Sunday trip to NoVA

One of my oldest and dearest friends lives in Clifton. So we decided that I would visit sometime between Christmas and New Years. When the invitation came for Brian Moran’s reception, I asked if Sunday would work and whether it was OK for me to stop in Alexandria first. She readily agreed. So up the road I went Sunday morning, leaving just after OTR (great job, Joe & Bobby!). My trusty GPS took me right to Old Towne Alexandria, after some delays on 95 and 495. (Man, you guys really have a traffic problem up there!)

One of the first people I spotted in the overflowing crowd (I’m told that some 600 people attended this event) was Arlington Commissioner of the Revenue Ingrid Morroy. The bumper sticker she is holding was a gift to Brian from the ALEX PAC, which is made up of Alexandria Democrats, and which were being distributed to guests as they entered or left. Del. Adam Ebbin, who always wins the prize for traveling the longest distance to my Memorial Day Bash, introduced me to Sen. Patsy Ticer. Ticer informed me that she and Norfolk’s own Sen. Yvonne Miller were seatmates for quite some time.

Among the other faces I recognized in the crowd were Congressional candidate Judy Feder, Del. Chuck Caputo and Congressman Jim Moran. I’m told that the attendees also included Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille, former Democratic Party Chair Kerry Donley, several Alexandria City council members, and newly elected Fairfax supervisor John Foust.

I had the chance to chat with Del. Dave Marsden and his lovely wife, Julia. Coming over to introduce herself was Karen Duncan, (aka Anonymous is a Woman) who attended with her husband Dan, the president of the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least 🙂

This was a fun event and it was great to put some faces with names and to see some folks again. I ran into former Delegate candidate Supryia Christopher and her family as well. They are planning to move back to Virginia Beach next year and perhaps Supriya will run again. Sounds like another Beach pickup in the making 🙂

I had the pleasure of meeting Jane Barker, wife of Sen.-elect George Barker, a few weeks back. She had mentioned that I should get in touch with her if I was coming to Clifton. Well, I emailed her once I had set the date, thinking I could run by for a few minutes. As it turned out, the Barkers were planning a reception of their own for Sunday afternoon and invited me to come. My friend is so understanding 😉 so I headed to the Barker reception after leaving Moran’s. Seems I wasn’t the only one to do so, as I recognized some of the same faces. Despite this being the time of the Redskins game, the event was well-attended.

George Barker is the only one of the four Senators-elect that I had not met. I spoke to him briefly, mainly to congratulate him and wish him well. I watched as he interacted with supporters and the smile on his face never wavered. I get the sense that Barker is going to be one heck of a Senator and will represent the people of 39th well, including my friend.

Speaking of which – I did make it to her house to visit with her and her husband. What a delightful way to cap off a great trip! More on that in another post.

EDIT: Posts from other attendees: AIAW, RK If I find others, I’ll update this. (I’m behind on my blog reading.)

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