Bill Fleming, thank you for putting up a fight
By Joel McDonald • Jan 13th, 2010 • Category: Blog, Campaigns & Elections
When Bill Fleming called on December 5th and left a message about having petitions signed, I got excited about there being the possibility of having a choice on the ballot when I went to the poll to vote for my next State Senator.
The following Wednesday, at the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee business meeting, it was announced that Fleming would be the Democratic nominee. This was even better.
Fleming’s campaign was an earnest effort to reach out to likely Democrats in the 8th District and get them to the polls on election day. I know that description seems unessesary due to all campaigns having voter turnout as the goal, but this was the core of the Fleming campaign from day one. It was a three week Get Out the Vote (GOTV) effort. Had the campaign had time to focus on candidate identification, messaging, and persuasion prior to running GOTV, the turnout of the election might have been different.
What the people of the 8th District ended up with when polls closed yesterday was a rubber stamp for Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell. Jeff McWaters unfortunately won the election with 79% of the vote. His support came from the top, and trickled down to the rank and file of the Republican Party. The top supported him because of his history of large contributions to GOP candidates.
Fleming attempted to run a grassroots campaign, gaining the Democratic nomination only after he set his sights on running as an Independent, through the collection of signatures to be on the ballot. Those who worked on the campaign gave their all. His campaign was one where supporters were pushing him up from the bottom, rather than him being lifted from the top.
I want to thank Bill Fleming for putting up a fight and running as a Democrat in this election. Noone can charge him with not trying hard enough to try to win this election. I saw firsthand how decicated he, and his staff and volunteers, were to making this attempt. Thank you to all for everything you contributed to this campaign. Let’s take our gained experience and lessons learned and be stronger for the next time.
Related posts:
- Bill Fleming Running Grassroots Campaign for the 8th Senate District
- From the Virginian-Pilot: Bill Fleming is Democratic Nominee in the 8th
- McWaters to Face Democratic Challenger in the 8th!
- Fleming Campaign Responds to Virginian-Pilot’s Information Freeze
- McWaters Pens Virginian-Pilot Endorsement of Himself
Joel McDonald has been following Virginia politics since February 2008, starting with the Democratic Presidential Primary. Since then, he has been the primary new media contact for progressive district and statewide campaigns.
Email this author | All posts by Joel McDonald
94,000 registered voters in the Eighth District (Virginia Beach). Just a little over 10,000 bothered to select their State Senator.
84,000 registered voters just didn’t care and an even greater number decided not to bother to register to vote at all.
Both Republicans and Democrats need to address the reality that our currently elected officials are serving without the support of the majority of citizens; not by a long shot.
While it is convenient to presume that those who don’t vote, simply don’t care. However, the truth is that most have simply lost faith in the two traditional political parties to listen and respond to the needs of the people.
If Democrats are to win elections here in Virginia, the citizens need to engaged every day of the year and not just a few weeks before election day. We must re-earn the trust and loyalty of the citizens.
We have recently seen a rejection of the health care program advanced by President Obama. Rather than continue to support an unpopular Bill, Virginia Democrats should follow the lead of Senator Webb, by listening to the voters and go back to the health care drawing board.
Here’s a hint: It’s not health care but JOBS that have the attention of the citizens. We can’t ship our manufacturing off to Communist China and expect to create good jobs here for our people.