Thanks, Larry; that was a wise, necessary and appropriate response. 

You have raised yourself to a higher level in my eyes. 

The Roanoke County Democratic Committee stands ready to continue with its unbridled assistance to Jim Webb, Rick Boucher and all other Democrats.

Thanks again!

Steve McGraw

Personally, I can't thank Larry Byrne AND Lowell enough. 

Larry Byrne is simply spectacular in his long-term efforts to party-build.  Ditto for his efforts on this election.  He is probably the hardest working Democrat in Virginia, day-in and day-out.  If we all took to heart Larry's ideas, we'd all have  better organized Counties. 

He's spent years, not months working the database in his county, building and improving it.  He turned his area Blue.  And he has set about to show other Democratic parties how, even our in SW Virginia.  Down here, we apprecaite Larry's visiting us and telling us how he does it.  Even though we usually have an excellent GOTV organization here, we can all learn and improve.

Lowell Feld has done an absolutely awesome amount of work on this election and we also owe him big time for leading so many of us in the direction of supporting Jim Webb.  Lowell led on this and used his talents to have an unprecedented presence ont he web for James Webb. 

However, despite our wonderful success, we came amazingly close to losing it all.  And I think we can forgive Lowell for his reflctions and generalizations.  It is right to weigh in on them, of course, as some of you (including Larry) have done. But, hey, don't underestimate what Lowell has accomplished.  And have you looked at his fact-checking articles both here and at www.webforsenate.com/blog?  They show how to rebut claims by the other side, which are simply wrong. These are essential in our getting clarifications and corrections to the voters.  How else will they know how wrong Allen's claims were?  Certainly not in most of teh media.

I also can't thank enough any and every county chair.  Whatever you did helped.  We have a great one (Steve Cochran) here in Montgomery County.  And we had an MCDC (county Dem. Party) phone bank as well as full staffing at the polls. Despite gaining one more percentage point for the Webb than for Tim Kaine in the Ninth Congressional District (an accomplishment in itself), we should not fail to self-reflect on how maybe we could have done better.  Myself, I will help Henry and Fran Tieleman and Tom and Marcia Morrris more next time.  As I wrote on this blog a few days ago, they helped create the move toward Blue in the 9th.  And they deserve our HUGE thanks.

We could all sit here and hash over might have beens.  I said to myself: "If only I had walked another neighborhood...," then maybe it wouldn't have been so close.  In such a context, I think we can place Lowell's comments.  We all could have done one more thing (or two) to make the outcome a bit less tight.  But while heaping praise on Larry's spectacular field work, let's not fail to thank Lowell for making a huge difference as well.

I can't say I am immune to making a blog misjudgement. Would that it weren't so.  But we work hard in the blogosphere to get our facts right, with rapid turn-around.  Frankly, I don't know how Lowell does it.  His work is usually that good.  Let's get back to celebrating this together.  We'll reflect and move forward with all the varied ways we can help elect a Democratic House fo Delegates and State Senate.  And in 2008 we'll find a candidate to usher in to the White House.

I know I'll be thanking Larry Byrne, Lowell Feld, and the County chairs then too. And I'll be thanking the one and only Henry Tieleman as well.

You are all awesome.

 

I'm intrigued by Kathy's reference to a phone bank.  The state party sent out a memo in August to provide guidance on what local committees can and can't do in federal elections (as a result of the BCRA -- McCain-Feingold -- and FEC decisions interpreting it).

One of the most outrageous prohibitions is on GOTV: local committees may not organize phone banks even for a generic "vote Democratic" message (i.e., not mentioning the names of Senate or Congressional candidates).

We are also forbidden to put out radio ads, billboards, newspaper ads, or any communication other than face-to-face (which is not do-able in rural areas) or email/web.

We also can't do voter registration drives in federal years, except for a tiny two-week window in the second half of June.

I found it hard to believe that active committees would abide by these restrictions, which make local committees all but pointless. [We have proof that Republicans in Bath County violated them, in the form of an ad for George Allen they paid for.] Our tasks in rural, low-priority areas are reduced to fundraising for the candidates, recruiting volunteers for them to direct, getting signs out, and covering the polls.

We need Congress to amend McCain-Feingold to give local committees meaningful roles in federal campaign years.  I'd hope that Webb, who experienced the downside of these restrictions, would be a loud proponent of this change.  I'd also hope that Larry Byrne and others in the DPVA who understand the harm that these restrictions do will get the DNC to take up these issues.

on primary day he was able early on to project what Jim'smargin would be, based on turnout numbers in precincts in NoVa.

And Larry and his number crunchers knew early that the turnout in Richmond city, when added to the incredible field work done in NoVa, was going to be enough to enable Jim to get through.

Different people bring different skill sets to the table.  Steve Jarding and Kristen Denny Todd brought an ability to craft and maintain a message.  Lowell brough knowledge of how to use the internet, getting people like Jim and Steve and others to take advantage of the enthusiasm that could be generated nationally from a blog like dailykos and regionally from raisingkaine.  People like Mary Detwiler were invaluable in helping volunteers feel liked they belong.  Nelson Jones and William Edwards and others were able to make the connections through veterans groups to encourage people with a natural affinity for Jim and his message and experience to not only vote for him, but to network and encourage others.

I cannot list all of the people.  At time we clashed because of our passion for this candidate.  What we should have realized on Thursday as we celebrated the victory, and as I noted in my diary that day, is that we were all responsible - take any part away from it and the narrow victory might well not have occurred.

Recognize that this campaign and its supporters were on top of the voter suppression efforts, and our willingness to speak out and focus attention on what was occurring may have prevented more egregious actions from taking place.

Larry has long experience in practical field politics.  He showed that last year in his wife's campaign, first by winning a primary by winning all across the state, then seeing her far outperform the expectations of most people who opined that she would be clobbered.  The additional votes she turned out for herself substantially contributedthe Tim's margin of victory.

But we must all remember above everything else is that there are two people who are most responsible - Jim and Hong Le Webb.  She encouraged Jim to run.  I realized how different Hong was when she stood on stage as Jim's previous wife introduced him at the kickoff rally in Arlington.  Jim had told people that he had a pretty good life, and itg aas one reason he was not originally inclined to take on this race.  But he was willing to listen to the beseeching of people like Lee Diamond, Josh Chernila, Lowell and others.  He had been urged to take this race on by his good friend Bob Kerrey.  And during the campaign he was willing to listen - to people like Steve and Adrienne and Kristen. He even listened to volunteers.  Those were involved with the campaign from the beginning saw him grow in skill as a candidate and in depth as a person.  He was clearly affected by the people he met, and the commitment they offered on his behalf.  Through it all he kept Mac close by, which helped keep him grounded. 

I am honored by the small role I played in his campaign.  I also acknowledge that I had doubts about some of the people in the campaign, but that during the months I have grown to respect the diversity of gifts they brought to the table.  I know of one person who originally took on a paid position with the campaign because it was a job but whose significant other told me that the person had drunk the kool-aid - spending time around Jim had converted that person to a true believer.  I think that was true of all of the paid staff.

People should NOT underestimate how much this campaign accomplished.  Yes, Allen made mistakes, but the campaign was agile enough to respond appropriately to the mistakes, not to overreach.

It may well have been a Democratic year nationally, but not all good democratic candidates overcame margins less signicant than that Jim faced.  We must have been doing something right.

So let's acknowledge the joint success, and share the gloryand accept with humility that each of us, despite our dedication, was less than perfect in our individual actions on behalf of the campaign.

We learned to work together, and we have possibly built the foundation for something far more significant in the Old Dominion as we look forward to legislative and local races next year.

peace!

Larry,
Thank you for congratulating all the Democrats in the state. Each voter in reality contributed the same weight towards the victory- one vote. I admit based on my past experience with City and County committees at least Newport News that it would be extremely difficult for us to accomplish what was put before us this election cycle. We endured in many places and we grew and matured in many places as City Committees and County Committees. This process has made us realize what we can do and areas we need to concentrate on in future elections. I would hope that you might join Levar and Amy , along with many of us in staunton for the steering and central meetings so we might get insight from the campaigns perspective on what went right and what we need help with in the future. To all Virginia Democrats Congratulations.

Gene E. Magruder

Hopefully you and DPVA will be getting out there to get even more organization in the local areas.
And Lowell--what a gift!!  He has been my inspiration throughout this campaign.
And don't forget Susan Mariner--the dynamo from Va Beach--she was truly amazing!!
Finally--Marco Faust's phone from home program--so good!!

That's very kind of you to say.  I want to thank you personally for your tremendous efforts since the primary.  Go Newport News Democratic Committee!!!!

The Stafford County Democratic Committee thanks you for recognizing the Herculean efforts of this and the other Democratic committees in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

We worked our hearts out for Jim Webb!

This past summer, you challenged Stafford to yield 14,000 votes for Jim Webb.  Jim actually got 13,982 votes (just 18 votes off the mark)... a great accomplishment for this Committee given that the other side had out-phoned, out-mailed, out-fundraised, and out-staffed us by a ratio of 9 to 1!

And thanks also for your help post-election, when on Wednesday morning former RNC Chair and Allen Senior Advisor Ed Gillespie went on CNN to imply that there was evidence of massive vote fraud in Stafford County. 

There wasn't.

Our registrar, reeling and fatigued from a near 24-hour day, transposed some numbers and the vote count in Stafford was adjusted downward by 1,300.  But that didn't stop the other side from sending their white-shoe attorneys to the cramped canvass room in the Stafford County Courthouse.

Larry, you helped us tremendously, and at my personal request got us on-call legal support so that our Committee member attorneys were never left in the lurch.  That was especially reassuring as, late into Wednesday evening, the other side threatened to get a court order to do a hand-count in one of our precincts. 

We prevailed!

Our Stafford Committee members and volunteers can say  they helped seal the deal for Senator-Elect Jim Webb, first by delivering on Webb votes and then by helping to keep the post-election canvass from barreling out of control.

Warmest Regards,

Dan Smolen
Chair - Stafford County Virginia Democratic Committee