I live in Mathews County Virginia. We are a very different community. There is not one stop light in the entire County. "Downtown" Mathews is about two blocks long. Right smack in the middle of the Courthouse area the Rebublicans have opened an office and are very visible. They are basically under the control of our local version of the Tea Party. Today the Democratic Committee had its monthly meeting. My wife and I used to belong to it but we quit during the Obama campaign and worked out of the Gloucester Obama office to do our support work. The reason is not interesting so let's skip that. Tonight we went to dinner at the best restaurant in Tidewater (my feeling about it), Ned and Dias Southwinds Pizza. We walked in and there were a lot of our friends from the Democratic Committee. We were asked to join them and we did. We had pleasant conversation and learned that 99% of what we read on kos and from other sources they seem to be unaware of. Almost every active Democrat in the County is on the Committee. That's how few there are. The restaurant is a few doors down from Mordor( The Repugs HQ mentioned above). After I came home I got to feeling a bit like I was watching the end of our County. Read on below and I'll try to explain.
Our county is an odd mix of relatively well off to rich folk who live on waterfront sites ("come heres")and the old timers ("born heres") much poorer in general, who had sense enough to build their homes inland. (A class 4 hurricane direct hit up the Bay would put Mathews about 80% under water.). We just had the DOT discover that the bridge to Gwynn's Island needs repair badly. That is really bad news because as the fishing industry has died (once one of the main sources of livelyhood) they took to trucking and the repair need has put a weight limit on the bridge traffic. Interesting timing. Election Tuesday. So as we read the news after we returned home my wife got some news letters or other news from Gwynns's Island. The crux is that the most radical of the Tea Party people had seized upon the issue to bolster her campaign for the Board of Supervisors. The guy who is head of the Tea Party seems to be taking credit for speeding up the schedule for repairs etc. Interesting timing again!
The three Republican candidates for the Board have a huge billboard telling us how they are going to bring jobs to Mathews. We went to one of the candidates forums and it was loaded with Tea party people in the audience. I did not see the Mathews democrats in any numbers. The Tea Party people broke all the rules and kept cheering and applauding no matter what nonsense came from the trio of Republican candidates.
So the upcoming election may be a bummer here. If it is not, the Democrats secret campaign and lack of visibility and lack of involvement in the community's problems will have worked a miracle. The Democrats are working hard for a State Senator to be re-elected. He is a party member though. The County is a part of his district. All the good folk in the more local County races are "Independents" and this seems explain why it looks like the Democrats are throwing them to the wolves. Maybe it is just my lack of understanding.
Maybe I'm wrong but I feel very uneasy about Tuesday. It sure is good to read diaries from all over the country where good things are happening. But then it is usually not the Democratic party that is making them happen. It makes me wonder. How about you?