This is very powerful. Please read it before you vote tomorrow!!
I was at the Seedtime Festival, at Appalshop, in Whitesburg, Kentucky--right across Pound Mountain from Virginia. I was playing a concert for the release of the compilation, The Music of Coal, being released by the good folks of the Lonesome Pine Council in Big Stone Gap. I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of my good friends from Virginia including my friend Mike Seeger from Lexington. Mike's one the county's finest old-time musicians and it was a pleasure to hear him play.I had the time to talk to 96 Virginians on Saturday. They were diverse group--school teachers, banjo and fiddle players, coal miners, social workers, students and small business people. There were not too many rich Virginian there, but I thought it was a pretty good mix of regular people who make a great state what it is.
Out of the 96 people, 80 said they were going to vote in the Virgina primary. Admittedly, this was a group interested in politics. Of the 80 people who said they were going to vote, 56 said they were voting for James Webb, 4 were undecided, and the other 20 for Miller.
When I asked why they were going with Webb over Miller, most of them thought Jim Webb was the candidate who represented a real change. They told me that for the first time in a long time, they saw in Jim Webb a man who was genuinely concerned with the issues facing rural Virginia. And one thing nearly every one of those Virginian said they thought it was time to get representation from someone who had not been in politics all his life and that a man of James Webb's quality doesn't often end up running for office.
I could not have agreed with these people more. I know there has been a lot hard talk in this campaign and I from what I've been able to read here in Kentucky, the Miller campaign has been throwing big money and false accusations at Webb pretty hard. After the election, I promise you the good Democrats in Virginia will get behind Jim Webb, forgive and forget, and move on to the fall and work together to send George Allen home.I've heard a lot about Miller's financhial resources. But don't forget, this is just the primary. If Miller wins, his money advantage disappears on Wednesday morning. The GOP was willing to pour over $5 million to protect Duke Cunningham's seat in Congress, how much will they spend on George Allen? I know Mr Miller has money--but I doubt he can match the GOP war chest. If James Webb wins, the National Democratic coffers will open up for him, and with the national help and the hard-core grassroots support for Webb, George Allen is beatable.
I hope all Virginia voters know how important this Virginia primary election is--not just to Virginians but for Democrats all over the country. We need this seat. So please, get out and vote for Webb tommorrow. He the best man for the job and he can win.
Don't forget Virginia--America is watching you. Good luck tommorrow.
Nick Stump
The Metropolitan Blues All-Stars
Louisville, Kentucky
(never mind this is great news for tomorrow!)
This is the key: the ability to get these people who are put off by "politics as usual," and who may themselves have belonged to both political parties.