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Sunday, November 4, 2007
By Mason Adams
ROCKY MOUNT -- State Democratic leaders swept through Southwest and
Southside Virginia
on Saturday, working to rally supporters and get out the vote for Tuesday's
elections.
Gov. Tim Kaine, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, former Gov. Mark Warner and Democratic
leaders in both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates started in
Christiansburg and worked their way southeast toward Martinsville
and Danville.
In Rocky Mount
they appeared before about 150 people to push 9th House District candidate Eric
Ferguson, who is facing Republican Charles Poindexter in an expensive and
high-profile race to replace the retiring Allen Dudley, a Republican.
Both Ferguson
and Poindexter have received an influx of large donations in recent days. On
Friday and Saturday, Poindexter received $31,000, which will all go into media
buys. He spent his Saturday working events in Franklin County,
going from a Lions Club pancake breakfast to a chili festival before heading
out to campaign door-to-door. On Monday he will appear with Attorney General
Bob McDonnell and Virginia Republican Party Chairman John Hager.
With all 140 General Assembly seats up for election this year, Democrats
hope to win a majority in the Senate while picking off enough House seats to
make a run for a majority there in 2009.
Certainly, the shadow of future elections loomed large during the Democratic
Party rally. Warner joked that he's "looking for work," alluding to
his plans to run for U.S. Senate next year to replace the retiring John Warner,
a Republican who is not related. House Democratic caucus leader Del. Brian
Moran, D-Alexandria, suggested that if Democrats win the House in 2009,
Virginians might see a "speaker from Martinsville,"
referring to current House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong.
And Moran shared the stage with Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County;
both are considered front-runners for the 2009 Democratic nomination for
governor.
Still, the Democrats largely shrugged off questions about their political
futures in lieu of talk about Tuesday's elections. They spoke about how far
their party has come just in the past few years. Warner noted that just prior
to his election as governor, the Democrats held no statewide positions and were
the minority party in both houses of the General Assembly. In Franklin County,
a Democratic party rally with 150 people would have been nearly inconceivable.
Changing demographics in Northern Virginia
have factored into the Democrats' statewide successes. But Kaine's and Warner's
gubernatorial visits to Western Virginia have
helped the party rebuild there as well.
"People I think respond to the fact that we've been here," Warner
said. "We're trying to bring jobs, we're trying to bring dollars for
economic development. That's what folks want. That's much more important than
party building."
Reached by phone, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith said he felt rural
Virginians would stick with established Republican candidates with conservative
credentials.
"When it comes to issues that are important, trying to keep taxes low,
illegal immigration, social conservative-type issues, I think the Republican
Party represents rural Virginia better than
the likes of Brian Moran," Griffith
said. "If you look at his voting record you can see that."
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/138431
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