Politics-junkies can gather very useful insight at events such as the annual Fourth of July Fredericksburg Heritage Festival.  Last year's Heritage Festival left many of us with the impression that "Webb could actually win the election!"  The responses we had gotten from likely voters was enthusiasm for Webb and, at best, tepid interest in Allen.

So what was this year's big insight?
(read it on the flip)
...That our Democrats have the discipline, and the fire-in-the-belly to pull off stunning victories this fall!

Albert Pollard (center left) and his wife, Mariah, connect with a voter at the Fredericksburg Heritage Festival.

In particular, two of our candidates - Albert Pollard running in the 28th Senate District (Chichester's old seat) and Carlos Del Toro, running in the 88th house district against Del. Mark "Do Nothing" Cole - demonstrated what top candidates do to win elections...THEY WORKED THE CROWDS...AND MADE VALUABLE CONNECTIONS WITH VOTERS THAT WILL TRANSLATE TO STUNNING VICTORIES THIS FALL!

By contrast, their rivals at the Fredericksburg Area Republican Party booth epitomized that old saying about Yassir Arafat:  "(they) never missed and opportunity to miss an opportunity!"

So, how did our friends across the aisle spend their valuable time at this year's Heritage Festival?

Well, Mark Cole, who must've finally realized that he is now in a fight for his political future, did show up after years of previously blowing-off the Heritage Festival.  BUT he spent nearly all his time standing curbside, mannequin-stiff, handing out Mark Cole balloons only to those people that approached him.  In other words, he connected with people that already are his core voters.

In the several hours that Mark "Do Nothing" Cole spent waiting for people to approach him, Carlos Del Toro and Albert Pollard shook hundreds of hands.  One woman in the sea of people, a lifelong Republican from Stafford meeting Carlos Del Toro for the first time, had with him what she described as a truly substantive conversation on education.  This solid Republican concluded that Del Toro "knew what (he) was talking about" and that she would vote for him in the Fall.

And that, my friends, is how we are going to win key races this fall; we're going to use our time wisely to appeal to voters (one-by-one) and gain their trust. 

Meantime, the Republicans will be asking the burning question: Does anyone 'wanna balloon?

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