What the world needs now is more lawyers. Eliza P. Brink, 25, will do her part to address that shortfall when she graduates from the University of California Hastings College of the Law this weekend. Hooray!
Campaign Finance, Virginia Style
NPR’s Marketplace program, which usually deals with commodities like hedge funds, stock portfolios, and the price of steel in China, last week turned its attention to Virginia’s Wild West campaign finance system (basically, anybody can give as much as they want to anybody, as long as they disclose it). Featured were Republican consultant Ray Allen (who speaks admiringly of the Virginia way of doing business), 2005 Attorney General candidate Creigh Deeds (who suggests that one reason for his 360-vote loss in the AG race may have been the gazillion dollars that came flooding into the state for his opponent in the final weeks of the campaign), and Delegate Brian Moran (who patroned a bill this session to close one of the Virginia system’s infinite number of loopholes).
Virginia campaign finance junkies can hear it all here, and NPR junkies can finally see in print how Kai Ryssdal spells his name.
21-51
I’ll be speaking to the Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council tomorrow morning at 7:30 (yikes!). Sen. Mark Herring and I will be talking about the efforts of the House and Senate Caucuses to increase the number of Democrats in the General Assembly.
In preparing for the speech, I am impressed by both the quality and the quantity of our Democratic candidates this year. In 2005, House Democrats had the best freshman class that anyone could remember–and it looks like our 2007 class could surpass that group.
Clearly, Democrats are energized. The Post reports this morning that “Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House and Senate Democrats are far outpacing Republicans in the hunt for campaign cash.”
That’s great news. But it had better not get anyone feeling too confident at this point in the election cycle. My message tomorrow will be basically an echo the wonderful scene in Bull Durham.
The young phenom, “Nuke” LaLoosh, is in the middle of pitching a great game. But in the dugout, his mentor, “Crash” Davis, brings him back to earth. His fastball was up, his curveball was hanging. “Can’t you just let me enjoy the moment?” Nuke wonders. “The moment’s over,” Crash says.
So enjoy being ahead in the money race today. Then get back to work.
Rededication
This may be the biggest week in the history of the Virginia Capitol since . . . well, since it wasn’t burned to the ground in the final days of the Civil War. At the beginning of the week, we celebrated the reopening of the Capitol after a two-year renovation and restoration. Monday night was a black-tie reception, and Tuesday we 
held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the South Portico. The weather was perfect, and the remarks included a few choice words from a Thomas Jefferson re-enactor (how’s that for a niche profession?). You can see an interactive tour of the old-and-improved Capitol here.
And today Queen Elizabeth II will address a joint session of the General Assembly as part of her United States tour commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown landing (I guess there are no hard feelings about the whole independence thing). In preparation for her visit, the Clerk of the House distributed a memo setting out “Royal Protocol Information.” Among the Do’s: “When the Queen enters a room, everyone stands.” Among the Don’t’s: “It is not proper to ask The Queen for an autograph or ask to have one’s picture taken with The Queen or any member of the Royal family.” (There goes that campaign brochure shot . . .)
A Senator of my acquaintance noted that the memo on appropriate behavior went only to the members of the House, not the Senate. It was suggested that that was because the Senate already regards itself as royalty.
Top 10 reasons for elected officials to blog
Not long ago, I asked you for your thoughts on why elected officials should blog, and what they should do on their blogs. Great responses–they made up a big part of what I said.
In my presentation last week, I strongly urged elected officials to become part of the “read-write” web. Here’s why:
10. 60 million voters get some or all of their campaign news from the Internet. Unless your last name is Gates, you probably can’t afford to communicate with them any other way.
To put this in perspective, I won my first race by 339 votes.
9. This may be the last time in your life that you can be called “cutting edge.”
Even a person with my limited tech skills can blog.
8. Even your kids and their friends might occasionally read your blog. Look, a blog post isn’t the same as a Mother’s Day card, but you take what you can get.
Also, blogging is a great way to reach out to younger voters.
7. There are people who really care about why you introduced that bill on the state fruit. Okay, there are 11 of them. But they will read your blog.
6. On the Internet, no one will know if you laugh at your own jokes.
5. Blogs help constituents see you as a real person. Of course, for some elected officials, that might not be such a good idea.
I never knew there were so many other Tar Heel fans in Virginia!
4. Indiana state senator Lewis Wallace wrote Ben Hur. So don’t tell me you don’t have time for a two-paragraph post.
Yeah, blogging takes time. But it’s worth it.
3. A lot of your readers are smarter than you. Which you will find out when you misspell the name of the Secretary of Agriculture.
Readers of blogs are smart people. Electeds could get way better at their jobs if they listened to them.
2. If Matt Drudge can do it, how hard can it be?
Bob and I, the Bloggers on Walkers, are Exhibit A in this regard.
And the number one reason elected officials should blog —
1. Like The Washington Post is going to call you every day.
Most of us got into public service because we care about issues. But with 140 members of the General Assembly, we are not necessarily first on the reporters’ call sheets. Blogging gives us a way into policy debates.
Rip and Margi
If you didn’t have a chance to hear the debate between 34th District Democratic candidates Margi Vanderhye and Rip Sullivan on Lowell and Ben’s BlogTalkRadio show tonight, you can get pointed to it here as soon as it’s up. What you’ll hear is a valuable discussion (skillfully moderated by my blogmate) between two articulate, thoughtful, experienced individuals. Both of them fit the district like a glove and speak to the issues that its citizens are concerned about. It’s a shame only one of them will win the nomination on June 12, but it’s clear that the voters will be the winners either way. Don’t miss it!
The Victims
Reading their stories makes you appreciate again how they enriched Virginia Tech and our Commonwealth.
Enough
It was a cold December morning when I drove to Good Shepherd Catholic Church for the funeral of Major Joseph Trane McCloud, who had been killed in Al Albar province. I knew he had left behind a lovely family, including three small children. I knew it was going to be a difficult funeral.
What I didn’t know was that there would be protesters. But standing across the street from the church were members of the Westboro Baptist Church. This self-appointed group has chosen to spread their message of hate at the funerals of American service men and women.
It was an outrageous intrusion on a family and a community’s heartbreak. Now we learn that they plan also to attend the funerals of the Virginia Tech victims.
As Joseph Welch once asked another hate monger, “Have you no shame?”
There are times when words won’t do
There really are no words to describe the sadness all Virginians feel about today’s shootings at Virginia Tech. I have received word (from Del. Jim Shuler) that the Commonwealth’s resources, including State Police, have been mobilized. They are offering all the help possible to a community that is devastated.
Meanwhile, join me in holding the entire Virginia Tech community in your thoughts and prayers.
UPDATE: The Governor’s office has just advised us that Gov. Kaine, who was on his way to India for a trade mission, is returning home immediately.
The trifecta
My daughter Sara, now going to law school in New York, reports that yesterday’s local news was almost too good to be true.
A hit-and-run accident including footage of the mangled car…
Involving the Governor of New Jersey …
On his way to moderate the Imus-Rutgers come-to-Jesus meeting!
“It’s like an improv group’s dream: Take one horrible accident, add in an elected official, and for extra points, tie in a current scandal!” she observed.