The following was posted on Raising Kaine by my friend and RK co-conspirator (ha) Todd Smyth. He asked me to post this here for him, since he was running out the door to work. Thanks to Todd for all his hard work as a Webb super-volunteer. It's people like Todd who are going to defeat George Allen, elect Jim Webb, and help take our country back. Todd Smyth rocks! :) (bolding, by the way, is added by me for emphasis of certain points, like the NAZI(!) "Swastika flag with a stack of George Allen brochures on top."
The gun show in Roanoke, VA this weekend was a telling tale. A table of Democrats supporting a native Virginian and not one shot was fired. We confounded expectations by not having pentagrams etched on our foreheads dispelling many rumors to the contrary. We actually got a number of compliments for having the balls to show up at all and there was no Allen table around. However, after a while some Allen people showed up and got a few people to put Allen bumper stickers on their table. Only one of the ones I asked knew Allen was born and raised in California and had no relatives or heritage in Virginia.
Before Jim Webb showed up, the Allenbots deployed with big signs a blazin and put a ton of them up around the gun show illegally. A city official convinced them to take them down before they were caught and fined. As Jim strolled the main floor of the gun show his Allen video stalker was shut down harshly by a vendor who threatened to have him thrown out for video taping inside a gun show. I was therefore unable to get a picture of the table with the WWII German ceremonial knives laying on top of a big NAZI Swastika flag with a stack of George Allen brochures on top.
Much of the sentiment at the show boiled down around high gas prices and a do-nothing Congress on the take from big oil. I heard a lot of people talk about all polititians being bad and corrupt and how Webb would turn out just like the rest of them. So I took a page out of Paul Wellstone's book and asked people how much money did they think Jim Webb has raised from oil companies? And then held up a big "goose egg." "Not that Jim has turned down any money from them but they haven't offered any either."
I then asked how much did they think George Allen had raised from big oil? Most of them shrugged. I said over $800,000 so far. Allen is clearly in the pocket of big oil. That seemed to make a difference to people although they were skeptical.
By the way, if you want to help Jim Webb defeat a guy who hurls racial epithets ("macaca") and whose literature finds a happy home on top of a big Nazi Swstika flag, please click here. Thanks.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.