That’s the only way I can describe the the Democratic side in Virginia this election season.
You’d think our side would have realized what Republicans have had at the forefront of their minds since last November. That this election could turn things back in the other direction.
It’s a long time between now and 2012, but it’s a distinct possibility, to say the least.
Virginia went blue for president for the first time since LBJ last fall, and it was done the old-fashioned way. The Obama team organized Virginia like no campaign has done before.
So with the infrastructure in place from last year, it should be a cakewalk for the Creigh Deeds team to pick up the ball and run with it, right? I mean, seriously, just piggyback on what was done in Virginia last year, and you have a helluva head start. Right?
Some of you reading this know that I’m finishing up a term as the chair of the Waynesboro Democratic Committee, so I’m speaking with some inside knowledge here, limited though it might be. But when I tell you that I can’t even get the statewide campaigns to get me yard signs to put in people’s front yards, I’m not some pundit sitting in an ivory tower sipping Starbucks pontificating about something I don’t know about.
The state ticket has utterly failed to take advantage of what the party has been able to put in place in term of campaign infrastructure the past few years.
The Obama campaign was in Waynesboro every day for five months recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors, running phone banks. The ’09 state ticket – well, I have a contact, and he’s a nice guy, but he’s based in Charlottesville, and covers an area that from what I can tell goes up to Harrisonburg. Which means, needless to say, that he’s stretched thin.
Whatever the case, we haven’t done any door-to-door campaigning for Deeds in Waynesboro this year. No phone banks. We have literally a few signs and bumper stickers left to give out, and then we’re done.
And we wonder why we’re losing. We were able to add 15 percentage points to the take for the Democratic presidential candidate from 2004 to 2008 and deliver a solid 58 percent margin for Mark Warner last year when he lost Waynesboro when he ran for governor in 2001. It wouldn’t surprise me to see us back in the 30s on Nov. 3; we simply haven’t done anything here to try to get people to come out to vote for our candidates.
To say that I’ve been left disillusioned by the whole process is putting it mildly. I alluded above to how I’m finishing up a term as chair of the Waynesboro Democratic Committee. My progressive ideals on economic development, job creation and quality-of-life issues notwithstanding, I value my time more than the people running the state party seem to.
That, and I’ve not been able to get over being called “irresponsible” for bringing these issues up for public discussion a couple of weeks ago by someone in the Deeds campaign.
Time to ride off into the sunset.
– Column by Chris Graham
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