Democracy for Virginia

Donate and RSVP - Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue!

Thursday Update: With just three days left before the Turn Virgina Blue Barbecue and Frisbee Golf Tournament, RSVP's are steadily coming in and donations are starting to add up. Please help us to plan for enough food for everyone by RSVPing online today.

Click image above to RSVP!

Our list of honored and special guests has grown tremendously in the past few days! Our honored guests, for which we will be raising money, are four of Virginia's seven Democratic candidates for Congress - Congressman Jim Moran from VA-8, James Socas from VA-10, Ken Longmyer from VA-11, and our Dean Dozen candidate from Virginia, Al Weed from VA-5.

Please show your support for these great candidates for Congress by making a contribution online today to your favorite candidates through our Turn Virginia Blue donations page. Every donation helps with critical outreach, visibility, and GOTV efforts around Virginia, and we know that small donations can add up quickly!

In addition, we are proud that we will be joined by three great candidates for Liutenant Governor of Virginia in 2005 - Delegate Viola Baskerville, former U.S. Congresswoman and State Senator Leslie Byrne, and Delegate Chap Petersen. Kerry Donley, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia will also be joining us at the BBQ.

With all of these great Democratic leaders joining us for our day of fun and fundraising, our most important goal is increasing turnout at the BBQ so more people will be able to meet these great candidates. Please consider asking a friend to join you! The more, the merrier!

After Turn Virginia Blue BBQ: Two Great Parties

Is four and a half hours of fun with your fellow progressive Democrats at the Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue this Sunday not enough political partying for you?

If so, there are three great after-parties that might interest you, two in Northern Virginia and one in Richmond!

The first is our companion Majority Parties house party, sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and hosted by Lynn and Rich in Alexandria. Lynn and Rich's Party to Turn America Blue will be held in Alexandria right after the Turn VA Blue BBQ. Lynn and Rich are planning a relaxing evening, and the house party will feature a conference call with Nancy Pelosi and Al Franken! If you've already contributed to the DCCC through the Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue, you do not need to contribute again to attend Lynn and Rich's party. All are welcome, and don't feel pressure to bring food to both events!

If you're in the Richmond area, Robin is throwing her own Turn Virginia - And Congress! - Blue party on Sunday night. Some people will be driving up for the Turn VA Blue Barbecue and then down home to Richmond for Robin's party. It's going to be a great day!

The other great house party fundraiser on Sunday night will be a wine-tasting house party for Al Weed in Arlington from 5:00 - 7:00 on Sunday. It will feature wine's from Al Weed's own Mountain Cove Vineyards, including his unique fruit wines, including peach, blackberry, and winesap apple wines. I wish I could find a way to be in three places at once!

Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue - Fundraising Update

As of Wednesday evening, we have raised $465 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for targeted races nationwide, and $510 online for our candidates from Virginia. We've also collected pledges for an additional $900 in checks to come in at the BBQ itself!

You can learn about our great Democratic candidates from Virginia on our Turn Virginia Blue fundraising page There, you can make one secure online contribution that you divide up among your favorite candidates. If you'd prefer, you can take the shortcut below and just type in how much you'd like to give to your favorite candidates. Remember, every donation adds up and makes a big difference - our money will fund critical visibility, outreach, and GOTV efforts in districts around Virginia, driving Democratic voters to the polls in November.

Al Weed	(House, Va.-05)	$
Bobby Scott	(House, Va.-03)	$
Jim Moran	(House, Va.-08)	$
James Socas	(House, Va.-10)	$
Rick Boucher	(House, Va.-09)	$
Jonathan Menefee	(House, Va.-04)	$
David Ashe	(House, Va.-02)	$
Ken Longmyer	(House, Va.-11)	$

After you've donated, please help us to plan for adequate food for everyone by RSVPing online today!

RSVP Today for Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue!

Just over a week remains until our Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue on Sunday, August 29 at Bluemont Park in Arlington.

To help us plan for enough hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers for everyone, we ask that you RSVP today!

Click image above to RSVP!

Special guests who will be attending this event include four great Democratic candidates for Congress from Virginia:Congressman Jim Moran (VA-8), Ken Longmyer (VA-11), James Socas (VA-10), and Virginia's only Dean Dozen candidate, Al Weed from VA-5!

At the barbecue, our Democracy for Virginia Frisbee Golf Tournament will raise money for all Democratic candidates for Congress to help their efforts to Turn Virginia Blue! Even if you cannot attend the barbecue, please give generously if you can! Our Democracy for Virginia/Turn Virginia Blue fundraising page allows you to donate to your choice of worthy candidates around the state with just one secure online transaction. Donating through this page gives "credit" to Democracy for Virginia for helping to support Democratic candidates from Virginia - please consider using it when you support our candidates in Virginia!

We look forward to a big crowd - please help us to plan by RSVPing online today. We WILL Turn Virginia Blue this year!

Fundraiser for Al Weed - Special Democracy for America Rate!

Our Dean Dozen candidate from Virginia, Al Weed has offered a special rate for Democracy for America members to attend an Al Weed fundraising banquet in Lynchburg this Saturday, August 21.

Tickets for the event are normally $125, and the special Democracy for America/Democracy for Virginia rate is $75. (Of course, if you can afford to give more, please do!) Young Democrats can attend for $50.

Please show our support for Al Weed and our thanks for the special rate for DFA by attending this special event. If you cannot attend, you can still contribute to Al Weed through our Democracy for Virginia/Turn Virginia Blue fundraising page. If not attending the fundraiser, please use this page to support our Democratic candidates from Virginia so Democracy for Virginia will get "credit" for our support!

Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue - plans underway!

Plans are underway for Democracy for Virginia's Turn Virginia Blue Barbecue on Sunday, August 29 in Arlington. We need the help of all local Democracy for Virginia supporters to pull off an event of this size - there are many opportunities to get involved with outreach to other groups, publicity, organizing potluck side dishes and desserts, leading volleyball, kickball, and other games, and volunteering to help with the Frisbee Golf Classic.

Congressman Jim Moran (VA-8), Ken Longmyer (VA-11), James Socas (VA-10) and Al Weed (VA-5) are all confirmed to be attending the event, and we are hoping to hear from other invited special guests soon! To get involved in planning the event, please email maura (at) democracyforvirginia.com.

Please click the image above for more information and to RSVP!!!

Al Weed featured on Blog for America

Based on our suggestion to DFA to harness the anti-Rodney Alexander energy to gain momentum for Al Weed's fight against another turncoat former Democrat, Virgil Goode, DFA Intern Jessica Singleton last night posted a piece entitled Weed vs. Goode: Man of Integrity or Duplicitous Deserter on Blog for America.

We hope this will increase Al Weed's visibility and result in some grassroots donations for him.

A few great comments on the piece were written by Virginians. The first, from CVL:

Meanwhile, Al Weed is doing great work in re-building the Democratic party in Virginia's 5th district. (I have been a volunteer with the campaign since April- Al is great.) It is definitely an uphill battle- I wish that the state dems had the organization to provide better support for such a great candidate. Here we are in the swing district of a semi swing state, but only the official swing states are getting the support!

From JeannieB in Crozet VA:

Al Weed is the real thing -- a true progressive who "gets" democracy and whose vision of what America can and should be is creative, inspiring and innovative, while being utterly pragmatic. Sound familiar?

Like Howard Dean, Al is not one who will say just anything just to get elected. He takes tough, sometimes unpopular positions because they are the right thing to do. He is marvelous at connecting with crowds by cutting through the political claptrap and getting down to basics. He operates on facts and reality, not ideology or political point-making.

Larry Sabato Predicts Kerry Victory, Says Bush Needs "Miracle" to Win

Larry Sabato, director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told the Business Council of Alabama on Saturday that John Kerry would win if the election were held now, and says, "[Bush] really will need a miracle to win, and the last miracle was for Harry S. Truman", according to an article in the Birmingham News.

Sabato, never known to be overly friendly toward Democratic candidates, reportedly called John Kerry, "a cross between a funeral director and Lurch, the stiff butler on the old TV comedy "The Addams Family".

His continued his negative comments about Kerry by reportedly saying, "He can't connect with people. He's way to the left of the American mainstream."

Sabato opined that Bush needs to focus on contoversial "wedge" issues such as abortion, gay marriage, gun control, and the death penalty in order to win.

While the article does not say whether Sabato commented on Kerry's chances in Virginia, he did predict that Kerry will likely win Minnesota, Michigan, or Pennsylvania. He said Bush's best chances for Bush to take states from the Gore column were Iowa and Wisconsin. He said Kerry's best chances of taking a 2000 Bush state was New Hampsire. Sabato sees West Virginia and Florida leaning toward Kerry, with Ohio and Missouri as tossups.

A particularly sweet benefit of turning Virginia blue would be watching Larry Sabato scramble to explain it. Let's make it happen!

Publicity for Al Weed's Dean Dozen Designation

A recent article in The Daily Progress highlights Democracy for Virginia's support for Al Weed through the Dean Dozen endorsement, quoting our own Donna Goins of Charlottesville as a host of one of many convention-watching parties for Al last week.

For the party Wednesday night in Charlottesville at the home of supporter Donna Goings, “I got her a mixed case” of wine, he said.

Goings said she and about 400 area supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, Weed’s initial favorite for president, have brought the organization started around the former Vermont governor behind Weed. “We feel he’s a progressive candidate,” she said.

“We worked very hard to get him designated a member of the Dean dozen,” a list of congressional candidates now benefiting from some of the national Dean organization, Goings said.

Weed said the Dean magic is working and is beginning to show up in campaign donations.

Although Weed lagged far behind Goode in money raised for their campaigns, the Democrat said last week that his campaign kitty reached the $205,000 mark in total cash raised.

Please support Al!