First weekend
in C-ville. Devoid of much needed distractions (it’s only been 5 days) i’ve taken up studying of car bumper stickers. They are fascinating and American. One can say quite a few things about a person by the car he/she’s driving and the bumper sticker(s) he’s stuck up the butt of the car.
It seems Creigh Deeds, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee for the upcoming election is having an “enthusiasm gap”. In all 5 days I don’t remember noticing a single Deeds bumbep sticker. While I’ve seen almost a dozen McDonnell (Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate) stickers. Even “women for McDonnell” ones.
This wouldn’t have been a problem for Deeds had this been rural Southside Virginia, Shenandoah Valley or even the Virginia Beach region. But this is Charlottesville we’re talking about. If folks in a county 3-to-2 Democratic and a 2-to-1 Democratic university town don’t go out there and take the effort to put a bumper sticker for you then you aren’t such an exciting guy to root for or, you seriously need to shake up your organization. Which is exactly what Deeds is doing supposedly by shaking up his top campiagn staff.
That Deeds is having trouble is evident by his campaign office in the Downtown Mall down here. There was only one guy standing outside the office in the middle of the day in a friday. It was probably lunch time but man, seriously. The bumper sticker story of Deeds affirms what I’ve heard in the political press. Deeds is having an enthusiasm gap. Maybe it will change in the next 3 months. We’ll see.
Although, the Blue underpinnings of Charlottesville can be surmised from the fact that there were cars with Obama/Biden ‘08 stickers. I saw 4 yesterday. Even one Webb sticker (Jim Webb, the junior Senator to the US Senate and a Democrat) downtown.
The most interesting view was an African American dude driving a red Japanese made wagon. He had a Bush ‘04 sticker and a McCain ‘08 sticker. In an election where almost 94% of the Black vote went to Obama, that guy indeed is a standout from the crowd.
