Okay, I come back last night from an event at which Jim did very well, despite being exhausted from an incredibly long day to read all the furor over the Matt Drudge story. I was exhausted from my own long day and was not planning on writing anything. But then I read the story and the worried responses, and the suggestion by thereisnospoon in the diary that eventually got front-paged, and a lot of discussion on several lists of Webb supporters.
So I got up this morning and decided I would share my experience of yesterday. I have no idea if this will matter to anyone, but it mattered to me. Read along and find out why.
The event last night was a Senate candidate forum put on by the Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Northern Virginia. It was held in the historic Campagna Building on South Washington Street in Old Town Alexandria. And I will not keep you in suspense. Jim was terrific. And George Allen was not there, sending a surrogate instead.
The event was scheduled to start with a reception at 6:30 followed by the actual forum at 7 PM. The schedule of the forum was with introductory remarks at 7 PM, including by the Mayor of Alexandria (who was an early Howard Dean supporter), then the representative for Allen for an opening statement, Q&A, and a close, and then Jim for the same. I arrived a bit after 6 and as I was parking saw people unloading food from a car so I offered to help. That got me into the building and out of the cold! And I was dressed for the occasion. The invitation said business casual, so I had put on a jacket, on which I had buttons and stickers for Jim. Underneath I was wearing by Veterans for Webb t-shirt: the Northern Virginia organizer of Veterans for Webb had asked for a major show of support for JIm at this event, and he got it. There was also a group of people outside on Washington streets with signs. They were there from about 6:15 until Jim's arrival at around 7:40 (his planned arrival had been 7:30), and I can assure you that as they waved signs at the traffic they got a lot of positive response. We also had a table inside with literature and bumper stickers, some veterans specific and some general. There was also literature table set up by the Alexandria Young Dems. There was no visibility by Republicans or the Allen campaign. As people came in the door a man with a Veterans for Webb sticker on was handing out a general brochure on Jim, which most took. Of those who didn't, many took the time to tell us that they were already committed to Jim.
The surrogate for Allen was Ron Christie. Ron is an articulate African-American who showed up with his wife. He has served as a special assistant to both the president and vice-president, and frequently appears as a Republican talking head, as he recently did on Chris Matthews where he was defending the ad with the blonde used to attack Harold Ford (side note - I have no trouble with interracial relationships. My nephew is married to a wonderful African-American women and they have two wonderful daughters. But I am curious why so many high profile Republican African-American men have white wives, as does Christie, as does Clarence Thomas - I wonder if he recognized the irony of of his defending that ad, or if perhaps he was as aggressive as he was because of his own marital situation?).
I did not hear most of his remarks as we were waiting for Jim. I do remember Christie talking about how long he has known Allen (apparently actually working for him at one point), speaking positively on behalf of the actions of the president, and listing all the accomplishments Allen had as governor (this has been a major talking point for the Allen campaign). But like many Webb supporters I was more concerned about when Jim would arrive. Two people, Veteran's outreach coordinator Nelson Jones and Jeff Pyatt from the press staff, were in cell phone contact with the people with Jim. Our guy had been in Southwest Virginia and the Valley for the Crooked Road tour with Mark Warner, with stops in Bristol, Floyd and Harrisonburg. He flew back to Manassas because access to National by private planes has become effectively impossible since 9-11. At about 10 of 7 we heard they were in the car getting on I-66. For a while Nelson worried that he might have to go on as a surrogate for Jim, but the events went on long enough that Jim arrived before Ron Christie had finished.
Jeff was able to write down the fixed questions each of the candidates were going to be asked, and when Jim arrived was able to prep him very briefly. When the camouflage jeep pulled up, Jim was greeted by supporters (perhaps 2 dozen still waiting outside), then went inside.
The room in which he was to speak was jammed - the mayor had joked that if the fire marshall arrived no one should let the marshall know that the mayor was in the room. There was also an overflow room with a large projector and speakers. While Christie was speaking there had not been much attention paid to that screen, but when Jim arrived people quickly left the food and came in to watch. And it was here that Jim really shined.
Often people have said that Jim is too "stiff" on the trail. Those of us who have been around him know that he is very warm and engaging, but that warmth does not always show through. Last night it did.
Jim began his opening statement, which was not all that concise (he was tired) and at one point the moderator cut him off, saying that he had exceeded the time limit, and that they needed to move to questions. Jim apologized for not knowing the limit. The moderator said that they would begin with several questions asked both sides and then move to questions from the audience. Jim was responding to the first question when he noticed a light come on and asked if there were a time limit on the questions as well. When he was informed that there was he apologized for not knowing the format and asked to be briefed. he was told it was 2 minutes per answer. He quickly wrapped up his answer so the moderator could move on.
Here's the key point - he relaxed, smiled, and starting showing the crowd his sense of humor. And his natural warmth. And as the event went on the crowd began to respond to him. At one point the moderator asked four questions rolled into one and Jim joked that since it was four questions he assumed he could have a bit more than 2 minutes. On another occasion he had about 30 seconds left over and bantered with the moderator about whether he should use them. he was allowed 3 minutes for his concluding statement but said he would us far less and did.
I was not taking notes. Jim was asked about several of the controversies with which Allen's folks have attacked him. I distinctly remember him explaining his reaction to the Tailgate scandal. He noted he had made his remarks on Nightline, and he was trying to get a copy of the appearance and have his campaign post the entire appearance so people could see how the phrase Allen's people have used was totally out of context. He went on to note that it as an official Navy event at a large hotel, that the offensive activities all took place on one corridor, that had he been there he would have found the ranking officer and told him to address it immediately and had the officer not done so relieved him of command on the spot. His objection was to how the incident was used by civilians on the Hill to micromanage every single promotion of everyone who had been anywhere at the event over the next few years, and he felt that distorted the promotion process.
By the way, in answering about the famous article from 27 years ago,Jim noted that early in the article he had stated that he could support a woman for president, this at a time when few people were willing to make such a statement. I wish that point were made far more often, because it offset some of the hurt from the rest of the article, and is of a piece in how Jim has acted towards women in his leadership capacities, opening up billets in the Navy to women, having most of the top leadership of his campaign be female.
There was a question on education about the discrepancy in test scores between blacks and whites. I thought Jim's answer was quite powerful. He noted that if one examined 17 different ethnic groups within the white community the discrepancy between the low scoring and high scoring groups was greater than that between whites as a whole and blacks. He said it was very much a question of opportunity, background and support. He noted the importance of providing quality teachers in the schools that those of less rich backgrounds attended, first by recruiting them, perhaps via scholarships with a commitment to such service, but of equal importance retaining them, as the stability of the learning environment is so important. But he placed this in a broader context. He talked about his mother coming from a sharecropping family in rural Arkansas and not having the same educational support as other people (I don't remember him mentioning it last night but his mother only had a 4th grade education). He said that if we were going to address the problems we had to also address adult education - we could not ignore those who had not had the opportunities of learning, and that if we wanted them to be supportive of the learning of their children, which most very much wanted to do, we needed to find a way to help them make up for the deficiencies in their own education.
This diary is getting too long. Jim was interrupted with applause several times. I do not think that Ron Christie got applause except at the introduction and at the end. The audience was polite to Christie, warm and responsive to Jim. A lot of people wanted to talk with him at the end. As people left we were handing out a notice about a GOTV kickoff rally with Governors Kaine and Warner tomorrow, and almost everyone took a copy.
Running for office is a grueling process. Jim has, as he noted in his remarks, been attempting to do 3 years worth of a campaign in a timeframe that began February 8 when he got into the race. He has gotten increasingly more skilled as time goes on, but what has been constant has been the themes on which he is running, and his integrity and honesty.
I read the stuff from Drudge and agree that there will have to be a response. But after watching Jim last night, and knowing that he will be out campaigning with the likes of Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Doug Wilder, seeing how much he has grown as a candidate, seeing his natural warmth and humor come through and watching the overwhelmingly African-American audience respond to him, I came away from last night with a good feeling. It is events like this that encourage me. If it becomes a question of ground game, I know that we will maximize the turnout in NoVa.
And now I have a day of meetings at school (not students) from which I will need to leave as early as possible to get back to work on Jim's behalf. I hope this diary served some useful purpose.
What I did not put in the diary is two endorsements of Jim Webb by Alexandria newspapers. The first is from the Packet Gazette, which is here
This paper is part of a chain of local freebie papers, the Connection Papers, and this endorsement is common to all of them, distributed all across NoVa. I thought I would quote parts of it in this comment:
Jim Webb for SenateThere’s no doubt that Jim Webb is not a natural candidate. That’s just one more reason to vote for him for Senate over George Allen.
Webb would make an excellent addition to the Senate, with intellectual capacity and experience to help unravel some of the critical problems that body will face in the coming years.. . .
But Webb has significant credentials. A former Marine, Webb served in Vietnam, and was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals and two Purple Hearts. During the Reagan administration, he served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense of Reserve Affairs and as Secretary of the Navy. . . .
Webb has written nonfiction books and six novels, and while his opponent would seek to make fun of Webb as a “fiction writer,” Webb’s accomplishments show no small amount of intellectual capacity and work ethic.
There are also powerful reasons to vote against George Allen.
Allen’s six years in the Senate lack legislative legacy or accomplishment. . . . And the past months have brought fresh, visceral evidence of Allen’s racial and ethnic insensitivity, reinforcing decades of racial insensitivity. If you haven’t watched the “macaca” video for yourself, you should. . . .
Virginia can’t afford racial insensitivity because of its past, and because of its future. History: Virginia’s past economy was built on slavery, and Virginia was a haven for segregation, closing schools rather than allow integration even into the early '60s. Future: Virginia is an increasingly diverse state, and its future economic and cultural development depends on embracing that diversity.
Also endorsing was the Alexandria Times, which actually happens to be the local paper for where George Allen lives in NoVa. The link for the editorial endorsement can be found here and I offer some samples text of the endorsement, which came out yesterday
The Senate
Voters sided with George Allen six years ago based on his popularity as governor. He led parole reform efforts and instituted an educational accountability system that later became a national model. But once elected to the U.S. Senate, Allen seemed to stall. Major news from Capitol Hill centered on other members of Virginia’s federal delegation who appeared to give Allen token credit for “assisting” in their efforts. . . .Allen’s 10-gallon cowboy persona has clearly worn thin in Northern Virginia, which is becoming “bluer” with each passing election, but his disgraceful display of intolerance earlier this fall, in which he hurled a racial slur at a young man of Indian descent volunteering for his challenger’s campaign during a stop in southern Virginia, ought to be enough to push people in very corner of the commonwealth over the edge. That incident spiraled into a piling-on effect with intense scrutiny of Allen’s recently discovered Jewish heritage and his alleged use of racial epithets during college.
The media’s handling of those events is debatable, but what cannot be ignored is the fact that a sitting U.S. senator singled out a man of color in a mostly white audience for ridicule, even if he later said he did not know the meaning of and meant no malice with the hurtful word he used. It smacked of the bygone days of the Old Dominion more than today’s Digital Dominion, in which Virginia has become a player in the global economy, actively seeking and welcoming new people and businesses, creating a new chapter in our rich and prosperous history.
Our support of Jim Webb is based on more than the fact that he is simply not George Allen. As another local newspaper noted, the former Republican-turned-Democrat appears to have reservations about both parties, and it is that independent streak that will serve him well when he arrives on Capitol Hill.
The decorated Vietnam War veteran offers a perspective about the current conflict in Iraq that has been lacking for some time.
Forget the I-told-you-so factor of Webb foreseeing back in 2002 that the U.S. was entering into the Iraq war with no clear exit strategy. Webb has at least been consistent in saying something needs to change, and he has a clear willingness and determination to look outside the box to find a workable solution for the American troops, their families and the Iraqi people. . . .
After President Bush again rendered his “stay the course” message during a fund-raiser with the senator last week, Allen met with reporters to clarify he did not agree with everything the president said, but he added that he did not want to ‘Monday morning quarterback’ the situation, according to reports.
Well, which is it? . . . .
There are vast differences between the candidates, ranging from taxes to the war to the economy. However, Webb stands out because of his willingness to stand up for the little guy. . . .
Despite the fact that Sen. Warner sided with Allen in a recent campaign advertisement, we believe it is Webb who is most likely to follow in the mold of Virginia’s senior senator and others who are not afraid to ask tough questions and speak their minds rather than worry about the party line.
Webb criticized the Bush administration for its handling of the Iraq war, a lackluster domestic agenda and "abuses of power."
Webb says he was one of the first to criticize the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq.
"This is not an impossible situation — it is a situation that appears impossible because we have not had leadership," he said.
He also accused the administration of neglecting America’s "societal health" with low wages, poor health care and high taxes for individuals. Webb says he wants corporations to pay "their fair share."
He also accused Bush of abusing his power, saying there is an imbalance between the executive and the legislative branches.
"We need people who have the courage to stand up to the president," Webb said.
And where WAS George Allen? He was watching a football game (being careful not to talk about issues)
George Allen hands out pork and attends Thursday night football game