To the Media, the “Democratic Establishment,” the

Democratic Party of Virginia, and anyone else who wants to read further:

Since last week, when Senator Webb announced he would not seek re-election, I’ve participated in an effort to “Draft Tom Perriello for US Senate.”  I’ve proclaimed the reasons he should be our candidate.  I’ve written numerous posts on Blue Virginia and Facebook.  I’ve called friends, emailed friends, and recruited friends to sign his petition as well as join the Draft Tom Perriello for US Senate Facebook page.  Obviously, many  other people have been doing the same because right now Tom Perriello’s US Senate Facebook page has 754 friends and his petition has 584 signatures.  (Just for your information, Tim Kaine has 326 friends on his Draft Tim Kaine for US Senate Facebook page.)

Today, when I got home from work, another Washington Post Virginia Politics blog post had appeared exclaiming the virtues of only individual….Mr. Tim Kaine.  The post states that Kaine is the “first choice of many Democrats” for Webb’s Senate seat and crudely mentions Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye as defeated Congressman.  Then I went onto Blue Virginia and I read a discussion outlining how the “Democratic establishment” to include Brian Moran, as Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, Senator Mark Warner, the DPVA Central Committee, even President Obama, and the Media (example cited was the WaPo politics blog previously mentioned) has already decided for all Virginians who our candidate should be.

I know that I am a bit of an idealist and am certainly not a political insider, but I am a Democrat, a Virginian, and a voter.  It really galls me to think, much less believe, that a few people-even if they include the President of the United States-should think they are entitled to choose the Democratic nominee who should run to represent me.  So, should any of the aforementioned folks have the opportunity to read this, please remember that change takes place from the bottom up, not the top down.  If you want the best candidate, the people to choose that candidate are the thousands of folks–just like me–who go and vote in Democratic Primaries every chance we get!