Alamance County dems got together today at the old Graham Courthouse. A number of candidates spoke, but I'll only address Brad Miller, Rory Blake, Tony Foriest, and Alice Bordsen here. Read on, dear reader!
Brad Miller. Brad urged us to help raise money for Democratic candidates across the board, but he was sure to include himself, saying "Vernon Robinson is going to be a strange opponent." If there were an award for understatement.... If there was a theme to Brad's short speech, it was talking points. That is, the Republicans are a party of excellent talking points, and their ability to get hundreds of legislators and talking heads all singing the same song is just amazing. He said that there was little wrong with the Republicans' talking points, but that the American people are starting to realize that they don't fit reality (examples: Iraq, Katrina).
One other point: it appears that "we can do better" has become an automatic applause line for Democratic audience.
Rory Blake (candidate for NC's 6th Congressional District). I only got to meet Rory very briefly, but I did have a minute to speak with his campaign manager, Pete Selassie, who seems like a really good guy. In his speech, Rory described the focus of his campaign as community, the foundation of the family, the minimum wage, and morality in government. As he put it, the government should be less worried about people destroying the American flag than about people destroying what the American flag stands for. Government should be less worried about who can be in a marriage than about making sure that families have the resources they need to succeed. Hard to disagree with that.
Alice Bordsen (NC Representative, District 53). I've met Alice a couple of times now and I like her a lot. Before the convention I was speaking with her about her minimum wage bill. She said that Republicans attached some tax credits from breaks for businesses to the bill in an effort to keep Dems from voting for it, but it passed the House anyway on the assumption that the Senate would set things right. During her speech, Alice expressed her support for Tony Foriest.
Tony Foriest (Candidate for NC Senate, District 24). Tony's speech was a pep rally, praising the county party for its growth over the past four years, and urging us to do more fundraising and GOTV for Dem candidates. He didn't speak much about his issues, but I liked him instantly. His primary opponent Tim Purgason wasn't at the convention (don't know why).
Comments
Great report, Lance.
We can do better . . . that's a perennial line for whoever is out of power. Kerry used it. Edwards used it. I've always thought at the very least that it should be "We will do better."
A
What struck me about that line
was that it didn't sound to me lik Brad meant it to be an appluse line. He seemed to be caught a little bit off guard by the response.
Energy, not applause
I can tell you that it was not meant for an applause line. It's hard to avoid saying 'we can do better' when clearly that is the case. Should it be a Democratic tagline? Probably not, but candidates and Congressman will end up saying it.
From that crowd can come so much energy, which hopefully is what other candidates built upon from Brad's speech. The party will be a prime-time player in this year's election as it is one of those without a presidential or senatorial race. GOTV efforts (which Brad also made sure to point out did not just mean 'go on television') are more important than ever in these type of elections as many races ultimately being decided on how many pair's of shoes are worn out.
It was good to hear those at the Alamance Convention are ready for America to do better. I'm with them; I've had enough. Cue the campaign.
PJ Puryear
Campaign Manager
Brad Miller Congressional Campaign
(919) 834-2343
pj@bradmiller.org
PJ Puryear
Brad Miller Congressional Campaign
(919) 834-2343
pj@bradmiller.org
When my kids are older
I will travel to all the different county conventions I can. I'm sorry I missed hearing Brad and the others. I really enjoyed our convention even though I haven't written anything. I kinda got sidelined with helping with the funeral guests this past week. I'll do a write up for the file.
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