As part of the resurgence of the Democratic Party in Central Virginia, the Stafford County Democratic Committee held its first Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner on March 14, 2009.
The room was full and an enthusiastic audience gathered to congratulate itself for a successful (mostly) 2008 election and to prepare for the grueling, oh-so-important 2009 election.
We heard from Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11), former Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on passing the Economic Recovery Act, The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and S-CHIP. We heard in person from former Del. Brian Moran, State Sen. Creigh Deeds (VA-Sen-25) and by video from former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe as our Gubernatorial candidates, in person from Mike Signer, Pat Edmonson and Jon Bowerbank and by proxy (Pierce Homer) from Jody Wagner among our Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidates, and from sole Attorney-General candidate Steve Shannon (VA-HD-35).
What stuck all of us was: boy, do we have a deep bench! Deeds, Moran and McAuliffe will all be able to mount solid state-wide campaigns; all of the candidates for Lt. Gov. are credible, and Steve Shannon is very, very impressive and stands the best chance of giving us a Democratic AG since Mary Sue Terry held the office during the early 90's.
The Republicans have former A-G Bob McDonnell as their candidate for Governor (he beat Creigh Deeds for A-G in 2005 by about 400 votes out of nearly 2 million), current Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (who doesn't want to give up his business to run the state full-time) and a bunch of candidates for A-G, which will be their sole statewide primary.
I'm not going to pick or choose here, I hope all Democrats in The New Dominion will refrain from attacks on the other candidates, and I know that the party will unify behind those who win the primary.
To see stemwinders from Connolly, Moran and Deeds, visit www.staffordemocrats.org.