Unlike the event yesterday for Tim Kaine’s neo-Confederate opponent, which reportedly had like 10 people at it, last night’s event for Kaine at Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria was PACKED with an enthusiastic crowd determined to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in Virginia this year.
One of the event’s hosts was star attorney, 2017 Lt. Governor candidate and new cable TV news star Gene Rossi. See video of him, below, explaining why he loves Senator Kaine.
“He’s the real deal…[He’s] smart and brilliant…Here’s what I like about him, he loves public policy…And today, aren’t those the qualities in the United States Senate?...[So on November 6] go out and vote…take your friends to vote, take your neighbors to vote…[for] the current and the next Senator from the state of Virginia, Tim Kaine.”
Next, here’s Sen. Kaine, joking about how Gene Rossi’s new motto is “I’m a lawyer and I play one on TV.” Kaine also gave shoutouts to Rep. Don Beyer and others, including his staff. Kaine reminisced a bit about the predecessor to Blue Virginia, “Raising Kaine,” which started back in January 2005 with the goal of electing Kaine and other Democrats. Kaine thanked yours truly for a “hell of a lot of work” helping to elect Democrats.
According to Kaine, his race isn’t really about “Tim vs. Corey,” it’s about “who we are and who we aren’t in the Commonwealth.” In 2017, we “sent a powerful message to the nation” in sweeping the three statewide races and picking up 15 seats in the House of Delegates. The message was that “we’re not on the sidelines, we’re not taking an abusive chief executive…sitting down, we are active and engaged….we are not going to take sitting down activities of our chief executive that are contrary to our values.”
And the great thing about Democrats, Kaine said, is we don’t just win elections for the sake of it, but to do things that help people, like expanding Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians, even for many people who will never vote Democratic — because they are still our neighbors, Virginians, Americans. According to Kaine, “we don’t mind doing politically tough heavy lifting to help people have a lighter burden along life’s path even if they are not our supporters.” In stark contrast, Republicans made taking health care away from people, including their supporters, their #1 priority. So, bottom line, there’s a huge difference between a party that’s “for all” (the Democrats) and “a party that is completely willing to cast aside not only their opponents but even their supporters” (the Republicans). So on November 6, we all need to continue what is the “best political turnaround project in the United States” – Virginia!
Finally, here’s Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08), who said that one of the great things about Tim Kaine is that his whole life has been about generously, selflessly serving others, not himself. Beyer also said that there’s nobody better than Tim Kaine at pointing out the differences between Democrats and Republicans. For instance, Beyer noted the “remarkable contrast” between Kaine and his opponent, who has vowed repeatedly to run “the meanest, most vicious campaign Virginia’s ever seen.” The choice on November 6 couldn’t be clearer – Tim Kaine!
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