Brian Patton

Brian February 12th, 2006

I just got back from Richmond a few hours ago. The weekend went great with the one exception of the Marriott trying to charge me $10.00 to use their internet, hence the lack of blog posts.

We drove up on Friday night because weather reports were saying Richmond was going to get a ton of snow on Saturday. I thought if we could get up there before that hit would be best. Fortunately, the snow held off and I got to attend some of Saturday morning’s events.

On Saturday morning, I sat in on the Central Committee meeting and then represented Dickenson County at the Virginia Association of Democratic Chairs’ meeting. As everyone knows by now, the Central Committee overwhelmingly voted for a primary instead of a convention to determine who our Senate candidate will be this year. Over the course of this weekend, I have discussed this with several folks and I think if we just have two candidates, a primary is probably best, but when we have more than that (like four), maybe a convention would be better. Plus, a good primary will help both our candidates introduce themselves to Virginia’s voters.

The VADC meeting was also interesting. The new interim Chair, Salome Baugher, ran the meeting and did a fine job, although I am not sure we accomplished much. Nevertheless, it was cool getting to meet all the other counties’ representatives.

The morning meetings were followed by lunch at the Tobacco Company with Jerry and Denise. We started down to Carytown to eat at the New York Deli, a place where they had eaten before, but it was closed.

Next up was the JJ Dinner, where I got to meet several folks for the first time that previously I had only corresponded with via email or candidates I have been following. To name a few, it was nice finally getting to meet future Delegates Eric Ferguson and Bruce Roemmelt, their former campaign managers Joe Stanley and James Walkinshaw, Andrew Hurst, Harris Miller and his family, Sen. Mark Herring, Delegate Dan Bowling and his wife, Corey Hernandez, most of the Draft James Webb people, and way too many others to mention.

Governor Kaine gave one of the best speeches I think I have ever seen him deliver. I guess being in a room full of close friends makes it easier for an elected official to just “tell it like it is.”

Pennsylvania’s Governor Ed Rendell also delivered a good speech. He complimented Warner and Kaine on the great work they have been doing in Virginia and put in a few plugs for the work he is doing in PA. The key theme of his speech, though, was politics should be fun and I agree.

I was disappointed that Senate candidate James Webb was unable to attend the festivities, but I can say now that after seeing Harris Miller in action, if he does end up winning the primary, I think he will be a better candidate than a lot of folks first thought. I still think that Webb will win the primary and be the strongest candidate to take on Allen, but I was pleasantly surprised by Miller.

The best candidate that I got to hear speak this weekend, though, was Judy Feder. She spoke to the Central Committee Saturday morning and was really great. If this one speech was any indication, Republican Frank Wolf had better be getting ready for a fight!

Also, as Lowell alluded to here, I was fortunate enough to win the Grassroots Award for the Ninth District and be recognized at the Dinner. So not only was this my first JJ Dinner, but I got to go on stage at my first JJ Dinner. Now I just have to figure out a way to get back on stage next year. Otherwise, future JJ Dinners may not be as exciting, but that’s ok too. Thanks to Kenton, who snagged this photo of me up on stage with my award.

More JJ Dinner coverage here:
From Lowell
From Kenton
From J.C.
From the RTD
From DocDem
From Bruce

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• Politics , Virginia , Travel , Dickenson County