Cross posted at bluecommonwealth.org
One thing that won me to the Obama campaign was the quality of its grassroots leaders, who defied the long history of political campaigns with their warmth, courtesy, openness and diversity. Mark Keam, former Fairfax (Virginia) for Obama Campaign Coordinator, impressed me on all counts, with a gentlemanly, thoughtful and serious manner that brought to mind the new POTUS himself. So I was very pleased to learn that Mark is running for Virginia’s House of Delegates from the 35th District (covering part of DC’s Northern Virginia suburbs).
This will be a campaign not only to watch, but to strongly and actively support. Mark has a remarkable story to tell and he tells it well. For Mark, the American Dream has been not an abstraction but a reality. He was born in Korea, the son of an Army chaplain who brought his family with him to Vietnam. Before his tenth birthday, Mark and his family had to flee as the Communists took over in 1975.
He lived in Korea again and Australia before arriving with his family in California in 1980. He came to Washington as an intern to the Democratic National Committee in 1988, living in Falls Church at the time. He studied law after that and began an impressive career that included stints as an attorney to the FCC, Assistant Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the SBA, and Chief Counsel to Dick Durbin at the Senate Judiciary Committee. Along the way (living in Virginia since 1995), he exercised leadership through groups that ranged from Governor Kaine’s Asian American Advisory Board to the DC Hate Crimes Task Force to the Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council.
Among the causes Mark will be championing in his race will be greater investment in mass transit, better pay for teachers and helping small businesses weather the current economic storm.
This is a serious candidate with more angles and depth to him than you would normally find in a General Assembly race. I encourage you to check out his website and keep an eye on this young man, as he works to bring the spirit of Obama to a Virginia General Assembly that could really, really use it.