Webb v. Miller - Signatures
Brian April 14th, 2006
The unofficial results are in and Webb has apparently pulled one out in the petition race. Lowell is reporting that Webb finished up with 14,231, while Miller was only able to collect 13,425.
Just looking at the numbers, though, one does not realize what an upset this really was by Webb. The Webb campaign was formed much later than the Miller one. Also, Miller ended up using paid petition-circulators, unlike Webb’s all volunteer-collectors. One of Webb’s volunteers even drove to Clintwood from Arlington to pickup the signatures we had collected here in Dickenson County.
This success, like the Straw Poll, is probably not representative of what the results in the primary will be, but the small victories are starting to add up for Webb and he continues to gain momentum.
I can report that at the Dickenson County Democratic Committee meeting last night, when the senate primary was mentioned, someone said, “it’s between Webb and some other guy.” That certainly does not bode well for Miller.
Agreed. It was a landslide for Webb. And kudos to you for collecting signatures yourself.
First. 10,000 signatures were needed, 15,000 recommended. Both had problems getting 15,000, but who cares? They both exceeded 10,000 signatures, the required amount.
Second. Harris Miller turned his signatures in before Jim Webb. Whoever was first gets his name first on the primary ballot.
Third. If Jim Webb was first to turn in his signatures, the whole Webb blogs would be yelling and screaming for joy!
Fourth. Fact is, Jim Webb was not first. Why was that? So much grassroots and support and this and that, but why didn’t Jim Webb get up to 11,000 or 12,000 and just turn the petitions in before Harris Miller?? That was a major blunder, and a lost opportunity for a confidence boost in the blogs.
So please, getting 800 more signatures amounts to no big deal when you are second in turning in the petitions. Your spinning makes you look frantic to try and put a positive face on something that, again, is no big deal.
Anon06,
Your attempt to spin the spin and defend what is ultimately not going to matter that much in the primary looks even more desperate.
Brian makes a good point. Webb did all of this in about a month. And for free. Miller paid people to do it for him because he couldn’t gather enough grassroots support (according to NLS, Harris has spent $100,000 already. Signatures was a big chunk of that). Positioning on the ballot won’t matter that much in the end. Remember, Connaughton was first in the GOP Primary in 2005. Did he win? You can always ask Lt. Gov Bolling.
How many they collected, and in what order, is no big deal. But Webb collected more signatures than Miller in half the time. That’s not spin. That’s just a fact. Take it as you will. I say it’s momentum in Webb’s corner, and proof that a fired-up grassroots team beats anything money can pay for.
I smell a grassroots victory…always nice to see
“Harris Miller turned his signatures in before Jim Webb. Whoever was first gets his name first on the primary ballot.”
I guess it took the Webb campaign longer to count his since he had MORE!!!
Ballot order only matters when there are more than two candidates.
The ballot will look something like this:
–Harris N. Miller
–James H. Webb, Jr.
No one is going to have any trouble finding Jim’s name on the ballot. Period.
What makes the all-volunteer effort even more striking to me, is that we were a part-time week-end volunteer effort. Miller’s hirelings have been putting in 40 weeks since January and they still weren’t able to collect as many signatures as we did for Jim.
In Richmond, we launched our drive at Shamrock the Block on March 18th, and we finished on Tuesday April 12th with more than double what we needed, without a single staffer hour or paid canvasser. Zero. Free.
No one is excited about Miller.
The fact that Miller will be listed first doesn’t mean anything, since 99% of people won’t realize it’s not just alphabetical order.