Democracy for Virginia

Debunking Bolling on Byrne: A Must-Read

Saddle up, kids.  Getting the word out about the truth of Leslie Byrne's record starts now, and all I can say is I'm incredibly grateful to have Lowell from RaisingKaine leading the grassroots charge.

Lowell de-bunks every misleading statement about Byrne in a recent mailing from Bolling.  It's an absolute must-read for supporting Byrne this year.  Seriously.  Must read.  You must read it.  Why aren't you reading it?  Go away and read it I tell you!

Canvassing with Kaine

I'm one of the luckiest supporters of Tim Kaine here in the Commonwealth -- I got to canvass with Kaine in my own neighborhood today!

Along with many DFV members and other familiar faces from last year's elections, I volunteered this morning at the Coordinated Campaign Headquarters in McLean for today's canvassing kickoff event.  As a precinct captain, I was incredibly proud to be able to walk through the neighborhoods of my own precinct, streets that I've canvassed previously for Dean, for Moran, and then for Kerry/Edwards, this time with the actual guy who is on the ballot!

After revving up over 100 volunteers ready to pound the pavement in precincts all around NoVA (including my fellow bloggers Kenton of 750 Volts and Jim E-H of DFV), Tim Kaine and a small caravan of us drove from McLean to the Seven Corners area of Falls Church.  My ethnically diverse precinct is composed primarily of garden apartments, garden-style condominiums, public housing, and a few streets of single-family homes and townhomes. 

This area is unfortunately best known for the crazy Seven Corners intersection (Rt. 50, Rt. 7, Sleepy Hollow, Wilson, Hillwood, and a smattering of access roads all meeting together!) and more recently made infamous by what folks around here call "the Sniper Home Depot", the shopping center where FBI analyst Linda Franklin was murdered in Fall 2002.  Snipers Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad shot Franklin from the trunk of their car while parked in the parking lot for our precinct's polling place.

Politicians rarely come here.  Most residents of my garden-style complex are not native English speakers and many are undocumented workers.  There are other precincts with a much higher density of reliable voters.  But Tim wanted to come here, and seeing him in action today with my neighbors makes me even more confident that he'll make a great Governor of Virginia.

Get Involved Tomorrow! (Saturday)

It's a good thing that the weather forecast is looking good for tomorrow (until early evening potential thunderstorms...) because there are many great opportunities to get involved in political action tomorrow!

Canvassing with Tim Kaine
First of all, Tim Kaine himself will be canvassing in NoVA tomorrow!  DFV volunteers will meet at the NoVA Coordinated Campaign HQ at 9:30.  If you'd like to join us, RSVP here.

America Votes Day of Action
Other DFV volunteers will be joining our allies in the America Votes coalition for June Day of Action Events around the state.  As part of the America Votes Day of Action, Democracy for Virginia will be running a phone bank in Annandale from 10AM - 1PM.  If you'd like to join our phone banking team or any other America Votes events in Virginia tomorrow, sign up here.

Democratic Unity Rally in Williamsburg
Join Governor Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne, Creigh Deeds, and other great Democrats from all around the Commonwealth in a celebration rally to kick off our efforts to win in November!  The rally will be held in Bicentennial Park at the corner of Newport and Henry Streets in Williamsburg.  RSVP here.

Of course, there are many other great opportunities to get involved in House of Delegates campaigns tomorrow, too - please feel free to share them in comments if you're working on a House campaign!

Lt. Gov. Primary Strength Map

Kenton over at 750 Volts gets another A+, this time for his Lieutenant Governor primary mapping project. 

First, he's created a map (2005 Democratic Lieutenant Governor Primary) showing the top Democratic Lt. Gov vote-getters in each Virginia county highlighted by relative strength.  It's a fascinating map with surprising results in some areas - strength for Viola Baskerville throughout central Virginia down to the North Carolina border, a southwest Virginia sweep for Phil Puckett, a sprinkling of counties and cities won outright by Chap Petersen, over 50% strength for Byrne in vote-rich NoVA, and a veritable rainbow in the southeast corner/Tidewater region.

If you haven't memorized all counties in Virginia, our own Jim E-H linked to this useful Virginia county map from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of course, what a geographical representation alone doesn't show is where the votes are, relatively speaking.

Kenton's also got maps showing the strength of Leslie Byrne and Chap Petersen support throughout the state.

Kenton's map for Bolling v. Connaughton is even more dramatic, showing clearly that Connaughton only had very strong support in a few scattered counties.  And note the strength of support for Byrne in beyond-the-beltway NoVA vs. strength for Bolling.  Given how vote-rich NoVA is, this is one good sign for us.

UPDATE: Jim E-H in the comments writes this caveat much more effectively than I did:

One of the important things to keep in mind with these maps, as with the famous red-vs.-blue maps from the November election, is that counties are not equal in population.  Square miles don't vote, people do.

Englin Wins in the 45th: A Victory for the Politics of Conviction and the Tactic of Hard Work

I began my day today at 5:00 am and spent 14 hours on my feet in temperatures that approached 100 degrees helping David Englin win the Democratic nomination to represent the 45th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. So why am I blogging at a quarter till midnight instead of sleeping? Because what David his incredible volunteer effort accomplished in the 45th's 25 precincts is truly remarkable. And it has implications for the Commonwealth of Virginia that extend far beyond the boundaries of this Northern Virginia district—I hope Tim Kaine and the other Democratic nominees are paying attention.

David Englin discovered the secret to winning elections, a strategy so clever that long-time political professionals haven't been able to figure it out. And I'm so excited about David's discovery that I'm up tonight to share it with the world. Yup, that's right, I'm going to put this secret strategy for success on the internet for the whole world to see. (This is freeware, folks!)

And all I ask in exchange is that you promise to share this secret with every Democrat within shouting distance. (Or at least every Democrat on your email list)

Democratic squeaker of the night...

Right now, there's just 10 votes separating Miles and McEachin in the 74th, with 2 precincts from Richmond City left to report.  I'm making the wild guess that McEachin might pull an upset here based on turnout in the city...

http://sbe.vipnet.org/june2005/c_08_1_074.htm

UPDATE: (Nearly Midnight!)  The results for those last two precincts in Richmond are finally in, and McEachin has pulled out an upset: 1,770 votes to Miles with 1,722.  Well, that was exciting!

8:45 Update...

Unless something major happens in the last few precincts to go online, it looks like these are the results...

For Dems:

Lt. Gov: Byrne over others
HOD 37th District: Bulova over Oleszek
HOD 45th: Englin over others
HOD 57th: Toscano over others
HOD 71st: McLellan over Law
HOD 74th: McEachin over Miles (incumbent upset?  A few more precints left to report...)
HOD 75th: Too close to call, with Flowers and Tyler leading others
HOD 90th: Howell (incumbent) leading over Boose

Results tightening up in the 45th

UPDATE: Fairfax results are here:  http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/gov/eb/webreports/results_bypct.htm
and Englin is well in the lead in those precincts reporting...

With 2 of the 4 Arlington precincts now reporting, Libby Garvey has moved to close the gap with David Englin's big lead.  All 14 Alexandria precincts have reported.  No results from Fairfax yet.  Garvey could well catch up with an additional 400 votes from Arlington, so the results will come down to who was able to get out the vote in Fairfax County...

Watch the results in the 45th by municipality at:  http://sbe.vipnet.org/june2005/c_08_1_045.htm

If Garvey brings in 70% returns from the two other Arlington precincts as she did for the first 2, this could be a nail-biter.  Kudos to the Englin campaign for the stunning turnout in Alexandria, with 33% of the vote in the 6-way race.

Results Coming In...

I had to wait quite a long time for results at my polling place (a miscount by one vote held things up, apparently) so I'm a bit late logging on - it looks like things are wrapping up in most races!

You can watch results come in at:   http://sbe.vipnet.org/

So far (nearly 40% reporting), on the Democrats' side, Leslie Byrne looks strong, with the three other challengers neck and neck for second place.

On the Republican side, it looks like a Kilgore, Bolling, McDonnell rout.  The Bolling result is a good one, I think, because middle-of-the-road Virginians are more likely to reject Bolling than Connaughton and go for Byrne.

In the 45th district, David Englin is pulling out an absolutely stunning victory.  With 56% of precincts reporting, his total right now is more than double the 2nd place finisher so far.

Waldo will be disappointed in the results so far in the 57th, with Rich Collins running a distant third at 17% to David Toscano at 58%.

The Democratic primary in the 74th is very close, with Miles and McEachin neck-in-neck.  And with just 2 of 20 precincts reporting, things are looking tight for Democratic incumbent Algie Howell (of droopy drawers fame), who is up by just 9 votes...

Looks like it will be an exciting night in at least a few races!

Primary Day Today!

The polls are just about to open here in Virginia...a few thoughts for primary day:

• Just in case you don't know where your polling place is, look it up here.
• I know you know you need to vote today...but don't forget to remind your friends, family, and co-workers.
• If you plan to vote in the Democratic primary, don't forget to request and double-check that you've gotten a Democratic ballot.
• Kudos to the Democratic volunteers who have fought tirelessly for their chosen candidate for Lieutenant Governor.  It's tough to work hard for almost no recognition in a race that most Virginians aren't even noticing - thanks for investing in the future of the party in Virginia.
• Hats off to all of the volunteers working for their chosen candidates in contested Democratic House primaries.  Thanks for keeping the races clean and above-board and for all the work you've done in increasing turnout for your candidates today.
• Thanks to all the Democratic volunteers who'll be volunteering at their polls for a few hours or even the whole day today.  It's a great day to gather names of folks who'll volunteer with you at your precinct from now 'till November.

It's going to be an interesting night tonight!