The year 1968 was certainly the most tumultuous in modern political history, and for many people of my generation it shaped our political involvement. At this point in that year, we had already gone through the Tet offensive, which drained away remaining popular support for the Vietnam war; the emergence of Eugene McCarthy’s insurgent candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination; McCarthy’s stunning performance in the New Hampshire primary against a sitting President; and Robert F. Kennedy’s entry into the race.

But none of the events of those first three months prepared us for this week. On Sunday night, March 31, at the end of one of his periodic TV addresses on the war, President Johnson announced that he wouldn’t seek nomination for another term. No President enjoyed the power of that office more than Johnson, and the spectacle of him giving it up was almost Shakespearean. Then, just four days later, on Thursday, the nation was convulsed by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. 

We’re witnessing another exciting presidential contest in 2008 — but what are we going through that compares with 40 years ago? Up against 1968, kerfuffles like “Sniper-gate” and Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s sermons look like pseudo-controversies, ginned up and repeated endlessly to fill the cable networks’ 24/7 news holes.

 

 

 

Take the recent Texas Democratic Primary/Caucus/Goat Rope, for instance.

Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish joins the fan club (and gives Virginia Quarterly Review some well-deserved exposure).

On February 12, just a few hours before the polls closed in a hotly contested Presidential primary, a cold front coated Northern Virginia’s roads with a sheen of dangerous ice. The Mixing Bowl, the massive system of flyovers and ramps where the Beltway and Shirley Highway intersect, was the most seriously impacted point: as a result, an untold number of commuters couldn’t make it to their polling places before the 7 PM deadline. Indignation erupted on the Internets, with outraged demands to know why Virginia didn’t follow Maryland’s lead and extend voting hours.

The problem, as a blogger with the great pseudonym of “Not A.E. Dick Howard” commented, is this: “. . . Maryland’s polls were kept open by operation of Maryland law at the order of a Maryland circuit judge. There is no parallel provision in Virginia law allowing the Virginia State Board of Elections, or the Governor of Virginia, to extend voting hours.”

Last week, the Governor stepped into the breach. While the deadline for mere legislators to propose a bill during this session has long since passed, under the Constitution of Virginia, His Excellency can send “such measures as he may deem expedient” down to the House and/or Senate any time the mood strikes him during the session. That’s what he did last week: he submitted a measure that was introduced in the Senate as SB 796 and in the House as HB 1577, permitting a court to extend voting hours in an officially declared emergency or in other situations that interfered with the voting process.

The proposal is certain to raise a lot of questions. It would permit extended voting hours in an affected “region,” potentially giving that region a leg up in turnout. Given Virginia’s growing political diversity, this could make a huge difference in tight races: in 2006 Jim Webb carried the entire state by around 9,300 votes, solely on the basis of huge margins in Northern Virginia (he carried my district alone by 12,000 votes). If it had rained earlier that day in a Republican corner of the state, and a judge had extended voting hours in that region to permit flooded-out voters to get to the polls, could it have affected the outcome?

But addressing the regional bias issue by extending voting hours statewide on the basis of conditions in one part of the state would pose problems of its own. One would be the impact on poll workers, those civic-minded men and women who staff the precincts for Election Day shifts that can run longer than 15 hours. As an article over the weekend points out, these workers, whose median age is in the 70s, already are stressed out due to heavy turnout and other demands of the job. Keeping the polls open for a couple of hours in Pennington Gap (which is west of Detroit), and requiring poll workers there and in other far-flung corners of Virginia to work late into the night, because of a snowstorm in NOVA, would be problematic.

So what’s the answer? You got me. I have a feeling we won’t come up with a solution in the next 10 days.

Frank Rich’s column in today’s New York Times . . .

I’d go with “D” — but if that’s what they want to talk about, that’s what we’ll talk about . . .

Delegate Bob Brink
Floor Statement
February 7, 2008

“Mr. Speaker, like many members of this body, I’m a proud alumnus of the College of William And Mary. In my case, I graduated from the College’s Law School back in the Pleistocene Era. So I was alarmed this week to hear that my Alma Mater is a fallen woman. We learned that she has become, if you’ll excuse the expression, the butt of off-color jokes.

“It seems that the students of William and Mary sponsored something called a ‘Sex Workers Art Show’ which is touring the country. Now, here’s a news flash for you: You take thousands of college-age men and women, put them in a confined space like a college campus, and some of them actually have an interest in sex!

“And, like every good melodrama, this story of The Fallen Woman has a villain: the President of the College. It seems that he didn’t do enough to stop those young men and women from talking about sex. Off with his head!

“Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, here are some of the things that are going on at the College of William and Mary:

* “Last year a record number of William and Mary students were named Fulbright Scholars.
* “This year, the College was named the fifth highest school of its size in the number of Peace Corps volunteers it produced.
* “Students contributed over 300,000 hours of volunteer community service.
* “And applications and enrollment are up. I guess those students and their families just didn’t get the memo that the College is such a den of iniquity.

“That’s what’s happening in the real world. The College of William and Mary is, and with our support it will remain, a center of excellence and a source of pride for all of the citizens of the Commonwealth.

“But enough of that – let’s go back to talking about sex. Now, apparently some members think that this Sex Workers Art Show is such a threat to the Commonwealth that it demands hands-on attention – if you’ll excuse the expression. Well, I’ve got good news for you.

“You may have missed the performance over in Williamsburg, but according to the group’s schedule, if you’re from Fairfax County you could have caught the Show at a little place up there called George Mason University. Even better, the Sex Workers Art Show is coming to Richmond this Friday. Yes, my friends, we’ve got trouble right here in River City. Now, the House may be in session over the weekend, so the concerned citizens among us can just amble down Broad Street – if you’ll excuse the expression — to do their fact finding mission.

“So — this exhibition is appearing in several places across the Commonwealth, including another public university. Why all the indignation about William and Mary? The answer is simple: the College of William and Mary has become the Right Wing Noise Machine’s latest target, and its President has become their latest candidate for Swiftboating.

“Unless I miss my bet, pretty soon we’ll see the next chapter in the Noise Machine’s playbook: the fundraising appeal. I’m certain this trumped-up outrage will be used to beg little old ladies to give money out of their hard-earned savings to line the pockets of some right wing group.

“Mr. Speaker, to hear some people tell it, you’d think the Sex Workers Art Show was the most awful thing that’s ever happened on a Virginia college campus. It’s not. This whole issue is a trivial distraction from the real challenges our colleges face. We’re stewards of Virginia’s world-class higher education system, and we need to address those challenges.

“We don’t need to spend our time slandering an institution that’s one of the Commonwealth’s crown jewels, bullying its dedicated leadership, and turning this body into the Decency Police. Above all, we don’t need to waste our time giving a bunch of aging legislators a chance to talk about sex. We have more important things to do.”

From the AP:

Amtrak trains stuck at snowy Donner Pass with nearly 400 riders trapped

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nearly 400 people were trapped Friday when two Amtrak passenger trains were stranded in the snowy Northern California mountains after a large snow plow fell through the tracks, officials said.

Amtrak’s California Zephyr passenger trains were stranded near Donner Pass around 2 p.m. after a large plow being used to clear the tracks fell through a walkway and blocked the trains’ path, according to Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero.

“Blogger of the Month” indeed!

They like Richmond Sunlight! They really like it!

January 18, 2008
Dear Friends:

Today we completed the first full week of the 2008 Session of the Virginia General Assembly. From now until our (hoped-for) adjournment on March 8, I’ll write every week or so to let you know what’s going on in Richmond.

FIRST DAYS IN REVIEW
At noon on Wednesday, January 9, the 2008 Session opened with the Clerk swearing in 99 Delegates to their two-year terms (the 100th seat, over in the Northern Neck, is vacant because the incumbent was elected to Congress in a special election in December.) Joining us were nine freshmen, with friends and family on hand to witness the occasion.The opening day consisted largely of formalities: election of the Speaker and other officers of the House (Clerk and Sergeant at Arms), notifying the Governor that we were open for business, and that night, hearing his State of the Commonwealth address. After the Governor, Senators, and other distinguished guests had departed the chamber, the Clerk read off the Speaker’s list of committee assignments (unlike the U.S. Congress, where each party controls its members’ committee assignments, the Speaker appoints all members — Republicans and Democrats alike — to all committees. It’s one of the sources of that office’s immense powers.)

Because the Democrats gained seats in the November election, we also gained slots on the House’s standing committees. In addition to retaining my membership on the Appropriations and Privileges and Elections committees, I was named to Transportation — which handles issues of vital importance to Virginia and our region in particular. (At the first meeting of the committee, the new members were asked to introduce themselves and describe their districts. I noted that the 48th has more Metro stations than any other district.)

“WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY?”
The assignment to Transportation, along with my new membership on a third subcommittee of Appropriations, adds to an already busy schedule. There are now 10 regularly scheduled meetings of my subcommittees and committees each week. Each of us also has a lot of other items on our calendars: the daily caucus meeting and floor session (sessions are short now, but are likely to go two or three hours in a few weeks); appearances before subcommittees and committees hearing bills we introduced; greeting visitors from home; meetings with groups interested in particular pieces of legislation; planning sessions with our staff, etc. etc. etc. Already our days begin before 8:00 AM (one of my subcommittees this week convened at 7) and end more than 12 hours later.

THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW
After members’ first elections, the Clerk assigns them a vacant office (with an adjacent office for their aides) in the General Assembly Building Every two years after that, a member may put in a request for new space that comes open due to a senior member’s departure (either by retirement, an adverse decision from the voters, or a move up the ladder to a different office).This Seniority/Musical Chairs process made for some changes on 7 West this year. My next door neighbor, Brian Moran of Alexandria, opted to take an office on the front of the building (it has a view of the Capitol, which is supposed to make it more prestigious). That gave me a chance to claim Brian’s old space; Kris Amundson took mine; Adam Ebbin took Kris’; and newly elected McLean Delegate Margi Vanderhye took Adam’s.

The best feature of the new corner office is the view. To the north are the 22-story tall Richmond City Hall, John Marshall’s house, and the Library of Virginia — which I could see from my former office. Now I also look out to the west of Capitol Square and down Broad Street, one of Richmond’s main east-west thoroughfares.The view to the west is dominated by the new Federal courthouse building a block away. The seven-story tall, 337,000 square foot building has been under construction for several years and is to be completed this summer. It will supplement the historic building at the foot of Capitol Hill (most recently the site of the Michael Vick proceedings) that currently houses the 4th District Court of Appeals, the Richmond divisions of the District and Bankruptcy Courts, and the U.S. Marshals Service offices.

Between the new courthouse and the General Assembly Building sits 1/2 city block of empty space, temporarily bring used as a parking lot. This summer and fall the Commonwealth opened up our view of the courthouse by tearing down a former hotel that had been pressed into service several decades ago as a state office building. They had to take it down brick by brick, rather than just imploding it, because the adjacent Saint Peter’s Catholic Church was built in 1835 on wooden pilings.

The plan is to construct a state office building on the site, fronting on Broad Street, and to use it as interim quarters for the General Assembly while they demolish the unsafe and inefficient building we now occupy and build us a new General Assembly Building. The danger, though, is that economic conditions will delay the project and that the “temporary” parking lot across the way will become a permanent fixture of downtown Richmond (Kind of like the “temporary” offices that were constructed on the Mall in Washington during World War I. It was Richard Nixon who finally got rid of them.) Through a break in the skyline you can see the hulk of the old Hotel John Marshall, topped by the neon sign that hasn’t been lit for years. When I was sworn into the bar there 30 years ago, the John Marshall was nothing fancy – just a serviceable downtown hotel. Then it went into decline. At one point, the guest rooms were closed but the public meeting facilities on the first floor stayed open. It was eerie walking through the deserted lobby to go to a reception: you almost expected to see Jack Nicholson sitting across the way, typing out “All Work and No Play . . .” over and over and over.

Well, that’s all for the first report. Let me hear from you, and drop in to 711 GAB if you’re in Richmond!