On
Sunday afternoon, I attended an event in McLean to celebrate the
opening of Judy Feder’s new campaign office. You couldn’t have asked
for better weather, which made the event even more enjoyable for the
large number of people who showed up to show their support for Judy.
Prior to becoming Judy’s campaign office the building was originally a
single family home and was later used as a doctor’s office. This
essentially was important because the weather therefore helped to
illustrate how the office has a decent sized yard which can be used for
future campaign barbeques, ice cream socials, etc. Of course, it also
means there a lot of room inside (8 good sized rooms on the first
floor, a few more upstairs, and a basement that can be used for storing
road signs and other campaign supplies).

As the crowd continued to grow it included supporters from all
across NOVA including Delegates Jim Scott (53), Bob Brink (48), and
Margi Vanderhye (34); former candidate for the House of Delegates Bruce
Roemmelt; and Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee Scott
Surovell.

After getting an opportunity to tour the building, the hot topic of
discussion was how Judy’s candidacy really presented an opportunity for
Democrats to pick up a seat in the House of Representatives. That was
of course combined with discussion about how many people believe our
strong candidates at the House and Senate level could result in
Virginia playing an important role in the presidential election. Once
we all had settled in, it was time for the speeches.

Del. Jim Scott
welcomed us to the 53rd House of Delegates district, which he
represents. He then proceeded to talk about how Frank Wolf doesn’t
represent the interests of the 10th District, it is a great time for us
to elect an expert on health care policy, and how Judy is an all around
great candidate. He also mentioned how talked the area has produced
several great members of the House of Delegates and that the Democrats
lead 14 to 3 in representing Fairfax in the House of Delegates.

Del. Bob Brink
mentioned how Frank Wolf said he would embrace term limits when he was
first elected, but that he now seems to have forgotten that promise. He
focused on how we need to all go out and knock on doors and make phone
calls to help turn out support for Judy.

Del. Margi Vanderhye
really gave a passionate speech that pumped up the crowd. After
mentioning all the progress we’ve seen in the General Assembly, she
began to focus on how Frank Wolf and other Members of Congress who have
blindly followed the Bush Administration truly are out of touch with
Virginians. She received a great deal of applause, for instance, after
saying that “this has been a reckless, arrogant, really malevolent
administration when it comes to what’s best for the American people.”

After Margi then proceeded to talk about what type of values she believes the Democrats need to stand up for, Judy Feder
built upon the energy Margi built up by saying “We need to take these
Virginia values across the Potomac to Washington.” Among the different
points that she drove home was the fact that she’s “running to give the
10th District the leadership that we all want. The leadership that
comes from years of training our future civilian and military leaders,
some of who are here today, what it takes to deliver results and bring
change.” Judy also mentioned that:

• “We need universal coverage, affordable quality health care coverage for everybody and we need it now.”
• “We need to protect home ownership and to crack down on fraudulent mortage lending and we need to do it now.”
• “We need to bring [the troops] home, get them the health care they
  need, and enact Jim Webb’s 21st Century GI Bill and we need to do it
  now.”

This event was very representative of how Judy’s campaign is being
run. As Judy and the other speakers pointed out, there were many
Democrats in the audience who truly believe in grassroots activism.
Throughout the last few years, I have knocked on doors and phone banked
with a large number of people who were at the event. I bring this up
because I think it shows how the crowd was made up of people who will
not only show up to events such as this office opening, but will also
being doing the volunteer work that’s a critical element to any
successful campaign. If the energy shown at this event continues, I am
confident the 10th District will soon have a newly elected
Representative in the next Congress.