I was (presumably mistakenly) invited to a fancy-pants reception for attorney general candidate Sen. Creigh Deeds up in Arlington or Alexandria or somesuch northern Virginia city last night. It was held at a house overlooking a large, narrow body of water which I assume to be the Potomac River. Because I’m dumb, I was actually surprised to walk into this mini-mansion and find Creigh there — I’ve never seen him outside of the district, and, really, the man looks as out of place in northern Virginia as I feel. I didn’t think I’d know a soul, but I ended up being acquainted about a dozen of the fifty or sixty people in attendance. There were a few state senators, a few delegates, one candidate (Greg Werkheiser) and one guy who ought to be a candidate (L.F. Payne).
Del. Kris Amundson and Sen. Creigh Deeds
Mark Warner was the featured speaker. He and Creigh stood in a corner of the living room while the rest of us crowded around for the speechifying. Warner spoke for five or ten minutes, rattling off an impressive array of statistics of all things Virginiana and saying nice things about Creigh. (I refer to Mark Warner by his last name because I don’t know him; Creigh, on the other hand, is just “Creigh” to me. I may well have been the only person in attendance who Warner didn’t know.) Creigh spoke twice as long, and, knowing full well that the crowd wouldn’t like it, touted some of his more conservative values, such as support for the death penalty. He’s not a man who cares to hide any of his beliefs.
(Speaking of which, I hope that somebody will get in touch with Del. Bob McDonnell’s campaign for attorney general. At the beginning of this soiree, one of his staffers wandered in and grabbed a drink. When quietly confronted by a Deeds campaign staffer, he expressed surprise that this wasn’t “the Jeff Frederick fundraiser,” asked directions to said fundraiser, and protested that he wanted to finish his drink before he left. The drink was removed from his hand and he was escorted out. Clearly, McDonnell’s campaign is terribly confused, and is in need of assistance in sorting out their schedule.)
I got the sense that I was the only non-attorney in the room, and I must admit that I didn’t get easily half of the jokes, most of which involved golf. Even the most casual observer would have been able to scan across the room and determine that one of these things is not like the other (one of these things is not the same). While nobody asked me to top off their glass of wine, at least a few people mistook me for the event’s staff. As the only invitee under the age of 40 (the average age must have been around 60), I suppose that’s understandable.
Anyhow, it was a nice event. As my last political event before Amber and I leave on Friday for our wedding and disappear for ten days, I think it was worth the drive.
Oh, and lest I forget: Del. Kris Amundson rocks.
Haha Waldo, you are awesome.
The McDonnell campaign staffer thing sounds deliberate to me. I’ve never heard of it before in Virginia, but when I was in Michigan a while ago, candidate A would send a low-level staffer thought to be anonymous to candidate B’s event, especially in these situations where candidate B’s message didn’t really jive with the audience, just to scout out what happened. And the excuse is exactly the one used in those situations should the low-level staffer not be as anonymous as hoped: oh, this isn’t candidate C’s event?
It’s perfectly fair for a candidate’s representative to attend an opposing candidate’s public event, but strolling into somebody’s private home? That’s shameful.
What makes you think you were “presumably mistakenly” invited?
What makes you think you were “presumably mistakenly” invited?
Because I can’t see anybody inviting me to that sort of a thing intentionally. :) After all, it was a high-dollar fundraiser: I don’t have any money!
The McDonnell campaign staffer thing sounds deliberate to me.
I find it more amusing to think of him as having been hopelessly lost and confused. Clearly, though, you’re right. :)
I’m one of about five McDonnell staffers in the whole of the Commonwealth, and I can assure you that none of us went to hang out with the Governor and Creigh in NoVA.
Sorry to disappoint.
I’m one of about five McDonnell staffers in the whole of the Commonwealth, and I can assure you that none of us went to hang out with the Governor and Creigh in NoVA.
Well, jeez, I’ve got terrible news for you: somebody is going around posing as a McDonnell staffer and crashing Democratic fundraisers.
This just gets worse and worse for the McDonnell campaign!
To McDonnell Staffer: I guess you need to get control of your volunteers then if it wasn’t a staffer sent to spy on Creigh.