Working the "Draft" and "Fairfield" Fireman's Parades...

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Had the opportunity to “work” the recent Fireman’s parades in Stuarts Draft and Fairfield on behalf of numerous Republican candidates in the upcoming elections in November. Congressman Bob Goodlatte was not able to attend the Stuart’s Draft parade since his campaign had already committed to the Bridgewater parade which was being held at the same time. Once it was discovered that the local Republican committee was not entering a float or walking in the Draft parade other arrangements were made to represent our Republican candidates.

Chris Green from Beverley Manor district and author of “Spank That Donkey” blog drove over after a quick phone call and had the idea to walk the parade route before the start of the parade. The idea was to walk the crowds and offer Campaign Data sheets to those interested in talking both local and national politics before the start of the parade.

The plan was to walk both sides of the route and offer info and literature to those interested but not force, interrupt, or interfere with the people’s parade event in anyway. We figured we could walk both sides of the parade route before the start of the parade and then watch the parade, get some photos for the database, and then have a good BBQ Chicken dinner at the firehouse.

What we found instead was a very politically engaged crowd along the parade route resulting in us only being able to make it half way down one side of the parade route. We found ourselves working small groups of local citizens who were very interested in talking about the candidates and their views on important issues like energy, economy, taxes, and past political records of the two candidates running for the soon to be vacant U.S. Senate of Republican John Warner…

The current energy situation with $4 a gallon price tag was a often discussed topic and many people were interested in the information provided showing the stances and past performances of Republican Governor Jim Gilmore and Democratic Governor Mark Warner. Many people were already aware that Republican Jim Gilmore supports drilling for known oil reserves in ANWR and off the coast of Virginia, but some did not know that Democratic Mark Warner vetoed a bill calling for drilling off the VA coast that was on his Governor’s desk back in 2005. Imagine if we had started that project back in 2005 and were the fuel prices might be now? Chris had a great post about this issue over at his blog HERE.

Republican Delegate Ben Cline

Conversations also turned to the tax issue both locally in Virginia as well as nationwide and the federal government. Citizens had determined opinions about the way Richmond is spending our local Virginia tax revenue and D.J. McGuire has a great post about Democratic Governor Mark Warner’s tax history over at the “Bloggers for Jim Gilmore” site…

Anybody remember back in 2005 when then Democratic Governor Mark Warner transferred $one million+ from the Division of Game and Inland Fisheries to the general fund during his dire economy scare? That MILLION+ came from our fishing\hunting license fees and did it ever get back to the DGIF after the economy improved?…

It was both interesting and refreshing to see at both Fireman’s parades a engaged citizenry that was interested in talking about local and national political issues while waiting for a parade to start. Each parade had maybe one or two individuals who disputed or ignored the facts presented and the classic example were the two “20-something” girls who said that they were well up on politics for they watch CNN everyday. They were quick to ignore the potential practice of drilling for known oil reserves in ANWR and off the coast of Virginia in favor of “Alternative” energy sources. They were quick to repeat the standard liberal claim that it would be ten years before any oil in ANWR or the coast was to hit the market. They seemed a little dazed when they were told that simple economics and the free market would surely deliver any oil produced from these two areas much sooner then the standard “Ten Year” answer they have faithfully repeated. Still waiting for a good answer from them regarding how many years it would take to bring “Alternative” fuels that they desire to market. They are probably still text messaging CNN for a standard answer not understanding that it’s the same answer as the years to get oil to market. If we can develop a productive, affordable, and reliable “alternative” fuel source you can be sure the free market, if allowed, will get that product delivered to us much faster…









Mike and Anne from the Goodlatte campaign provided supplies to the Republican Volunteers from the Rockbridge party who turned out to provide a Strong Conservative Republican presence at the parade...