The General Assembly convenes on the second Wednesday of the new year. This week, although we are not yet formally in session, we have meetings, all the time, in both Richmond and in our districts. (Look for us if you’re on I-95!)

Meanwhile, there has been another big move on 7 West. Brian Moran, who formerly had office 711, has moved across the row (to 703) to get an office with a Capitol view. (It’s Jack Reid’s old office, so we warned him about the possibility of live rounds in the backs of drawers.)

Bob is moving into Brian’s office (711) to get a corner view. And I am moving into his old office (712) to get more staff space. So stop by when you’re in Richmond to see the new office digs.

Well, Minnesota, actually.

But at last report, it is cold enough there for a sleigh and some reindeer.

Meanwhile, we wish you a Merry Christmas.

I cannot explain it. But after some gentle haranguing from friends (including my co-blogger), I finally posted on Facebook.

It is wearing me out.

First, there’s the new vocabulary. “Friend” as a verb? (Do we also “enemy” people?) Luckily, when you have reached my advanced age, there aren’t so many people who want to “friend” you anyway. My age cohort has certainly mastered email, but we are frankly a little skeptical about this whole blogging/social networking thing. (Of course, we thought that about the Internet, too.)

But I am lucky enough to have friends from many generations, and many of them seem quite at ease with the Facebook phenomenon. So these folks are friending me. And posting things on my wall. And sending me messages through yet another inbox.

It is nice to be friended. But, OMG, I miss the days when if I wanted to communicate with people, I just called them up.

On a land line.

From the Virginian Pilot editorial:

Jim Gilmore made it official this week, saying he refuses to let Mark Warner waltz into the U.S. Senate next year. In announcing his candidacy, Gilmore said he intends to run on his record. That may explain the frantic activity among some Republican leaders to find another nominee.

The Norwegians are closing their consulate in Minneapolis.

This is not sitting well with the folks at Ingebritsen’s, an all-purpose Norwegian store on Lake Street. (I visit every time I am there — I am not so interested in the blood sausage, although there are several varieties available. Still, the food and folk art usually make their way into my luggage.)

However, Norwegians are still Norwegians. So they are mostly sulking in silence.

The Wednesday evening schedule on ESPN includes a game of more than passing interest to me.

Last night, the House Democrats had a historic win, picking up four seats. Now that we’ve had a little time to reflect (but not enough time for much sleep ), I think some lessons are clear:

– We recruited great candidates–folks who might not have been willing to run with a “D” after their name even a few years ago. Joe Bouchard and Bobby Mathieson had long and distinguished careers (in the Navy and as a police officer, respectively) before they ever considered offering themselves for public office. Paul Nichols is a successful attorney who wouldn’t have had to take on this challenge. Margi Vanderhye has worked on important issues like transportation and education for more than two decades.

– There’s no substitute for hard work. Margi Vanderhye knocked on more than 11,000 doors. Although Chap Petersen is the one in the newspaper holding up a pair of shoes with a hole in the sole, Margi could have held up any of the THREE pairs she wore out going door to door.

– We had the resources. Special shout-out to Ward Armstrong and Brian Moran, who raised buckets of money and who challenged all of us in the Caucus to do some heavy lifting as well. We had the resources to make last-minute TV buys where they were needed.

– Voters really want common-sense solutions. All four of our candidates are anxious to roll up their sleeves and get to work for the people of Virginia.

As Yogi Berra once said on a day when he was being honored in Yankee Stadium, “I’d like to thank everyone who made this day necessary.” Exactly.

Now I’m going to take a nap. With results not coming in until nearly 1, there was not a lot of sleep last night!

UPDATE: I am not forgetting Joe Morrissey, who will also join the House in January. But his race was essentially over the night he won the primary.  The four who won last night really came through a crucible.

–

Five years ago today, a plane crashed in northern Minnesota. Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, and their daughter Marcia tragically lost their lives.

It’s a day of special poignancy for our family. My daughter Sara was in Minnesota working for the Wellstone campaign.

I didn’t always always agree with Paul Wellstone (heck, I’m not sure PAUL even agreed with all his own votes.) But I learned some powerful lessons from him:

1. You can’t separate your life from your politics. “Never separate the life you live from the words you speak,” he said.

2. Sometimes you have to make the tough votes. Paul was locked in a difficult re-election campaign when he cast a vote against the war in Iraq. People said it would destroy his political viability. Just the opposite was true.

3. He never forgot who elected him. As Garrison Keillor said, “Paul Wellstone identified passionately with people at the bottom, people in trouble, people in the rough. He was an old-fashioned Democrat who felt more at home with the rank and file than with the rich and famous.”

4. You can build bridges with people who don’t agree with you. As part of his work on what has become known as the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Act, Paul learned that Sen. Pete Domenici also had a family member who had struggled with mental illness. The two of them, who agreed on very little else, teamed up to press for expanded coverage for mental health. (Note to those in Congress: Now would be a good time to pass that bill.)

UPDATE: The New York Times tells the story of a time when Wellstone called Domenici’s office. An aide asked what the call was about. Wellstone answered, “Mental health! What the hell else do we agree on?”

5. You can’t work for any change if you can’t get elected. Paul Wellstone was a master of the nuts-and-bolts of politics. Sen. Amy Klobuchar says he even taught her which bus routes in Minneapolis had the most riders. From the famous Paul Wellstone green bus to his intensive focus on Get Out the Vote efforts, Paul knew that winning elections is hard work.

He was filled with boundless optimism, good humor, and a sense that politics could really be about things that matter. We need more of that.

Because it’s always fun to quote Garrison Keillor:

There is a natural division of labor in politics: The Republicans fuss about the sanctity of marriage and getting God back in the schools and the Democrats about healthcare and the $8 billion that vanished in Iraq, and so far the Republicans are doing a better job. God is in the schools, the same as He is in Nebraska or even in Dallas, and marriage looks to be doing OK, since the White House is not in charge of it. Meanwhile, the Pentagon and the Justice Department are investigating fraud in Iraq, one grain of sand at a time, and we are likely to have answers in a decade or two.