Demonstrating Kilgore's Wide Appeal (Not!)

I had intended to phone bank at the coordinated campaign HQ in McLean yesterday evening, but an earlier meeting went over-time and I ended up showing up at HQ, embarrassed and apologetic, with only a half hour of calling time remaining.  I was of no use to the campaign, but was interested to hear that other volunteers had been delayed in commuting to the office after work because they were stuck in traffic jams caused by security for George W. Bush, who attended "very intimate dinner" for 100 in McLean last night as a fundraiser for Jerry Kilgore.

Bob over at Commonwealth Commonsense raised a pertinent question about what kind of "intimacy" can occur with 100 people at a time (and whether Dick Black and Bob Marshall might disapprove).  I was even more amused by details in this morning's Post coverage of last night's event (emphasis mine):

The minimum [contribution] at the McLean dinner, at the home of developer and home builder Dwight Schar, was a $15,000 donation to Jerry W. Kilgore, gubernatorial candidate in Virginia's Nov. 8 election.

"They called and asked if we wanted 'dinner with the president,' " said Ray Breeden, chairman of the Breeden Co., a development firm based in Virginia Beach. "And who's going to turn that down?" Breeden was planning on flying his jet up for the event. [...]

The invitation to Dwight and Martha Schar's luxurious home by the Potomac River in McLean beckoned with the promise of proximity to power: a "very intimate dinner," it proposed, with "our very special guest President George W. Bush."

What that meant in practice was a meal at a 10,000-square-foot house attended by Bush and about 100 other guests, campaign aides said, not including a phalanx of police and well-dressed security men. The dinner guests were guided down a windy, wooded road on the Schars' 10-acre estate, which bears the name "Wind Falls."

Okay, so they're super-rich.  (My condo could fit inside that house 18 times over - think they have enough closet space?)  No news that big Republican donors are rich, of course.  But what struck me as laughable was the comment that Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh made about the alleged significance of the event:

Tim Murtaugh, Kilgore's spokesman, said yesterday's financial rewards show that the Kilgore campaign holds appeal for everyone from Main Street America to "the leader of the free world."

Well, no.  Yesterday's event doesn't show the Kilgore campaign holds appeal for everyone.  It shows that the Kilgore campaign holds appeal for one couple living in a gargantuan-sized mansion and a hundred people who can shell out an average contribution of $20,000 to buy some "intimacy".

In contrast, a thousand people, mostly young voters, attended Wednesday night's Tim Kaine fundraiser in Arlington with Barack Obama, for which the suggested minimum contribution was 35 bucks.  Of course, there's no question the Kaine campaign would rather have netted $2 million, but opening up an affordable, small-dollar fundraiser to a thousand young voters does provide other tangible (though less quantifiable) benefits to a campaign. 

The Bush event was supposedly 10 times more "intimate", but was more than 400 times more expensive per attendee.  Evidence of wide appeal?  I think not.  Those in the market to buy some political "intimacy" might also note that we got the better bargain overall.

But who knows.   Maybe they had really good appetizers.  One would hope so.

Comments

[Luna]

You hit the nail on the head, Maura. Kilgore is all about the elites and the exclusives, while Kaine is about helping the regular people.

I just can't believe the Republicans have the gall to call themselves the Main Street Americans. Gah!

[Lola]

This contrast between the Kaine and Kilgore events should be used in a TV add or a flyer or something that has wide distribution. Time to start preaching to everybody, not just to the choir.

[Lola]

I mean 'TV ad' of course. Can't stand typos.

[Elaine in Roanoke]

This election will be very close. It is absolutely imperative that we all help by registering Democratic voters, volunteering the time we can with the camppaign, and doing GOTV early.
Especially important is to get name recognition for Leslie Byrne and for Creigh Deeds in the parts of the state where they are not known well.
Those things we did for Howard Dean to get name recognition can work here.

[kathy]

Great contrast Maura! The voters need to wake up and think about who really is capable of looking after their interests.

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Hey Maura--awesome comparison, excellent distinction.

These people can only parade and charade for so long before people begin to see the truth.

[RD]

I was able to attend Tim Kaine's fundraiser in Arlington last week. You can rest assured that my time was much better spent there making some new contacts than the dog and pony show-style gathering in McLean. Congressman Jim Moran got the festivities started and Senator Barack Obama inspired us before introducing Tim.

Here's a snip from the Post that says it all...

"The event had more of the feel of a rally than the usual midsummer fundraiser."

[KathyinBlacksburg]

Good article, Maura. This race is a study in contrasts. BTW, Kilgore trusts neither Virginians nor Americans. And we don't trust him. He's all about changing our state and nation to something we don't even recognize anymore.

[Jonathan Mark]

>>>than the dog and pony show-style gathering in McLean. Congressman Jim Moran got the festivities started<<<

Perhaps, but remember that the hosts of that dog-and-pony show for Kilgore, Republican fundraisers Dwight and Martha Schar, donated the legal maximum of $4000 to Jim Moran in the 2004 primary. (cf. http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=Schar&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=22101&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2006=Y&txt2004=Y&Order=N)

Moran is playing both sides of the fence here. He goes to the event in Arlington and gives a rousing speech that people who don't know any better find inspiring. Yet behind the scenes, that same Jim Moran goes to the organizers of that Kilgore dog-and-pony show and solicits $4000 from them for himself.

Why do the Kilgore supporters give money to Moran? Any ideas?

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