My First Campaign Contribution

I just made my first campaign contribution of 2009. It may surprise some people that I haven't given yet this year. I have been active, canvassing for Sen. Deeds in the final week, and speaking on behalf of Steve Shannon in two cases. This morning, however, I gave what I could today - $10 - to Steve Shannon's campaign for Attorney General.

Now that we have our ticket, it is likely that the Deeds campaign will be receiving the lion's share of attention and contributions. And we all know that early money is worth a lot more than late money. Given those two factors, I decided to give my early general election money to our candidate for Attorney General.

One of the reasons that Tim Kaine was in such a strong position to win in 2005, was the fact that he was already part of a successful commonwealth administration. In 2009, one of our Party's challenges is the fact that we do not have an incumbent state-wide elected official running for any position. If things had gone a little bit differently (300 votes differently!), we would have had an incumbent running in 2009, with a built-in, state-wide reputation.

This is among the reasons why downticket races matter. They build our bench. They provide cover and support for our leaders at the top. And, most of all, they help our state be governed better.

Steve Shannon is a great candidate for an office that it is critical we win in November. The position of Attorney General in Virginia has been dominated by extremely conservative Republicans who do more harm than good for the Commonwealth since 1993. Remember the last Attorney General who was elevated to the Governor's chair? (Hint, he utterly wrecked the state's finances - among the reasons it is so important for Jody Wagner to win the LG seat.) It is time for that trend to change, and we elect an Attorney General who will work for the people, not the interests who have put us on the wrong path before. Steve is running against a fellow northern Virginian, but one who has his own conservative, obstructionist and regressive record. (Here's a choice quote, "And he has never once compromised his conservative principles to represent his district." Think about that, his supporters are proud of the fact that he does not represent his District's values!)

We need an Attorney General who will defend our interests and our values. We need an Attorney General who will actually investigate and prosecute crimes like voter intimidation and defrauding the public. We need an Attorney General who does not see the law as a stick to prod the people to be more Christian, but as a shield to defend all Virginians from the inequities of our society. Virginia needs Steve Shannon to be our Attorney General, and your $10, along with mine, can help make that happen.