local politics

It seems Team Shrub is lost without its key puppetmasters, er, players. I believe Newsweek dubbed it "Flying Blind."

In much more exciting news, however, I got to see and hear Barack Obama in person! What I found hard to believe were the people at that rally who hadn't heard of Obama. For shame. He's only (swoon) the greatest Federal Senator ever, outside of Boxer, Clinton, etc.

He spoke of how Virginia is now becoming one of the Great States and people are watching us to see if the US is ready for a democratic leadership, especially since we aren't getting anything of the sort currently.

Of Bobby Scott, Creigh (Cree) Deeds, Leslie Byrne, Barack Obama and Tim Kaine, no one mentioned what's been happening within the republican party recently. Of course they criticized Bush, but hell, it's a democrat rally; it's not supposed to be friendly toward the "other guy."

I didn't get to write anything down because Peanut was ready to go at this point. The candidates and Senator were supposed to show up around 2:30 but didn't get there 'til 3:30. I didn't get there 'til 1:45 because I knew better. So Peanut waited through 2.5 hours of political stuff so I had to give him props for that.* However, because he had already been waiting 2 hours before they showed up, I didn't get to hear everything or stop to write anything down. Peanut did hold up a Kaine sign while perched atop my shoulders and made friends with a pretty chill dog.**

Obama told us how he was slated to lose in the Illinois primary, didn't have nearly as much money as his opponents, yet still won with a huge lead - 30 pts I think it was. For those of you who were tracking his campaign, you'll remember that his opponent, Alan Keyes, was a republican transplant and nuts.

When Bobby Scott introduced Obama, he stated Obama's belief in educating youths instead of arguing over the death penalty and how long we should keep prisoners around. I saw two women exchange a "pretty cool" look amongst themselves and I chuckled.

I'm hoping that the Times-Dispatch covers this in tomorrow mornings paper since I didn't get to write anything down.***

Something memorable was Leslie Byrne stating that Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne and Creigh Deeds are the TLC Virginia needs. I laughed because I hadn't realized that and I've been saying their names for about a year now.

Of course what bugged me (UA!) was Obama's immediate mention of god, church and his christianity. He stated that he usually doesn't work on Sundays because it's the Sabbath and he prefers to wake up, go to church with his family then spend the day with his daughters and wife. I cringed because that right there alienates a whole group of voters who are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, etc (and we have a growing number of Muslims in Virginia, too).

None of the candidates used notecards or teleprompters. Instead, they each spoke before the crowd like they were born doing it. All of them exuded confidence which is why I'm still surprised that we are equally torn between the candidates with the usual 15% still undecided. Virginia is has been increasingly turning blue and I think the 47% for Kaine and 44% for Kilgore prove just that. Traditionally we've almost always been a red state so to elect a democratic governor again will be a huge accomplishment and possible shift.****

Obama told another story but I only got to hear some of it because Peanut was on my back whispering sweet nothings into my ear which prevented me from hearing Obama and instead having to tell Peanut, "Dude. I want to hear him, not you. I can hear you anytime, I only get 15 min to hear him." That didn't help so I put him down.

After Obama handed the microphone to Kaine, I listened for all of 5 min then left. What was so interesting is the number of people who also left after Obama finished. Because, after all, wasn't that the point of getting Barack Obama to come here?

There was a huge poster there that claimed "Obama got Karma." I guess the sign holder was thinking it rhymed or something. I do have 2 new Kaine signs to stick in my yard now, too, since the others got taken up when the county mowed the grass. I think they just took mine because it didn't have Kilgore's name on it since the people down the road have Kilgore signs and theirs were left alone.

Oh, then we went to Kroger and Target with all our Kaine, Byrne, Deeds stickers on. :)

*We went to Target afterwards in hopes of finding a pumpkin. I bought him a $5 toy which ended up being officers from the Elite Force. And while checking out the jackets, he decided to be not as smart as he can be in school and tried jumping on the front of the cart, forgetting it had wheels. He jumped, the cart rolled and Peanut went flying hitting both buttbone and back of head on the carpeted yet non padded flooring. My how he did try and play up that buttbone injury though.
**A sign that he hangs out with dogs too much: he had his puppy sniff this dogs butt, just as if they were both real dogs. Yes dogs do this when they meet each other as a sign of acknowledgement and identification, but I don't need my kid to do it with a stuffed dog vs. a real one. In public. At this rally.
***Amazingly nothing is up on their websites yet. Sheesh.
****Yes we have elected repub's many times too many: Allen and Gilmore to name 2. However, from when I can remember, there hasn't been any consistency with which party we generally elect from. It's our AAA bond rating and the fact we're in the top 5 for income that generates our red state status.