So I stopped by the Annandale Fire House to see Bob McDonnell's kickoff yesterday morning. I would have had something up faster but I went out last night and am now just getting my bearings. So I was impressed with the turnout, the firehouse was certainly packed . . . somewhere between 400-500 people for sure. I got there right at 10 am so I missed whatever might have been going on. Couple things, first and foremost any campaigning by the AG candidates was clearly banned because none of them were allowed to have any yard signs or literature passed out. Botb Tom Davis and Frank Wolf gave nice little pep talks about how this is the best group of Republican candidates we've had in a long time (hey, I'm just glad TD allowed us to run candidates this year).
Bill Bolling spoke first, which is always a good idea. He gives a great stemwinder, really gets the crowd fired up. Both the theme he wove and the one that McDonnell talked about was using Virginia's resources to build jobs from within. Jobs, Jobs , Jobs; that was the message that was sounded over and over. The two main themese that dovetailed from that was energy and transportation.
McDonnell followed with what was his best speech I've ever heard him give. What his platform is is a truly statewide platform, which I think will work well. McDonnell talked of transprotation not just as a Northern Virginia problem, but a statewide one. When he spoke of widening I-66 and Metro, he also talked about transportation in Hampton Roads and how it hurts our ports. Republicans need to marry the problems in each section together.
He also spoke a lot about energy. McDonnell actually said he agreed with Obama that green jobs are the future, and he will fight to make those happen. But he also vowed to open Virginia's coastline to offshore exploration that will bring capital and jobs to the area.
Overall, it was a good speech and a great way to kick off the campaign. McDonnell is putting together a truly unified message statewide, linking each part of the commonwealth to the other through broad and clear proposals that will bring the state party together. One of our biggest problems as a party has been the sectional divides, the inability of our leadership to make other sections understand how helping another helps everyone. McDonnell and Bolling seem to be work hard on this and I am, quite frankly, very excited about the whole ticket right now.
But allow me to turn this into a pro-Cuccinelli rant for a moment. The one thing missing from the McDonnell-Bolling electorate are the social conservatives, religious conservatives who aren't political in the same paradigm as the rest of the electorate - as well as the homeschoolers. These are Cuccinelli's voters, his base, the people that are going to get out for him. Its not that McDonnell and Bolling are somehow not conservative, they certainly are, but neither one of them have cultivated the SoCons the way Cuccinelli has and his addition to the ticket would complete what might be the most regionally and ideologically balance ticket we have ever had.
There was a table by the entrance where all three AG candidates had their lit available for all.
Two of the three (Foster and Brownlee) AG candidates were in attendance. They talked with lots of people who would be delegates down in Richmond.
Posted by: Freddie | March 30, 2009 at 11:01 AM