Fresh upon his strong, 57%-43% victory yesterday in the 37th District Democratic primary race, David Bulova was kind enough to spend some of his valuable time this evening being interviewed by RaisingKaine. Here's what David had to say.First, we talked about his feelings the day after his primary victory. Basically, "excited and exhausted" sums it up, following a long, tough, competitive, but enjoyable campaign. David pointed out with good humor that, fortunately, he had an "auxiliary pair of shoes," although even that pair was about ready to bite the dust by the end of the campaign. Personally, I know how he feels after walking many miles yesterday for another David -- David Englin!
Next, we discussed the primarycampaign itself, the high points and low points, what went better and worse than expected. According to David, the whole thing -- starting with the successful kickoff -- was a great experience, with his plans falling into place quite nicely. One point I found particularly interesting was that David checks out RaisingKaine and some of the other Virginia political blogs every day. Hey, you mean someone's actually reading this stuff? :)
Even more than that, David said that the blog coverage got him fired up some days and a bit bummed on others, but either way he was definitely paying attention to what the blogs were saying about him. One example of this was the comment on one blog that David the "outdoorsman" had appeared in one photo looking like a 'lawyer" wearing a "$100 dress shirt and $100 slacks," while his two kids played in the mud near a stream. This reportedly was in a piece of campaign literature touting David's environmental record. David wanted to state, for the record, that he actually was wearing a pair of $30 black Levi's and an Eddie Bauer shirt, and that he didn't know where the person got the "$100 dress shirt" and "$100 slacks" information. (By the way, I definitely got the sense that he found this whole thing more humorous than anything.)
"Pants-gate" aside, David seems to have enjoyed the campaign very much, calling the whole thing a "learning experience." Among the lessons he learned from the campaign: stay focused, stay on message, budget your time carefully because it goes fast, and sometimes the smallest things take the longest.
Looking ahead, David plans to use the momentum and experience he's gained from the primary, move his campaign out from his living room, spend some time with his family, and basically get right back into it. He definitely plans to stay "civilized" and "positive," which he and Janet Oleszek managed to do during the primary. Of course, he is well aware that he can't control what might be thrown at him by the Republicans. Fortunately, he expects to have a unified Democratic Party backing him, and he definitely feels that he has a great deal of community experience in his District.
In the end, David Bulova is happy, exhausted, but excited about the general election race to come. He feels honored to have been given the opportunity to be the Democratic nominee in the 37th District, and plans to maintain his focus on the issues most voters care about -- education, traffic gridlock, "responsible and meaningful tax reform that doesn't hurt local government," and "environmental stewardship." He hopes to discuss the issues with John Mason at various civic groups' candidate forums between now and November.
Finally, we here at RaisingKaine would like to wish David Bulova the best of luck, and to assure him that we will definitely be checking in on him frequently. Our goal, as always, is to help as many Democratic candidates as possible. David Bulova is certainly a fine candidate in an important, swing district formerly held by Chap Petersen. His race against John Mason is likely to draw a great deal of attention, and rightfully so. Fasten your seatbelts, because it's about to begin for real.