After watching the media agonize over Hillary Clinton’s concession speech and over whether she will actively support Barack Obama, I find it difficult not to become frustrated. The Democratic Party has nominated a capable, charismatic, and ingenious leader who is getting very little coverage except to the extent that he is part of the Senator Clinton story. But there is something happening "on the ground" in Virginia and it doesn’t involve Hillary Clinton’s next move. I expect that it is happening elsewhere in the country as well. It won’t get much coverage from the national media but it does not matter.
I live in a very "red" county in Virginia. My county, Fauquier, is southwest of Manassas. During the Virginia primary election, voters in Fauquier, to my surprise, supported Barack Obama. He actually got more votes in Fauquier than did John McCain. I don’t know if it was because Mike Huckabee was still in the race but I suspect that had something to do with it. There were also a fair number of Ron Paul supporters in our county. Our little grassroots group of Obama supporters was very active during the primary but we are taking nothing for granted for the general election.
Some folks from the Obama group in Alexandria have adopted us and are coming to Fauquier to conduct voter registration training at 11:00 AM. Then we are going to the front of the Courthouse on Main Street in Warrenton and registering voters. People in Fauquier don’t live close enough to each other to canvass door to door so we have to have a central location. The Giant Grocery store would have allowed us to set up a table in front of their store—they let anyone have a table for civic purposes—but that spot is booked. Unfortunately, we could not find another business owner who would permit us to register voters in front of their shop, so it’s the Courthouse for us.
We don’t mind though, because there is something happening in Fauquier County. Our neighbors who usually vote Republican are beginning to like what they see in Barack Obama. Tonight, a friend who generally supports Republican candidates asked me if I was at the Obama rally yesterday. I said I was and she asked me how it went. I talked about the excitement, the inspiration, how nice everybody was. She told me that she was re-thinking her vote for McCain and asked if I had any literature on Obama’s positions on issues.
I just happened to have some stuff in my car (I usually keep some photocopies of his position statements from the website in my car because I meet people every now and again who want to hear more about Obama but are unlikely to go to the website –they want info right away). I gave her some information on his energy policies and his health care and education policy positions.
I didn’t give her anything about the war because her husband went to Annapolis and they have generally supported the surge. She asked me for information about Obama’s position on the war. She said that she and her husband had become increasingly concerned that McCain was out of touch on military issues. She said that it was clear to them that the military was over-extended and that we were losing ground in Afghanistan. They are worried (who isn’t) that under McCain we would be mired in Iraq for many years to come. They were also worried about how Obama would handle getting out of Iraq—they didn’t think we should "cut and run" there. I said that I agreed that we needed an orderly withdrawal and this is what Senator Obama was proposing. I told her that I agreed with his position that it was time for the Iraqi government to deal with issues of governing and uniting their own country. She said that this is how she and her husband were leaning now and they were really concerned that McCain would lead us into war with Iran. During this entire conversation I had the feeling that I was in an alternate universe! Here is this Republican woman telling me that she and her husband were "concerned" about McCain’s grip on reality on military matters!
This isn’t the first time that one of my Republican friends in Fauquier County has shown an interest in Obama. I am usually wary when Republicans start asking questions about my candidate because they usually ask them for the purpose of debating about the issues and trying to show me that their candidate’s position is better. But lately, that is not how the conversations have gone. I think Republicans are having second thoughts about their candidate. He says so many bizarre things.
I am beginning to think that we just might turn Virginia blue. The strategy is twofold from my view here in Fauquier County: register new voters and be ready to have a persuasive and encouraging discussion with Republicans who, like my friend and her husband, are beginning to worry about McCain’s grip on reality—even on issues of national security. You can bet that I am going to work to convince them that Barack Obama has the answers they are seeking.
How Hillary Clinton concedes tomorrow and whether or not she is gracious about her concession is no longer an issue for me. She is not the nominee. Barack Obama is. I think Virginia is ready to turn blue and I am going to work very hard to see that it does. While I know that Clinton supporters are still hurting about their loss, I also hope that after tomorrow they will help us turn Virginia (and many other states) blue. In the meantime, I am going to register voters and see if I can’t convince more of my Republican friends and acquaintances to vote for Obama. We have no need to wait for Senator Clinton because We are who We have been waiting for.