Amherst - Nelson - Lynchburg

Amherst County Democrats were at the Festival yesterday, and will be back today.  I was told that last year 15,000 people attended, and with this great weather they already had that many today.  Bumper stickers went like hot cakes and so did lapel stickers.

And there's a big Webb sign on the way into Monroe, and another big one in Madison Heights.  But I think Nelson County has the best Democratic signs in the Virginia (ok, ok, next to thegools' sign).  We also have signs reminding people to vote on November 7.  And quite a few excellent LTEs are in the weekly paper - that's another story.
Last night was the Nelson County Democrats annual dinner. So many people worked very hard to make this a special event, and I can't begin to list them all.  It took place in Lovingston, and the food was just excellent!  We started off with the Jim Webb video.  Then Al Weed spoke. It's all fine for Virgil to ask how your Mom's doing, but it doesn't mean much if you don't have a job.

People are hurting in the southern part of the 5th district.  Al asked for a show of hands as to who has been down in that area lately.  Conditions are indeed grim.  And these are people who would really benefit from just a small fraction of those jobs that have been sent overseas.  Not just the high tech jobs, but all of the service and production jobs that don't require as much training.

Creigh Deeds spoke as well.  And he reminded us that it really is up to us, the voters.  We have to show up.  And we have to go to events like the Garlic Festival as often as we can to get the word out. 

Now's the time to move outside our comfort zones and talk with all the people we encounter.  Democrats have an incredible advantage: the truth is on our side.  We don't need to resort to lies, and we don't need to resort to scare tactics. 

One new theme that is emerging from Republicans is that no one cares what someone said 30-40 years ago.  Everyone back then used the n-word. That's a great opportunity to talk about the many ways in which George Allen has attempted to mislead us just recently.
-- he clams the support of the president of the NAACP, Bob Gillis.  Well Bob Gillis was fired from that position.
-- he claims the support of a Latino group.  That group is a front organization.
-- one of his ads is by a woman who lies about quotes.
-- his macaca slur was this year - not 30 years ago.  (Oh, but he made that up, right?)
etc. etc.

Last night at the dinner I had a chance to play with a little one, Max.  When looking for garlic festival pix, I immediately liked the one with sunshine the clown.  Then I thought - wait a minute.  Macaca.  Maybe I better not use it.  Then I realized that if George Allen knew how to behave, there would be no problem whatsoever.  So there is the graphic, and maybe it at least helps illustrate the stifling effect such behavior has on our daly life.

Alright, I'm on my way down to Amherst this morning to drop off materials. 

And do check out the News Advance out of Lynchburg for a pile of letters on the Marshall-Newman amendment.

Comments