

Are you the Steve I met in Norfolk?

Either way, Creigh ain't payin'.

And I know that both candidates are upright and honorable, and both will want every legitimate vote correctly counted.  Fortunately, the Virginia Code outlines the procedure adequately, so we won't get any of the lame shenanigans from Florida or Ohio in 2000 and 2004.

That night and the following morning the actual ballots are hand delivered to the Registrar's office.  That's when the canvassing begins.  The appropriate sealed packages from each precinct (signed by all poll workers on election night) are opened by the local board of elections (BOE).  Some of the paperwork is given to the registrar, some kept by the BOE and the actual ballots are delivered to the clerk of the court to be stored in a secure place.  The printouts (or tapes as they were called) are then reviewed and by the BOE and witnesses and compared to the results from the night before.  Any discrepencies are noted and the results are resubmitted to the state board and updated.

Also, in front of the witnesses, any provisional ballots are ruled on.  In our case we only had one and it was ruled invalid.  (On election day, any provisional ballots are not stuck in the counting machine but are sealed in a green enveleope for review).  Furthermore any notes left by the poll workers are read aloud.  There were a few instances of machines not reading the ballot so these were actually manually wentered into the count.  There was also a case where half way through the pack of 100 ballots some of the candidates names were missing.  This seemed to be caught in time in our case.

Anyways, sorry for the long post but I found it to be an educating experience.

P.S.  We use paper ballots read by a scanning machine at each precinct

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-19088sy0nov10,0,5244993.story?coll=dp-news-local-final

Great news on the updated data.

This is the closest race in VA history.

http://www.advancementproject.org/vp/press.htm#norfolklawsuit

It is my best guess that the results for each County/City will be updated after the entire canvass is finished (that's how we did it), possibly 3-5 days after the election for larger Counties/Cities.  They may have already determined the validity of the provisionals but will not update with the SBE until the entire canvass is finshed.

So I would say no, many provisionals have not been counted yet.

There were no changes in this race in our County but a single vote here or there in some other races.