They began handing out Webb/Kellam info & the Goldenrod sample ballot. After an hour or so I introduced myself and found out they both were well spoken, Muslims from New York. I talked politics with one of them for some time and one of the men tried to teach me a few phrases in Arabic. I have to say they were two of the nicest most educated Democrats I’ve had the privilege of meeting.

Towards the end of the day I found out who they were. Both worked for New York Congress men. One was a Chief of Staff and the other was Head of Legislative Affairs. Both were long time professional political operatives who took time off for a few days to come down to our neck of the woods to see if they could help swing the election.

During a national campaign poll workers typically have little impact other then to irritate voters and I normally use these elections to demonstrate Republicans are in the area and want to reach out to voters. This year a total of four Democrats worked Holland precinct and all of them were from out of town. Hopefully this is not a trend as I for one dislike outside forces trying to swing Virginia politics be it MoveOn.org or the national parties incessant and extremely irritating automatic phone calling campaigns.

The result of Tuesday’s all out assault on Holland precinct? The ratios were almost exactly that of the last Presidential vote which was to be expected during a highly advertised national election or maybe I neutralized the carpetbag democrats. More then likely the electorate came to the polls with their minds made up although I did see Thelma personally change at least one vote by working the poll for nearly an hour.

Remember, vote early and vote often or you don’t have the right to complain about your government.

VA Beach
Webb – 57,631 Kellam – 58,590
Norfolk
Webb – 11,380 Kellam – 10,684
Hampton
Webb – 7,824 Kellam – 7,548
Accomack
Webb – 5,059 Kellam – 4,732
Northhampton
Webb – 2,302 Kellam – 2,323

I did a precinct by precinct total for Hampton and Norfolk since they are not all in the 2nd.

2nd Congressional –
Webb – 83,841 Kellam – 83,877
Allen – 88,681 Drake – 88,746
Webb loses by 4,840
Kellam loses by 4,869

Webb picks up more votes than Kellam in Hampton, Norfolk, and Accomack. Kellam picks up more votes in Virginia Beach and Northhampton.

No Webb cotails for Kellam. What a shame!

As for the mail – you saw the same stuff I did. We got the RP pieces, too, which was quite strange because the early mail was addressed to me (which was why I know it was targeted), while the RP pieces were addressed to my other half.

4. Marriage Amendment. Unfortunately for Kellam I believe that there was a last minute push in VA Beach to defeat the marriage amendment. This might have brought out more Evangelical Christians. Did you notice the churches that put the vote yes signs on their property? Since VA Beach is the home of Pat Robertson, I believe there was last minute phone banking to get their people out.

Also, signs were even removed on Election Day from polling locations-this is the first time I have ever seen that happen.

I think the decision to go on TV so early wasted resources that the campaign needed for mail.

I didn’t know about the problems with canvassing. Targeting is not rocket science, really. Whoever came up with the list must not have been familiar with how things should be done.

As for VB precincts – that is a problem that I heard as well. I’m told that rather than having precinct captains, VB had one person in charge of filling them. That makes no sense to me. (Of course, we had our own problems with some of the Norfolk precincts.)

1. No mailings. Democrats complained that the only thing they heard about Kellam was from phone calls, newspapers and television. Literature is important to define the issues and remind supporters to vote for you. Drake’s campaign sent out mailers, independents and her base saw her issues defined. Kellam’s own web site had nothing about what he stood for. How can someone make up their mind if they don’t know where the candidate stands?

2. Canvassing was unorganized and last minute. When I volunteered to canvass for Kellam I was knocking on different doors than what the Kaine campaign did. Why did we knock on doors of people who never vote? No one was home or moved. They should have targeted independents, soft R’s and D’s. Strong D’s could have been targeted with mailings. Kaine’s campaign was awesome by going into R precincts and focusing on D’s and I’s.

Kellam won the precincts in Norfolk in which they canvanssed. Why not canvass all precincts, but watch who you target when you go in?

3. Lack of visibility. I know signs don’t vote, but they show a viable candidate and campaign. Signs let your neighbors, who are not as political, know who you are supporting and may influence their decision. It also reminds people of who they are voting for. In Norfolk and Hampton there was practically zero visibility for Kellam. On my commute to VA Beach I only saw big signs on main roads. All of those neighborhoods in VA Beach and no signs in yards?

One last note: I heard that VA Beach had many precincts without poll workers and some without lots of Kellam signs. Virginia Beach needs precinct organization.

I am sorry he lost. I was rooting for him all the way. I worked as much as I could. The campaign did not do their part.