Arlington, Va.: After reading The Post article today about the good state of Webb's finances here in Virginia I was left with the question of where the heck is he spending the money. I spent a few days at home sick this week and I can tell you I didn't see any evidence of Webb ad buys - but I did see many airings of those Allen ads featuring former Navy women denouncing Webb. I am a female Democrat and I found the ads very effective. I would have to think independent female voters, many of whom are home during the day with their kids, would be persuaded by them too. Have you heard any reason why the Webb campaign seems to be holding back in getting a message out there?Peter Baker: A good question. I don't cover the race, so my knowledge is peripheral, but I haven't seen or heard a lot of Jim Webb ads either and it's curious. Webb has been given an opportunity few challengers get, but many Democrats question whether he will manage to capitalize on it.
Macaca and its even more lurid aftermath seriously wounded George Allen--no one disputes that. The latest poll has the two candidates neck and neck. So why isn't Jim Webb moving forcefully to close the deal with Virginia voters?
Maybe he is so moving in other parts of the state. But up here in Northern Virginia, the campaign is a very elusive presence. If you watch even a little local television, or listen to the radio (I listen to a lot of WTOP, the powerful all-news station in the D.C. area), you can't avoid Allen's ads--every one of them, as far as I've seen and heard, negative. But I've seen and heard nothing from the Webb campaign in weeks.
So where's the pushback? Where's the aggressive move to take advantage NOW of Virginia voters' doubts about George Allen by letting them know what a terrific senator Jim Webb would be? Three weeks from now, people's opinions will have settled down again, and it will be too late.
If the Webb campaign has the money, then, as we've now been told--what are they waiting for???? We have a priceless opportunity here, folks; one that is all too brief--and I wish I had more evidence to persuade me that it's not being lost.
Just sign me Worried in NoVa. And please tell me, if you can, why I shouldn't be.
I believe the Webb barrage is on its way.
I'm glad the Webb campaign is responding.
Clearly, it's urgent that the Webb campaign move into high gear on the p.r. front.
2) Zogby has Menendez up by 11, Strategic Vision has Kean up by 5 in the same time period
3) But it is clear Webb needs TV ads, and a big story break
4) I think running the women for Webb ad was fine, but he needs to start attacking Allen's Iraq position and alliance with Bush
Go to the DSCC blog, addrerss below, and tell them to get up off some cash and start airing some ads. I've seen the anti-Steele Maryland ad and it's very good. Tell Sen. Schumer to give the same level of help to us and we will give him one of the finest people to ever serve in the US Senate. This inaction is a bit demoralizing, which is exactly the re-action that they seek!
http://www.fromthero...
Maybe we really do need to shake some teeth at the DSCC.
By the same token the campaign needs to take a hard look at "sitting on" the cash needed to buy air time for fighting back. Some people are just tuning into this race and all they see down here are Allen's negative ads with a snarling woman practically coming out the TV to rip the throats from women who intend to vote for Jim. More ominous is the threat these ads are to independent and "moderate republican" women who might be leaning to Jim, but are turned off by these ads when there is no message of reassurance and "setting the record straight" from our campaign.
I'm with you on the spending however. Quite a few early Webb supporters have bled themselves white keeping the campaign going out of pocket. Now is the time to open the flood gates and spend some of that $3m. I personally will start rebuilding his war chest on Nov 8, but right now he needs to spend it all as quickly as he can, and then go get more.
I have a feeling that Bill will help refill the coffers in a couple of weeks....
But again i ahve not seen or heard a Webb ad in my mailbox, tv or on the air.
On a side not .. the Richmond field office what are the hours for that? I would love to at least slap a sign in my window of my car or a bumpersticker or something. I went by there a week or two ago and there didnt seem to be anyone home.
Richmond, Virginia -- September 27, 2006
Webb HQ in Richmond
4900 Radford Avenue
Richmond, Virginia 23230
804-440-8840
The Richmond Webb for Senate office is located at 4900 Radford Avenue, at the corner of Radford and Staples Mill Road, near Willow Lawn shopping mall. The phone number is 804-440-8840 and the office is open from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, Monday through Thursday. Fridays, the office closes at 5:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday hours are from noon to 5:00 pm.
The Webb campaign in Richmond invites you to come by and pick up a yard sign, volunteer to work an event, sign up to phone bank or just come say "hi."
Richmond has no commercials and no mailers. Additonally, Ken C. makes a good point. From what I have gathered and heard through the grapevine, we are the ONLY battleground state that does NOT have general Democratic ads by the DSCC running on TV. WHY? Let's find out.
The campaign should run that excellent reaction ad that is up on the website in Central VA. The steady “drip-drip” of Allen’s ads is not going unnoticed and they are having at least some effect in this area of the state. I sure hope the “re-action ad” with Gen. Adams-Ender, Christine Gromek, and Petty Officer McPhearson are running somewhere on a regular basis because we damn sure aren’t seeing them down here!
Let' see some action NOW while Allen is still on the ropes. We should not be in the position of having to fight for women's votes in the last 2-3 weeks. Let's get some action NOW on this front so we can have Allen on the defensive in the closing days. Let's lock up our natural allies (the "re-action ad")and then fire a cruise missile straight into the heart of the "soft Allen" votes.
THE TIME IS NOW!
On a more positive note, I went up to the Valley last weekend by "back roads" and Webb was winning the yard sign war. That's pretty shocking considering the entire trip up there was through the 7th CD District.
Have you read Jim's concise prediction of the Iraq Disaster? It's here
Contacted your local volunteer office? Do Homephone from the comfort of your own home
And if nothing else, and you want to see more TV ads Go here and donate, it takes lots of Jack to get airtime
But whatever you do don't do this:
Thanks for the encouragement, humor, and prodding. I’m confident it is well intended and made with a positive mind-set. :) Let's all do what we can (contribute $, work directly, work on supportive Democratic Party Projects like protecting the vote, talk to neighbors, etc.) to win this thing for "Leadership We Can Be Proud Of". We are all doing our "bit" the best we can.
WE WIL PREVAIL; OUR CAUSE IS RIGHTEOUS!
Five decades ago this November the people of the United States of America resoundingly voted in favor of re-electing President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his conservative Republican ideals. Eisenhower’s platform was so popular that it even carried such traditionally Democratic leaning states as Tennessee and Texas. As a political moderate here in Virginia, I am one who has always been attracted to the theory of government espoused by President Eisenhower and those Republicans who followed in his ideological footsteps. Although I don’t agree with everything the conservative agenda has to offer, I do cherish many of the ideals of the Eisenhower Republican platform, that which embraces smaller government, honesty, individualism, entrepreneurship, fiscal accountability, and a foreign policy based in realism. Republicans now in charge of this country have gotten to where they are today by standing on the backs of giants like Eisenhower and Reagan. I have a sinking feeling that if those men saw what has happened to their party today, they would seriously reconsider their affiliation. I know I am.
Nowhere is this concern more pronounced than in the Senate battle happening right now in my home state of Virginia. The election pits my supposed conservative Republican representative, Senator George Allen, against the more liberal Democrat, Secretary James Webb.
I have supported the likes of George Allen and his fellow Republicans in the past, not because of Allen’s supposed ‘down-home’ appearance (I am not so naïve as to believe that no politician attempts to cultivate an image suitable for his/her constituency) or even for his supposed strength on national security (to question the patriotism and the desire of Democratic leaders to keep our country safe is, to me, reprehensible). No, I have supported George Allen because his party’s ideals and goals aligned with my own. Yet, unfortunately that consistency is no longer evident. Though I do not think that this is a nation-wide phenomenon (men like Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator Lindsey Graham, among others continue to carry the banner of Eisenhower conservatism), I do think that it comes as a result of a furiously partisan political climate that has been ushered into existence by a Bush administration that sows fear and discord in order to win elections.
What this administration has failed to recognize is that winning elections is not the goal of politics. Governing is. And in order to govern effectively, a political party needs to stick to its platform, its goals, and its ideals. One who truly wishes to govern cannot do so by sacrificing those principles in order to simply win elections. To me, the Bush administration and the Republican party of George Allen have done just that.
The proof of this sacrifice is evidenced by the country’s current situation: the national debt has ballooned out of control, calls for ‘small government’ have been replaced by pork spending earmarks whose numbers have almost quadrupled since 2000, border security and ethics reform have been completely hijacked by political partisanship, the country is engaged in a conflict in Iraq which has undermined our War on Terror, and a foreign policy of realism and stability has been replaced by an overly pretentious desire to instill our own worldview on other peoples and cultures. This isn’t the Republican party of Eisenhower. This is nothing but a hollow shell of the conservatism of the past, a party masquerading as a progeny of the system and ideology that propelled it into power in the first place.
What once stood for fiscal accountability, the ethical high ground, smaller government, and a realistic foreign policy, the Republican Party has truly lost its way. Fifty years after President Eisenhower won re-election and the hearts of the American people by an overwhelming margin, the Republican ideal is gone, and I am beginning to understand why Jim Webb left this party half a decade ago. I think I’ll follow him.
I was already using many of the points you brought forward quite successfully. Those points work well with old-line GOP's, but I find they do not work well with the "Kool-Aid" drinking crowd. There's not much we can do for that bunch. The only thing that will change them is if the disgrace that is most of today's GOP somehow strikes them at home, literally, to shake them out of their AM "Hate Radio", "Bill O.", frenzy. If they would put country before party, they would see the light. Sadly, for many it will probably take a personal loss resulting from the policies of and the darkness that is the Bush-Cheney-Allen-Rove era to ever get them to change. Yet, there are still GOPers left with honor and integrity and I believe many are leaving their once reasonably honorable party for higher ground.
IF IKE, “T.R.”, OR “HONEST ABE” WERE ALIVE TODAY, I SUSPECT ALL 3 WOULD BE DEMOCRATS CAMPAIGNING FOR JIM WEBB. I DO NOT THINK ANY OF THOSE GREAT MEN WOULD RECOGNIZE NOR WANT TO BE PART OF TODAY'S “ROVIAN GOP", WHERE PARTY COMES BEFORE COUNTRY.