The University of Virginia's Newcomb Hall Ballroom played host today to a loud, well-attended rally for Senate candidate Jim Webb and House candidate Al Weed.
The room - a fairly big one - was reasonably full when our first speaker, VA Senator Creigh Deeds, took the mike.
Deeds came very very close - 300 votes, in fact - to winning the race for Attorney General in 2005. As such, he made a compelling case for get-out-the-vote efforts.
He was followed by Al Weed, who spoke effectively about the bond between veterans - the big theme at the event. Weed is making his second run against the 05's Virgil Goode, and talked about how many people he'd encountered who said they'd be voting Democratic this time out.
Max Cleland was quite feisty - cracking the well-worn joke about Al's last name (we had those in 2004, too) but helping to remind the crowd about both the stakes and the opposition. (if anyone is wondering, he also gave a big thumbs up to Flags of Our Fathers)
Finally it came to Webb. This race features such contrasts: it pits the smirking frat-boy with the phony smile against a candidate who invariably looks thoughtful and solemn. Webb has a soft-spoken sense of humor, which emerged more and more during his speech. He spent some time rebutting the latest Allen attacks (on the novels), while pointedly noting that he'd refrained from making personal attacks on Allen (and not for lack of opportunity!). He also noted the vast gulf in income distribution that has opened up over the last few decades.
The Iraq war was, needless to say, a theme all speakers touched upon, as was the huge budget deficit.
On the way out, I had a chance to shake Webb's hand. Here, the sincerity came through. I've had a lot of weak handshakes from politicians; Webb had a nice solid, firm handshake, and he meant it when he told each of us it was good to see us. He also shrugged off the heckling of some tool working for the "Green" candidate.
Spirits were high, Webb was in good form, and I think a lot of people walked out of the room planning on spending some quality time helping Jim and Al.