I attended the Sounds and Tastes of Virginia fundraiser for Governor Tim Kaine’s PAC, Moving Virginia Forward, last night. I arrived in time to attend the VIP reception, which started at 6pm. The crowd gathered in the room were treated to the soft jazz of the Skip Giles Trio and some wonderful Virginia food, including mini crab cakes.
I had the opportunity to chat with several of our fine candidates, including Bobby Mathieson, Adam Tomer, Jeanette Rishell, and Steve Heretick, as well as a number of campaign staff members, and other political activists. The Governor joined us around 7pm. Since the Jefferson Hotel is located in the 71st House District, Delegate Jennifer McClellan introduced the Governor, who gave brief remarks. Just as the Governor began to speak, gospel music from the Virginia State University Gospel Choir filled the air from the lobby below.
The Governor said that this night was expected to raise $750,000 for his PAC and pointed out that none of this money was for himself, nor was any of it for federal campaigns. He said that the money was solely for the general assembly races, where he hoped to get more help for his agenda by electing more Democrats.
I headed to the general reception, which started at 7pm in the Grand Ballroom. I entered the room and joined about 500 others, including bloggers teacherken and Mark Brooks. Mark was taking pictures so I hope he’ll post some of those soon. The crowd at that point was being entertained by blues singer Gaye Adegbalola, resplendent in white tails. Milling around, I ran into Webb staff and former blogger Conaway Haskins, Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans, numerous gubernatorial staff members, numerous members of the Democratic Party of Virginia, and activists from throughout the state. (I saw at least one chartered bus outside.)
Just before the Governor addressed this group, I spotted a woman who I’ve seen around at various events in Hampton Roads and headed her way. Unbeknownst to me, she is the wife of our presumed candidate in the 1st Senate District, John Miller, who was also in attendance. I got to chat very briefly with him, as Senator Henry Marsh III was beginning his introduction of the Governor.
After the Governor’s remarks, in which he poked fun at the fact that Marsh’s law firm refused to hire him when he first came to Richmond, the bluegrass band Locust Mountain Boys, took the stage. Throughout the room there were various food stations set up, with more wonderful tastes of Virginia, including barbeque and crab dip. It was at this point that I had a chance to chat with our 2006 (and 2008) candidate in the 1st Congressional District, Shawn O’Donnell. Shawn has never stopped running for this seat. I see him everywhere!
On the way out, Finance Secretary Jody Wagner offered her own taste of Virginia, distributing boxes of Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn. (Get your own here.)
All in all, it was a wonderful evening.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Vivian, sorry I missed you at the Kaine event. Wow, that is a lot of money. It was such fun to see all those enthusiastic people. Thanks for putting the flyer up on your site.
I still want you to come to one of our City Committee meetings and talk.
Linda Brooks
Thanks for this, Vivian!
I too enjoyed the event, and it was great to see so many Democratic friendly faces there. I thought the food was awesome, and of course the conversation was great.
I will be putting up pictures later today, right after I go see the Governor again, this time in my own neighborhood, at an event here in Cumberland County. As crowded as that room was, I managed to meet a lot of new friends, and see quite a few people I knew, such as yourself. It was great to see you, and I wish every time I see you that we had more time to just talk.
There will come a day when we will just sit down somewhere and talk until we get a good bit said. There is never enought time to discuss everything. I have so much to learn and so much I would like to impart.
I swear, the secret ingredient in Jody’s popcorn has to be cocaine. I can’t stop eating it.
there are pictures up at dailykos, at least a few 🙂 let’s see if I can provide a link
oh, and my blog names is all lowercase w/o blanks: teacherken
peace
Look at Ken, getting all Madonna-like. One name! Lower case! Nospaces! And no pictures, please.
Heh.
Linda – sorry I didn’t catch up with you there. Certainly will be happy to come over to your Committee.
Mark – get those pictures up:) I didn’t take a camera (although I did have my computer and had planned to do some live blogging) because it’s so much fun just chatting with folks. You & I have got to get together soon 😉
anon – I agree. Mine is all gone 😦
teacherken – I fixed your name in the article 😉
How much does it cost to get into the door at events like this?
Rob, they had a special “activist” rate of $125 so everyone could attend. Yes the food was awesome and I love that hotel. The architecture was amazing.
I thank Tim for being so accessible . Also his wife Ann said for us to thank Tim cause the PAC was his idea and no funds go to him, just the candidates.
I found everyone so friendly and excited. Our women’s caucus had a great turnout and had such fun.
Peace.
Thanks Linda, but I do have to challenge (hopefully in a freindly manner) that $125 would allow “everyone” to attend. It doesn’t. At all. Heck, I’m skipping my 10 year high school aniversary for the reason that it costs about the same.
But I guess, since the entire reason for the gathering was to make money for political gain, I shouldn’t be surprised that only the upper crust was represented in the crowd.
3/4 of a million in one night.
Wow.
Vivian – Excellent post. Sorry I missed you at the event – I was rushed all day and somehow skipped on the opportunity to chat.
That is, indeed, a great hotel. One of the few things that made my trips to Richmond bearable 🙂
I hardly consider $125 to be the “upper crust.” No, the “upper crust” were those donors who got to have dinner with Kaine at 5pm in the Flemish Room with the music by a string quartet from the Richmond Symphony. Notice I didn’t even mention that in my post – because a) I didn’t even know it was going on until after it was over and b) obviously, I wasn’t there 😦
And while I’m not scoffing at 3/4 million raised in one night, let me add a little perspective.
First, in talking to the candidates last night, one of the things I asked was how much their budgets were and how they were doing on fundraising. When you consider that campaigns are planning to spend $100K – $450K (the range of the budgets I was given last night), $750K ain’t a whole lot of money.
Secondly, the mayor of Norfolk raised $200K in a single event last year. We’re talking Norfolk! Not the governor, not a presidential candidate. The mayor – who didn’t even have a serious challenger!
Lastly – take a look at any of the major fundraising events – the Democrats’ JJ Dinner, the Republicans’ annual dinner – and that kind of money raised in one night is not completely unusual.
Money is in politics, whether we like it or not. Mail takes money, TV takes money, radio takes money. Until and unless we change the process, it will only get worse.
By the way, don’t misunderstand me. Yes, $125 is a lot of money. And yes, it is unaffordable for a lot of folks (one of my complaints about the JJ Dinner, BTW). But that doesn’t make it “upper crust” just because people made the choice to be there.
(I actually saw a gentleman there last night that I met at the Obama event in Richmond. Last night, he had his wife with him. She commented to me that she couldn’t attend the Obama event because they couldn’t afford for both of them to come.)
You don’t consider a $125 dinner ($250 if you’re a couple, ~$300 if you have to hire a babysitter) an “upper crust” event? Enh, I’m not surprised; upper crust is sort of a “make your own meaning” term. Suffice it to say that me, as a married parent in a single income home who makes about $75k a year wouldn’t DREAM of spending $125 on dinner, Tim Kaine speaking, or on the ambiance that the combination of those things create.
Perhaps you’re all just “upper crust” from my perspective 😉
I think you made a great point in an earlier blog regarding young people and Obama/Clinton; young people support them, but they don’t ever vote.
Perhaps the reasoning for this is that the people running rarely bother engaging the youth in dinner, a speech, and live music. Few teenagers would have liked last night’s event, but it raised money. Few teenagers would have liked last night’s event, but it sure did leave many older people with a smile on their face and a vote in their heart.
So really, why bother courting anyone other than people with money who vote?
You’re right that money is in politics, but in some ways I think that ends up being an excuse to not expand the message to include groups outisde of the most affluent, especially since many youth motives are in conflict with the “money” motives of donors.
Just a thought, thanks for your time and I’ve really enjoyed your blog so far.