According to the McCain campaign, there are two Virginias, Northern Virginia and the "real" Virginia. I was canvassing last weekend in Petersburg, Virginia, south of Richmond. I guess that's the "real" Virginia.
After canvassing in Fairfax, Loudon and Prince William counties so far this cycle, I was dispatched to Petersburg, Virginia to canvass. Following the rhetoric of the McCain campaign, this is the so-called "real" Virginia.
We were met at the Obama headquarters by Andrea Miller, who is running for Congress from that District. Everywhere we have worked in Virginia, the Obama campaign is coordinated with the other races, including the Mark Warner Senate campaign and the local Congressional campaign. My belief is that we are doing more for the down-ticket races than we are for the Obama campaign. Mark Warner is more popular than Obama in VA, so he will likely help both up and down the ticket
I lived in and worked out of Petersburg in the mid to late seventies, where I was a dreaded community organizer. I even canvassed the street where I once lived. It is the oldest part of Petersburg and has gentrified a good bit, but still has a little ways to go.
Petersburg is historically significant in that the last major battle of the Civil War was fought in Petersburg. Most of the rail lines going into Richmond went through Petersburg, so General Ulysses S. Grant lay siege to Petersburg in 1864 and 1865. When Petersburg fell, Richmond fell and the end of the war was just weeks away. Fort Lee is just to the east of Petersburg and its growth has already had a positive impact on the city.
There was more than a bit of the old south in Petersburg in the mid seventies and I still detect some of that today. One of the people I spoke with is on the local school board and she said that Petersburg is a strong Obama town. I’m not sure that I detected a lot of that, but it was mixed, for sure. The area I canvassed was summed up in a picture that I tried to include with this post, but was unable to. There were three signs attached to the front fence: two for McCain and one for Obama. The upstairs had an American flag in the window, the downstairs, a Confederate flag.
My assumption is that this is a two unit building. Is the ‘real" Virginia represented by the Confederate flag or the American flag? Is the Confederate flag the residence of the Obama supporter or the McCain supporter? Which apartment has the pro-America residents and which has the anti-American residents? Are they both anti-America or are they both pro-America?