Democratic Primary Day - 2009

I was up this morning preparing 2 precincts for primary day. My precinct (E. Leesburg) and Smarts Mill have their polling places in schools next door to each other, so around 5:30 this morning, I headed over to setup candidate signs (Moran and Deeds, the McAuliffe campaign didn't get signs to us to put up) and the "Vote-o-matic." The Vote-o-matic is a small table that our District Chair has prepared with weights to hold it in place and bungee cords to secure literature on top of. Though we are not staffing every precinct on Primary Day, Leesburg Democrats are making every candidate's literature available on a table at each precinct.

It was interesting to see that Bob McDonnell already had signs up at each polling place in spite of the fact that there is no Republican primary. It's not entirely clear whom these signs were directed at - presumably it is committed Democrats who will be showing up at these polling places today. Perhaps Mr. McDonnell has (RNC and other national Republican) money to waste on signs that don't vote in an election he's not running in.

After finishing, I was the first to go in and vote at my precinct. That's the first time I have had the privilege of being "voter number one" at 6am. And boy were the precinct workers glad to have someone voting.

As I was setting up, lightning and storms were coming through the area. In what is expected to be a low-turnout election in the first place, the weather in Northern Virginia seems to be conspiring against turnout in the area the trailing candidates are counting on - Northern Virginia. If NoVa doesn't turn out, what is predicted to be a Deeds win may wind up a Deeds blowout. After all, Mr. Deeds has the most committed voters in this race, the kind of voters who show up in spite of the rain.

This morning, I cast my vote for Sen. Deeds. I have met him twice, and each time he has impressed me with with his honesty, his genuine concern for Virginians as people, and his expansive generosity of spirit. Even if he disagrees with you, he will listen to you, and understand where you are coming from, and engage you from there. I believe that Virginians respond to this kind of leader, being in the mold of Gov. Warner and Gov. Kaine. Oh, and he's the one polling best against Mr. McDonnell.

While I had decided on Sen. Deeds a few weeks ago, downticket, my vote was far less certain. I had met and talked with Mike Signer at the LCDC meeting last month, and had heard great things from many people whose opinion I trusted. Jody Wagner, on the other hand, had also received rave reviews. In the end, my vote went to Jody Wagner, for two main reasons. First, the people who liked Jody were people who actually had to do the hard business of governing every day. People like Del. David Poisson, who faces a tough challenge in the minority every legislative session, and who had nothing but the highest praise for Jody's ability to get things done. And second, the late-breaking full endorsement of Jody from the LCDC leadership. It is not often that the LCDC leadership votes to endorse a candidate in a primary. And I fully trust this leadership, having watched them and worked with them through three full election cycles. If they felt there was good and sufficient reason to come out for Jody, she would get my vote.

Regardless of your preferences, please go out and vote today. These are our candidates, and this is our primary. Be a part of it.

[update] I think Johnny Camacho's endorsement of Sen. Deeds may be the best I've yet read.