“The urban sprawl isn’t just inhabited by golf club-wielding stockbrokers. It’s the bleeding over of Charlottesville.”
— Eric von Geilker, a housing contractor who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, talking about Albemarle County’s vote for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, after voting for Republicans since at least the 1950s. The county surrounds Charlottesville, which is home to the University of Virginia.
von Geilker is absolutely right. Though I could do without the sprawl, the point is that Charlottesville and, as the city becomes more expensive to live in, Albemarle County are becoming the capital of Democratic Virginia. 71.77% of Charlottesville voted for John Kerry — only Petersburg (81.03%) did better. This in a state where Bush beat Kerry 53/45.
In the next year, we in Charlottesville and Albemarle are going to claim the leadership role as head of the Virginia Democrats, as we must in order to return the legislature to its rightful Democratic control and, in turn, the House in ’06 and the presidency in ’08.