RPV State Central Roll Call Vote

At the RPV Advance, state central voted for a primary. The following is the list of how everyone voted. It was a public roll call vote. Regardless of how you wanted the vote to turn out, it is an important vote with potentially important consequences.

__________________________________________________________

Republican Party of Virginia State Central Committee Roll Call

Vote to Hold 2012 U.S. Senate Nomination by Primary.

Vote held on November 20, 2010

* A Yes vote is a vote for the primary

Chairman, Pat Mullins Abstain

First Vice Chair, Mike Thomas Yes

Morton Blackwell, National Committeeman No

Kathy Hayden Terry, National Committeewoman No

Paulina Campbell, Secretary Did Not Vote

Brian Plum, Treasurer Yes

Linwood Cobb, Budget Chairman Yes

Lee Goodman, General Counsel

William Fralin, Finance Chairman Yes

Juanita Balenger, Eastern Vice Chairwoman No

Kevin Gentry, Eastern Vice Chairman No

Judi Lynch, Western Vice Chairwoman Yes

Wendell Walker, Western Vice Chairman No

1st District

Tom Foley, Chairman Yes

James Bowden sent a proxy, which was disallowed, opposed the primary

John Van Hoy No

Michael Lowe No

Carol Dawson No

Allen Webb No

2nd District

Gary Byler, Chairman No

David O'Kelley Yes

Curtis Colgate No

Roger Miles No

3rd District

Mike Wade, Chairman Yes

Bryan Meals Yes

Chris Woodfin Yes

Cortland Putbrese Yes

4th District

Jack Wilson, Chairman Yes

Col. William Flanagan Yes

Irene Hurst Yes

Wayne Ozmore Yes

Bob Wheeler Yes

5th District

Bill Stanley, Chairman No

Christopher Shores No

Renee Trent Maxey No

Gene Smith Yes

Rachel Schoenwald Yes

6th District

Trixie Averill, Chairman Yes

Mickey Mixon No

Matthew Braud Yes

Jim Crosby No

Mark Peake Yes

Lynn Mitchell Yes

7th District

Linwood Cobb, Chairman Yes

Kristi Way Yes

Marie Quinn Yes

John Tucker Yes

Doug Rogers Yes

David Fuller Yes

8th District

Mike Ginsberg, Chairman Yes

Vellie Dietrich-Hall Absent

Michael Giere No

Mark Kelley No

9th District

Michelle Jenkins, Chairman Yes

John Kilgore Yes

Jerry Lester Yes

Jack Morgan Yes

10th District

Howie Lind, Chairman No

Jo-Ann Chase No

Elizabeth Kay Gunter No

Gary Lofton Yes

Mary Gail Swenson Yes

11th District

Becky Stoeckel, Chairman Yes

Keith Damon No

David Ray No

Patsy Drain No

Caucus Representatives

Senator Emmet Hanger Yes

Delegate Morgan Griffith Yes

Senator Frank Ruff Yes

Delegate John Cosgrove Yes

Virginia Federation of Republican Women

Fay Williamson VFRW President Yes

Vicki Alford Yes

Anna Lee Yes

Young Republican Federation of Virginia

Micheal Hardy, President Yes

Andrew Vehorn Yes

Neil Miller Yes

College Republican Federation of Virginia

Lena Morill, President Yes

Jadan Horyn Yes

Lexy Rusnak Yes

Cuccinelli Supports Making Conventions Financially Viable

The State Central meeting at the Advance this weekend will be about one thing. Conventions. Cuccinelli is proposing party plan amendments to make conventions more financially viable. These have been debated and discussed by party activists since they were first unveiled in the summer. As a supporter of conventions, I support Cuccinelli's efforts. Bill Bolling and Bob Marshall along with others are opposing them.


The other issue is that it seems Mike Thomas and others have decided to force a vote for a primary at the meeting. Bob Marhsall who seems inexplicably on a warpath against conventions is also supporting the vote for a primary, even though that will insure that he loses if he runs for U.S. Senate. Apparently he has a proxy and will be voting for a primary at the meeting on Saturday.


I will post more about the primary vote later. For now, here is Ken Cuccinelli's statement on the party plan amendments he is proposing.

MEMO – PARTY PLAN AMENDMENTS TO BE VOTED ON AT 2010 RPV ADVANCE
From: KEN
CUCCINELLI
TO: MEMBERS OF RPV STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

This memo is intended to share my perspective on the content and purpose of the two party plan amendments being proposed that will increase the financial viability of conventions as a method of nomination for statewide offices. These amendments to the party plan are being proposed in light of the 2009 convention, which left RPV with lingering financial obligations.

1. The first proposal being put forward is to allow the party to charge up to a $25,000 filing fee for candidates for all statewide offices.
2. The second is to allow the party the option of charging pre-file fees to delegates to attend conventions. The number being put forward is no more than $50 per delegate.

My reason for supporting these concepts may seem counter-intuitive. When you think of an entire nomination process - including the campaign itself, not merely the nomination election day - a very large convention filing fee, e.g., $25K for a candidate for statewide office will cost much more than a primary filing fee (approximately $4,000), but running a convention campaign can be done for a fraction of the cost of running a primary campaign.If you compare the cost of the 2009 Cuccinelli/Brownlee/Foster convention to the candidates – about $1 million total, to the cost of the 2005 McDonnell/Baril primary to the candidates – about $5 million total, it’s clear that even with significant filing fees, conventions provide the lowest cost access to a realistic, competitive nomination.

By increasing the likelihood that conventions will end up in the black financially, they will be even more viable as a nomination option. Following this page are some questions I’ve encountered about the need for these proposals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are these fees helpful?

In an ideal world, we would not have to charge fees at all in order to run for public office. Personally, I am in favor of keeping the bar to entry for candidates to enter nomination contests as low as possible. However, because the 2009 GOP Convention resulted in a financial loss for RPV, it would be helpful to make changes so that the State Central Committee can vote for conventions without serious concern that it will send the Party into the red.

Won’t these fees make it more expensive for longshot or low dollar candidates?

No, exactly the opposite. While these fees represent a significant increase from the 2008 and 2009 conventions, they are still significantly lower than the cost of running a statewide primary. For example, in 2005 McDonnell/Baril primary cost both candidates a combined total of around 5 million dollars, whereas in 2009, the convention contest for the same office cost less than 1 million dollars.Conventions are, by far, the cheapest method of nomination for statewide office. By far.If conventions are not more reliably financially viable – the alternative (primaries) will shut out many candidates who otherwise would have had a realistic shot in a convention.

Won’t delegate filing fees keep people from attending the convention?

While charging a fee for delegates to attend a convention is undesirable in some circumstances, it doesn’t mean it will substantially lower the turnout. For example, the 1978, 1993 and 1994 GOP conventions were the largest conventions in Virginia’s history, yet in all three the Party charged a pre-filing fee for delegates.

Will the Department of Justice approve these changes to the Party Plan?

Maybe. This is something that we will only know when an approved party plan amendment is submitted to the DoJ. Based on a case that arose in Virginia, the courts have said that delegate fees would have to be pre-cleared by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act. This is one of those that we just won’t know until we try.

Is there any alternative to charging delegate and candidate fees?

At the moment I believe these are the two simplest alternatives. Voluntary contributions to the party to help offset the cost of conventions are the other most obvious alternative; however, it may be dicey to rely upon that approach to generate the necessary revenue to pay for the event.It is important to remember
that these proposals are to allow RPV to charge the fees if you all feel they are necessary to pay for the conventions. If we come up with an alternate revenue source in the future – the fees may not end up being necessary, and thus don’t need to be charged. This is simply a vote to allow RPV SCC the discretion to charge the fees if they feel they are necessary.ant to remember that these proposals are to allow RPV to charge the fees if you all feel they are necessary to pay for the conventions. If we come up with an alternate revenue source in the future – the fees may not end up being necessary, and thus don’t need to be charged. This is simply a vote to allow RPV SCC the discretion to charge the fees if they feel they are necessary.

Join AG Cuccinelli for an informational webcast on June 16th

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed a lawsuit on behalf of Virginia to overturn the federal health care mandate following the passage of the national health care bill in March. After weeks of waiting for the federal government to respond, federal officials filed a reply in the U.S. District Court on May 24th with a motion to dismiss the suit, which is what the Attorney General's office expected would happen. Cuccinelli's office responded, and is now waiting on the U.S. to file its reply brief by June 22nd, and then the oral arguments on the motion to dismiss will take place on July 1st at 10 a.m. - one hour for each side.

If Virginia's case is not dismissed and moves forward, a summary judgment hearing is scheduled for October 18th.

On June 16th, Attorney General Cuccinelli will hold a webcast to discuss where his team is on the case, what you can expect going forward and the constitutional issues involved. To join the webcast, you must register on the AG's website. The webcast is free and open to the public, but is not paid for at taxpayer expense.

Remember to register and click here for more details on the June 16th webcast!

Republican Party of Virginia
Chairman Pat Mullins
115 East Grace Street
Richmond, VA 23219
www.rpv.org
804-780-0111

They Should Have Read the Bill...

The story of the healthcare bill was the story of backroom deals, thousand+ page long manager amendments forced on the full floor at the last moment, avoiding the committee process, etc... Al this resulted in congressman being unable to read the bill (something RPV helped Congress with), and inevitably things were surprisingly included and omitted from the bill.

The best known mistake was Democrats omission of coverage of preexisting conditions for children. There was also the exemption of House and Senate staff from the bill.

However some conservative was able to sneak in $250 million in funding for abstinence education. I'm sure Democrat activists wish that aspect had been stripped from the bill. I tip my hat to the conservative with the spine and ability to include this funding in the bill.

Healthcare - Down to the Wire

Well folks, this is it. This is the week that will determine if America adopts a socialized system of medicine... and we need to do everything we can to stop it in these last two days. Ways you can help -

1. Listen ONLINE as Virginia Republicans "Read the Bill" outloud! If you can help read the bill, it would be much appreciated and you can sign up by calling 804-780-0111 or email dave.rexrode@RPV.org. Let's show our support as Virginians pull something off that even Congress can't accomplish!

2. CALL THESE VA CONGRESSMEN - It will take 5 minutes of your day. Just call them and let them know where you stand on ObamaCare!

Tom Perriello - Undecided as of yesterday! 202-225-4177
Gerry Connolly - Undecided as of yesterday! 202-225-1492

Lets all join together to show our President and Congress that ObamaCare is not what the American people want or need. It's come down to the wire. Do your part.

Phone Bank for Kerry Bolognese

Dear Friend,

I have exciting news!

We now have the same capability for Remote Phone Banking that Scott Brown used successfully last month in Massachusetts.

If a Republican can win in Massachusetts with Remote Phone Banking, then we can definitely win with it in Fairfax County.

Go to www.RPV.org/HD41 and check it out now!

Please help Kerry Bolognese in the special election for District 41 by making 41 phone calls from your own home. All the data will be automatically saved and you don't have to write anything down.

After years of trailing the Democrats in technology, Republicans have finally caught up.

Simply go to www.RPV.org/HD41 and sign up. Once you sign up, log-in information will be sent to you via email - and you can call from the comfort of your home.

Kerry Bolognese ran for this same seat last year and only lost by 209 votes to an entrenched incumbent. Can you make 41 calls from home to help Kerry?

This special election on Tuesday, March 2^nd will be all about turning out the Republican base. You making 41 phone calls will help put Kerry over the top in the 41^st District this year.

Voters are tired of answering the phone to recorded messages. With only a few days left until the March 2^nd special election, every personal phone call we make will have a huge impact.

Please go to www.RPV.org/HD41 right now and sign up.

Thank you,

Justin Shaffer
Field Director
Kerry Bolognese For Delegate

Email: jshaffe1@gmail.com

(703) 459-6522

www.RPV.org/HD41

What Is On The Line In The 41st

Reposted from Mason Conservative because some things just need to be read.


I'm hearing that the state party is going to stay out of Kerry Bolognese's race to flip Dave Marsden's delegate seat, thinking that they already have a big enough majority. I couldn't be more unhappy about that if it true, Bolognese ran a true grassroots, shoe-leather campaign last fall and deserves to finish what he started, and he deserves to have the full support of the entire apparatus of the party. The county committee is firmly supporting Kerry.

What Bolognese needs is money and he needs people. There is more going on here than just a special elections, it effects the remarkable turnaround of Republican fortunes in Northern Virginia, and the upcoming 11th district congressional race that might be the last time we get a chance to take down Gerry Connolly. Losing the Cuccinelli seante seat and the possibly losing the 41st delegate district stifles the momentum we gained by our wins in three delegate districts and the incredible numbers racked up by our statewides.

Also, make no mistake about it, Gerry Connolly is involved in these races and he's working on building Democratic momentum going into his reelection and embarrassing Republicans, particularly Pat Herrity who has many overlapping areas of the 41st, as an attempt to depress Republican activism. I can't say that it will work, given the victories here in Virginia and New Jersey and Massachusetts, Republicans are about as fired up as I've ever seen. But if Bolognese can check the Democrats and flip a delegate seat he almost won by less that 200 votes just a few months ago, I truly believe it will help either Pat Herrity or Keith Fimian in defeating Connolly. We need to prove we can win on his turf, and a Bolognese win would be a body blow to Connolly's reelection and proof that Republicans do have the ground game and the message to win.

GO KERRY! I encourage everyone to go give money, and then maybe some time when you have it. We have to win this!

Greg Habeeb for 6th District GOP Committee Chairman, Bill Stanley for 5th District GOP Committee Chairman

As some of you may have heard Salem GOP Committee Chairman Greg Habeeb has announced his candidacy for Chairman of the 6th District GOP Committee and Franklin County GOP Chairman Bill Stanley has announced his candidacy for Chairman of the 5th District GOP Committee. Both Bill and Greg have been hands down two of the best, if not the two best, unit chairs in the Republican Party of Virginia over the past few years and both were named "Unit Chairman of the Year" by their respective congressional district committees.

Many of you know Bill Stanley from his unsuccessful bid for RPV Chair last May as well as his work as Chairman of the Franklin County GOP Committee.  As a local unit chair Bill has without a doubt distinguished himself and his committee as one of the best in the state and was named "Unit Chair of the Year" for the 5th District two years running. In Franklin Country, under the leadership of Bill Stanley, the GOP Committee has seen their fundraising and membership increase greatly. I worked on Bill's campaign for RPV Chairman and I can think of no better person to lead the 5th District GOP or RPV for that matter. Youth is something the RPV and GOP as a whole needs desperately. Like Greg, Bill will bring much needed youth to the leadership of the 5th District Committee. Additionally, there is much tension between Republicans in the 5th District at the moment as you may well be very familiar with via the massive amount of news media and blog coverage. The Republicans in the 5th District need an experienced leader with enthusiasm as well as new and innovative ideas who can bring the party back together to work for our common goals. That experienced leader is Bill Stanley. I encourage any and all 5th District Republicans to support Bill Stanley to be the new 5th District GOP Committee Chairman.

Bill's website from his run for RPV Chairman is still up and you can click here to access it. While I have not confirmed this, I will be willing to bet that Bill will use many of the same ideas from his run for RPV Chair that you find on the above website if he is elected 5th District Chair.

Greg has done an outstanding job as Salem committee chair and was recognized as "Unit Chairman of the Year" for the entire Republican Party of Virginia in 2008.  I fully endorse his candidacy and encourage any other Republicans in the 6th District to attend the 6th District convention and support Greg. He will bring new ideas, enthusiasm, and much needed youth to the 6th District Committee and State Central. I would also like to add that if it wasn't for the enthusiasm and welcoming attitude of people like Greg I would have been reluctant to get involved with the local GOP in Roanoke during my breaks.

Here is Greg's email to 6th District Republicans:

Fellow 6th District Republicans

It was great to see so many of you in Richmond this weekend for the Inauguration of Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli. We face tough times as a Commonwealth and as a Nation but there is no question that we are now led by the best possible team in Richmond. I wish I could say the same thing for Washington. At least we have a great Congressman, Bob Goodlatte, doing his best to fight back the Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda.

While this is a great time to be a Republican in Virginia, we must admit that for years our Republican elected officials have grown detached from their constituents and moved away from the fundamental principles on which this Party was formed. We lost our identity, we diluted our brand and we've paid for it electorally. The desire to restore our party to its core principles and rebuild our brand was the driving force behind my deciding to run for Salem Republican Committee Chair a few years back. Over the last 2 years, we have made great strides in Salem. Our Committee has grown exponentially in numbers without sacrificing our principles. We have put an infrastructure in place that has local Democrats panicked and scrambling to catch up. We have raised our profile through traditional and new media. We have raised money and supported our candidates while still holding them accountable. Simply put, we have made our Committee relevant.

Believe me, these efforts by so many on the ground have not gone unnoticed. There is a new buzz about the Republican Party in Salem. We have won elections with record numbers. Elected officials are now reaching out for our support and recognizing the need to stay in touch with those of us in the grassroots. Ultimately, we were humbled to be named the 2008 Unit Chairman of the Year for the entire Commonwealth and the 2009 Unit Chairman of the Year for the 6th District. I say "we" because those awards are a reflection of the work done by dozens and dozens of people.

As I pondered what was next, many of you have approached me about running for Chair in the 6th District. I must admit, this was not initially on my radar screen but, the more I thought about it, the more I believed that we could bring a new energy, purpose and focus to the Committee. We could provide the type of leadership necessary to restore unity where it is lacking in the 6th and build on our already solid infrastructure. Over the last few weeks I have spoken to numerous grassroots and elected leaders in the 6th and I have been humbled by the positive response I have received.

It is for all of these reasons that I am announcing my candidacy for the Chair of the 6th District Republican Committee to be elected at our Convention on May 22nd in Lynchburg.

Over the next few weeks I hope to speak to all of you to let you know some of my ideas and to get feedback from each of you. Until then, know that my goal in running for this position is not power, control or personal gain. I am doing this to support you, the grassroots leaders in the 6th District, and to continue to make the 6th District the strongest Republican District in the State.

Thanks and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Greg

Cross posted @ Roanoke On The Right

Should Conservatives Support Robert Hurt for Congress?

The dynamic in the race for the Republican nomination in the 5th District seems to be anybody but Hurt. His votes for the Warner tax increases, as well as the Northern Virginia Trasnsportation Authority are making many people raise their eyebrows (to say the least).

Robert Hurt is addressing this issue by saying it is a vote he regrets. His campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, argues that Sen. Hurt was misled, and if he knew there was really a surplus he wouldn't have voted for it. He is also arguing that people are just cherrypicking a couple votes out of over 5,000 votes Se. Hurt cast. Sen. Hurt has also signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to not raise taxes that is sponsored by Grover Norquist.

To say that harking back to this vote is cherrypicking is to ignore the political situation surrounding the Warner tax increase vote. This was one of the bigget votes in the state senate in years. Activists, and the RPV chair Kate Obenshain were calling on the state senate to not pass the tax increases. A western style wanted posters were created with the faces of all the Republican state senators who voted for the tax increases, and an effort was made to primary many of those state senators in the 2007 election cycle. Some would also consider the vote a significant reason the Republicans lost the state senate in 2007.

To brush off a vote like this by saying you regret it and wouldn't have done it if you had all the information is like saying you wouldn't have voted for the first bailout if you had all the information. That is not the kind of person we want. We want someone who will get it right when it comes time to vote.

It is almost as inspiring as supporting someone for president who supported the Gang of 14 while in the U.S. Senate, and we all saw how well that worked out.

That said for Lawrence Verga and others to compare what is going on in the 5th district to NY-23 inaccurately represents both what happened in New York, and what is going on in Virginia. In New York the Republican leaders chose someone who was more liberal than the Democrat, and was endorsed by the SEIU and ACORN. In Virginia we have someone who has a long record of service in the state legislature, and besides those two very important votes it is a very good record. He is socially conservative, and he is pro gun. These things could not be said about the Republican nominee in NY-23.

Robert Hurt is someone who will very understandably have a difficult time energizing and inspiring the grassroots. Is he someone I would support in a primary? No. While he will not be a conservative leader in Congress, he will be much better than Tom Periello, and will do a good job, and therfore we can and must support him as conservatives if he wins the nomination. If our goal truly is to advance conservative values, then if we fail to defeat him in the primary, we must back Sen. Hurt in the general election, and make sure he wins. To support a third party in the 5th district guarantees we will lose the race, and hurts the conservative cause.

Congresswoman Feda Morton?

One of the numerous candidates running for the Republican nomination in the 5th district is long time activist Feda Morton. She has been endorsed by RNC Committeewoman Kath Terry, RNC Committeeman Morton Blackwell, former RPV chair Patrick McSweeney, and PHC Chancellor, HSLDA founder, and former Lieutenant Governor nominee Mike Farris.

In a race that has received a lot of interest because of the tax hike votes of presumed front runner Sen. Robert Hurt. Feda seems to be a committed unwavering Christian conservative.



For more information about Feda Morton check out her website.

Election Results: Republicans have a 10 seat lead in the HOD!!

With 0% of the polls in, Republicans have a 10 seat lead in the House of Delegates. The Democrats had 9 unchallenged seats, while the Republicans had 19 unchallenged seats. This gives the RPV a 10 seat lead at the moment in the House of Delegates.

This is an example of the Republican strategy that will lead to a significant pick up in House of Delegates tonight. The RPV fielded candidates in as many districts as possible so that when the tidal wave began we already had people in place to ride it. Let's keep up this strategy as we get closer to Judgement Day 2010.

Not Larry Sabato is saying the Republicans have picked up 6 seats, and 9 more are in play. Project Virginia predicts Republicans pick up 6 seats.

The Danger of Open Primaries

Recently I have been doing some research into the election process and compiled this information on the impacts of open primaries on a parties ability to nominate a candidate. In a state like Virginia where we are forced to hold an open primary we should stay with a convention system to nominate candidates so that it is just members of the Republican party who decide our nominees.
____________________________________________________________________

In an open primary any registered voter can vote in any party’s primary. When a voter goes to his polling place he can choose to vote in a party’s primary, but can only vote in one primary for a race. The advantage to an open primary is that it encourages voter participation. Indpendents are encouraged to participate in an open primary. However, the downside of an open primary is that it is the registered voters of a state, and not the political party selecting its nominee. There is also a variation of the open primary known as the semi-closed primary which allows independents to vote in either party’s primary. People registered with one party can not vote in the other party’s primary in a semi-open primary. Liberal independents can vote in a republican primary, and conservative independents can vote in a democrat primary in a semi-open primary state. Open primaries permit members of other parties to influence a parties nomination contest, and they often take advantage of it.

In the 2008 presidential election, both parties impacted, or tried to impact the other party’s nomination process. In 2008, John McCain’s early victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina propelled him from a second tier candidate to the Republican nominee. However, through open primaries he never won a majority of the Republican vote in both of those two states. In New Hampshire[1] Mitt Romney won the Republican and conservative vote with 35% and 38% respectively. However, McCain won the state by 5% by winning the independent, moderate, and liberal vote by 40%, 44%, and 45% respectively. A similar thing happened in the South Carolina primary[2]. Here Mike Huckabee won the Republican and conservative vote with 32% and 35% respectively. However, John McCain still won the state by 3% by winning the independents, moderates, and liberals by 42%, 51%, and 47% respectively. In both of these elections, the independents were involved in key presidential republican primaries, and changed the results.

A similar thing happened part way through the Democrat primary. Part way through the Democrat primary when Obama was close to winning the nomination, Rush Limbaugh began what an operation for Republicans to vote in the Democrat primary for Hillary Clinton in large amounts. This operation became known as operation chaos. Following the beginning of operation chaos Hillary Clinton won the Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and North Carolina primaries. Following the start of operation chaos Hillary Clinton went from being on the verge of losing the nomination to winning a majority of the elected delegates. She ended up losing the nomination as a result of the super delegate votes.

---

[1] http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#val=NHREP

[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21228202

Just say Yes!! ...to what?

At the RPV convention Bob McDonnell had a section of his speech he spent running through the issues and going "Democrats just say no... but Republicans just say yes". Bob seemed to be tripping over this part of his speech at the convention as if he wasn't totally comfortable with it yet. This slogan was used immediately after the convention as the name for the ticket airport rally tour.

When I first heard the "Just Say Yes" slogan at the convention I knew their was something wrong with it, but I couldn't pin point it. My first thought was that it was conceding to the Democrats their idea that the Republican party is just an obstructionist party, and promising to change that course.

While admitting Republicans may be part of the issue, the real problem with the slogan comes out when you ask the question just say yes to what? When any issue is proposed people can say yes to it, or say no to it. When solutions to issues arise that disagree with our conservative principles, should we just say yes? If we are focused on saying yes, so we are the party of positive change instead of obstructionism, then we will take the moderate solution to difficult issues.

The focus of this campaign like any campaign should not be saying yes to ideas, but applying the constitution and the ideas of the founding fathers to the issues that face this commonwealth. I want a governor who isn't focused on saying yes to possible solutions. I want a governor who is willing at times to say no to the moderate position on issues inorder to force people to take the more conservative idea when the occasion arrives.

Current List of Republican Victory Centers in Virginia

If you are interested in campaigning for our Republican ticket, please go to your closest victory center. All the statewide and local Republican campaigns are coordinating their activities through the victory centers. While this is the most current list I could find, by the time the general election rolls around, there will be close to 40 victory centers. I'll keep you posted as new ones open up.

Victory Offices and Field Staff

Fairfax

4246 Chain Bridge Road

Fairfax, VA 22030

Adam Zubowsky- Azubowsky@rpv.org, 804.814.1450

Loudoun

44927 George Washington Boulevard, Suite 155

Ashburn, VA 20147

Mary Ann Cannon- Mcannon1@rpv.org, 804.814.0740

Prince William

4431 Prince William Parkway

Prince William, VA 22192

DJ Eckert- deckert@rpv.org, 804.814.7779

Richmond

2819 North Parham Road, Suite 210

Richmond, VA 23294

Julie Coggsdale- jcoggsdale@rpv.org, 804.612.9111

Chesterfield

9507 Hull Street Road, Suite A

Richmond, VA 23236

Tim Rose- trose@rpv.org, 804.363.6801

Virginia Beach

505 South Independence Boulevard

Virginia Beach, VA 23452

Erika Fischer (Hampton Roads)- erika@bobmcdonnell.com, 757.618.9339

Chesapeake

524 Johnstown Road

Chesapeake, VA 23322

and 124 South Battlefield Boulevard

Chesapeake, VA 23322

Christie Craig- ccraig@rpv.org, 757.434.3746

Erika Fischer (Hampton Roads)- erika@bobmcdonnell.com, 757.618.9339

Newport News

12515 Jefferson Avenue

Newport News, VA 24602

Maria Vulaj- mvulaj@rpv.org, 804.814.7913

Erika Fischer (Hampton Roads)- erika@bobmcdonnell.com, 757.618.9339

Fredericksburg

7 Butler Road

Fredericksburg, VA 22408

Josh Daniels- jdaniels@rpv.org, 804.814.1850

Charlottesville

455 Albemarle Square

Charlottesville, VA 22901

Chris Leavitt- cleavitt@rpv.org, 804.814.1351

Harrisonburg

182 Neff Avenue, Suite 13-14

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Craig Orndorff- corndorff@rpv.org, 804.814.0926

Roanoke

2706 Ogden Avenue

Roanoke, VA 22735

Trixie Averill- gopgirl2@aol.com, 540.612.9111

Brent Perrin- bperrin@rpv.org, 804.814.1720

Blacksburg

215 Draper Road

Blacksburg, VA 24060

Alex Stanley- EStanley@rpv.org, 804.212.6566

Lynchburg

Office opening soon

Rachel Pecor- rpecor@rpv.org, 804.814.1428

Republican Response to the Democrat Primary.

In response to the Democrat primary results, Bob McDonnell issued the following video message.


Pat Mullins the new RPV chairman also issued a press statement. The following paragraphs are some of the highlights.

“Virginia Democrats have nominated a slate of three candidates that would raise taxes as soon as possible and lead with the people’s checkbook as their weapon. Should they succeed in their mission, these three candidates would increase the financial strain on Virginians and private enterprise, depress economic growth and stifle job creation.

“Given the dismal voter turnout in their primary election, it is clear that there is little excitement in their party and an even smaller appetite for the kind of expansive government their candidates represent. By contrast, our party is enthusiastically behind our excellent ticket of Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli, as proven by the attendance of over 8,000 Republicans at our recent convention. Everywhere I travel in Virginia, local Republican interest is high, which bodes well for our chances in November.

“Finally, the rejection of Terry McAuliffe indicates that even Democrats are disillusioned about the direction their party and leadership have taken. When a wealthy, insider financed, nationally prominent, personal friend of the Clintons is rebuked in such a manner, it is a clear indicator of a party in disarray from top to bottom. On the Republican side, we are energized and look forward to the road ahead.”

As a note on the excitement that is building within the Republican Party, just like on the ticket airport tour, it appears the Republicans had packed attendances at their campaign headquarters openings.

Let's keep up the energy, stay positive, conservative, and issues oriented, and we should win in November.

2009 Convention Results (With CD Breakdowns)

The grand total results for the convention have been available for a while. I first saw them on the AP. Pat Mullins also e-mailed out the final results for each race a few days ago. Also the congressional district breakdown for the attorney general race was first released published by Not Larry Sabato and Shaun Kenney. However here is the results with the congressional district breakdowns for each of the three races. (To the best of my knowledge it is the first time the complete results have been posted online.) I was waiting for a little while on talking about the results in the hope that I could get hold of the results from the different units and analyze that. It seems however that certain members of the executive committee very vehemently opposed releasing these results and they are unavailable.

The first thing about these results is how well each of the victors did. Bolling, Cuccinelli, and Mullins won by 84%, 57%, and 70% respectively. It was also very gracious of Muldoon, Brownlee, Foster, and Stanley to concede and pledge to work for and with their former opponents. I am confident the success of our nominees and the graciousness of their challengers will unite our party over the summer, and towards victory in the fall.

In the Lieutenant Governor's race a couple things stand out. First off Bolling didn't do poorly in any congressional district. The lowest he received in any cd was 73.3%. Any candidate would love for that to be their lowest return in a district. Another thing that stands out is how poorly Patrick Muldoon did in the 9th district. In his home district he received 11.19% of the vote, and it was his 9th strongest congressional district. There were only two districts where he received a lower percent of the vote: the 8th and 3rd districts. I was honestly shocked as I expected Muldoon would beable to bring a lot of supporters to the convention from the 9th. Either the letter sent out by the 9th district leaders did in Muldoon, or he is just not very popular or well known in his home district. The other interesting thing is that Muldoon took the highest percent in the 10th district. With 202.39 weighted votes he took 26.7%, 10.33% better than he did statewide. I'm not sure exactly why Mulddon did that well in the 10th district, but maybe 10th district voters are itching for a change and are becoming sick of the establishment for some reason.

In the Attorney General race Ken Cuccinelli won eight of the eleven congressional districts, and came in second in the three he lost. John Brownlee won the 9th and the 4th, and Dave Foster won the 8th. There were also only two congressional districts Ken won where he received less than 50%. They were the 3rd and the 5th districts. Keeping Ken below 50% in the congressional districts he won was an essential part of the Brownlee/Foster plan to force a second ballot. They were atleast successful in two of the eight districts Ken won. Ken took over 65% in the 7th, 11th, and 1st districts and over 60% in the 10th and 6th districts. While Ken's home district is the 11th, the 7th gave Ken the highest percentage of the vote based in part on a surprisingly large victory in Chesterfield Co. Both Ken and Dave Foster won their home districts, the 11th, and 8th. John Brownlee only pulled 38.45% in the 6th district where he resides. Ken was able to win Salem and Roanoke cities, and almost took Roanoke county from John Brownlee. While John lives in the 6th district some would consider the 9th his home district since he has worked their as a prosecutor for a while, and he was able to win the 9th with 63.03% of the vote. However a win in the 9th only does you so much when it has about 700 less delegate votes than the 11th district.

From a campaigning perspective one of the important lessons of Ken's convention victory is the importance of building a statewide network. In a primary you can jack up vote totals in high density localities to win. In a convention each locality is assigned a certain number of votes. This forces you to compete in every location if you want to win, and you need to try to get a significant percentage of each localities votes. Ken's statewide network that the convention forced him to create enabled him to compete in every single district, and will hopefully be the backbone that propels him to victory in November. Ken's extensive political connections as an active state senator almost guaranteed him victories in Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William counties as soon as he announced. Having the political connections heading into the race enabled him to win these three large localities easily. Political connections are something any candidate needs to develop before running an effective campaign for statewide office.

While the chairmanship race was more of a contest than the Lieutenant Governor's race, Pat Mullins and co pretty well swept the floor. There are two things that jump out though. Bill Stanley almost won his home congressional district. He took 48.84% in the 5th district which is a very solid showign for an underdog with only three weeks to campaign. The congressional district where Stanley did second best was the 11th district where he took 36.05%. The 11th district is the district Prince William County votes in, and it was one of the few ways Jeff Frederick's supporters had an opportunity at the convention to protest what happened to Jeff this past spring.

That's as much as I can draw out of the congressional breakdowns for the convention results. I'm hcurious to here what you think the results say. Also it would be very nice in future conventions to have access to unit results so that we can analyze them and see where candidates strengths are in each district, and what correlations and trends the unit results tell us. Hopefully this is something we will have access to after the next convention whenever that may be.

On one final note it will be interesting to see if Deeds and his statewide network and connections can pull of a victory tomorrow.

Cuccinelli's Convention Victory

Senator Cuccinelli is now the Attorney General nominee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He was elected with 57% of the vote at the convention last Saturday.

This was a moment of triumph for the conservative wing of the RPV. We saw the Virginia's conservative champion in the state senate nominated to run for state wide office. Another thing we saw was the social conservatives and the liberty Caucus/Ron Paul supporters unite to give Ken the nomination. We united behind Ken not because we wanted someone who could get elected in November (though he will) or someone who won't offend people. We united behind Ken because he has spent his career articulating and fighting for the things we hold dear.

Another important aspect in this race is the part homeschoolers played in this nomination contest. Lynn Mitchell summarized it well on her blog.

To say the Virginia home school community was on fire for Ken Cuccinelli is an understatement. Parents worked for months collecting signatures on petitions, hosting meet-and-greets, spreading the word, and signing up as delegates to the RPV Convention.

The majority of home schooling families believe in less government, more individual responsibility, less taxes, responsible spending, and individual liberties. When they find a candidate who has those same beliefs -- and unequivocally states them -- they will back him.

As a homeschool dad Ken worked hard to use homeschoolers in his campaign. While John Brownlee had "Homeschoolers for Brownlee" signs, if you lined up all the homeschoolers who were their for Brownlee and all the homeschoolers supporting Ken it wouldn't even be a contest.

Since I haven't found a good video of what heppened right before Ken's convention speech, I would like to take a moment and describe it. After John Brownlee left the stage, the convention lights were dimmed. At that moment "Don't Tread on Me" flags that were passed out during Brownlee's speech started waving all across the convention. There were 200 large flags and thousand of small ones. The convention hall turned into a sea of yellow. At the same time pictures of the flag were placed on the main screens and an audio montage ofnews clips about the GM takeover, bailout, and DHS homeland terrorist report was played. When the montage was over, the lights came back on, Ken was at the podium, and the convention hall was electric.

If you would like to rehear Ken's speech here it is below. I hope you will join us in working hard to get the entire ticket as well as our candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates elected this November.


Ken Cuccinelli's convention speech.


Ken's acceptance speech.

Cuccinelli: Thank You-What a Weekend!

June 3, 2009

Dear Fellow Virginians,

First and foremost, I want to thank every single person that came to the convention this past weekend - it was a raging success in every way.

I appreciate the hundreds of volunteers that made our victory this past weekend possible, the thousands of Virginians that had sufficient faith and trust in me to not only give me their vote, but to spend all day Saturday to do it, and the thousands of other Republicans that gave our whole ticket a huge bump coming out Richmond!

Say what you want about conventions, primaries, etc., they are tons of fun, exciting and a great way to get several thousand people fired up for five months of campaigning!

Second of all, I need to extend compliments to John Brownlee and Dave Foster. I have been involved in GOP politics as a volunteer and a candidate for 18 years. I don't ever remember such a high quality, issue focused, party contest as the one the three of us just finished. None of us can take credit for that by ourselves - we all share it.

We had innumerable debates and candidate forums, and the level of debate was exceptional. We had so many debates that John finally started joking that we could all give each other's speeches. I think he was right!

John and Dave brought strong resumes and strong campaigns to this contest, and each of them have graciously offered their support and assistance. I'm going to need it!

I'm going to need your help too! The first help we need is donations. Our Democrat opponent has $900,000 more on hand than we do (he was unopposed for the Dems' nomination). Won't each of you please donate today?!? We have some catching up to do!

More details on going forward soon, but now, some funny war stories from the weekend!

Friday Night - Gala and BBQ

I appreciated the opportunity to speak at the Restore the Founders' Vision PAC BBQ on Friday night. I'm told there were 750 people there, though I could only see about 50 because the lights were 6 feet in front of my face blinding me. But there was no missing the response the crowd had to protecting the constitution and defending Virginia's sovereignty under the 10^th amendment. Wow!

I think people may be waking up, and we need them to if we're going to win in November.

Then I shot back to the Gala to join Teiro and talk up delegates after Gov. Romney finished his remarks. Talk about packed, they had to set up tables in the hallway! That's a great problem to have - overcrowding! Look out Dems!

Then came the suite...

The Sweet Suite

Okay, can I just say that you people are ravenous cannoli eaters? It was all gone in something like 30 minutes in the suite. My girls must make good cannoli (I wouldn't know, I didn't get any...)!

We also had to reorder food SIX times! They had to keep all the cooks late to keep up with our ravenous hoard. We packed the Hilton ballroom through much of the night, and people were very patient as I tried to get to talk to everyone in line (thank you all!).

At the doors of the ballroom, our volunteers were giving folks a Cuccinelli for AG sticker on the way in, and they went through over 2500! Zoiks! There were a lot of folks there Friday - very impressive.

Needless to say, I was getting a good feeling Friday night.

I also have to say, the Hilton was awesome. Just awesome. I don't like the price tag for the suite ($15,000 - donate please), but they did everything we asked of them fast and happily. Everything about the Hilton beats out the Marriott: bigger rooms, faster and friendlier service, accommodating as they could be, and better food.

Saturday

A confession: I hadn't finished my speech before Saturday (and I was up until 2 a.m. Friday night working on it after the suite), and I wrote it with variations depending on circumstances.

So, I grabbed breakfast in the AFP suite in the Hilton ballroom, and started talking folks up. Teiro went over to the RPV breakfast to chat with delegates (talk about a trooper, Teiro was Wonder Woman all weekend).

Then Teiro and I worked our way down the street to the coliseum, chatting people up along the way. We finished our waters outside (grrrrr), and went in and split up to keep chatting with delegates. This continued until speakers started coming out and it became rude to talk during speeches...

That's when I went into our war room to finish my speech during Hannity and McDonnell's speeches.

After practicing downstairs once, I printed out the speech and then went into the halls to work delegates. I was also in the coliseum when the nominations committee report was read, and the explosion when we were announced as a candidate gave me rising confidence (I was ready to vote by noise-meter).

Eventually, it was my turn to speak, and we started with the unusual audio clip and the flags. I approached the podium toward the end of the audio clip and noticed the clock was WAY below where I had expected it to be. Where I expected it to read about 10 seconds gone, it read 40 seconds gone.

So, I was immediately in speech-cutting mode, before I even opened my mouth. Whoops. What had happened was good old fashioned miscommunication. It had been my understanding that my 10 minute clock started running when I set foot on the stage, but it started when the audio clip started. Regardless, I knew I didn't get to argue it at that point! Ouch.

So, while I was giving it, I was cutting the speech on the fly. I was also enjoying the view, the flags, the people, and the energy was almost visible. Looking back, that view was truly something, and I'm very grateful for the memory.

I wrapped up my speech with a few seconds remaining and the noise was deafening. Teiro came out and then the kids... which led to the next either miscommunication or whatever, not sure. The kids were on stage only about 15 seconds and the noise was still going when they started announcing Dave to speak.

Now, this bothered me in two respects, first of all, it wasn't fair to Dave, as Teiro and I were herding our kids off while Dave had to navigate through all of us to get started and I doubt it was the kind of "clean," i.e., unimpeded, start that he had planned or wanted. Second, that was the ONLY thing the kids were publicly involved in, and I don't mind saying that I was upset that in their one moment, they were shoveled off stage so curtly. Oh well, they did enjoy it, so that was good, and we know the production folks were just trying to keep things moving.

Then came the craziness of voting and counting, and I had a strong sense that we were going to be okay on the first ballot.

Because I'd been totally focused on getting the votes needed to win, it was only at that point that I started to think about what I would say in an acceptance speech.

Then I was informed that some of the results were coming back in and John and Dave had decided to move for nomination by acclimation. This was a gracious gesture AND it saved people a LOT of time, as the counting clearly was going to take a while! Their remarks were very kind.

In the meantime, all was chaos back stage. It was a real scramble back there for the production folks, while I was relaxing with all of my family members that had come to Richmond and jotting down some quick thoughts for my remarks. By the way, please send in those postcards that I know you all took home from the convention!

Then came the acceptance speech - I tried to keep it as short as I could - and then it was rah-rah time with the whole ticket!

A thousand thank yous to people passing on the way out was not enough, but it had to do, as I was nearly numb from the day.

We went back to the hotel, gathered our thoughts and our kids, and went out to dinner. During dinner I got a phone call with a speaking opportunity at 1 p.m. THE NEXT DAY in Williamsburg, and so I took it, and we were off again!

What a whirlwind! Thanks again to everyone that came to the biggest convention anywhere in the free world in the last 15 years, and thanks to those who supported me for the nomination, but now I need to ask everyone for your support, as we can only win with a LOT of help from now through November.

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Note to Facebook Friends

I don't think I will be able to answer my inbox any longer, as I'm just overwhelmed timewise. My apologies, but I wanted to let everyone know. I still hope folks will join! (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=523714007&ref=ts)

See you on the campaign trail!

Sincerely,

Senator Ken Cuccinelli II

Tell others to sign up for The Cuccinelli Compass at Senator Cuccinelli's Website:
http://www.Cuccinelli.com (look in the upper left corner)

Please donate at:

www.Cuccinelli.com/donations.htm

Authorized and Paid for by Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General

Please do NOT "Reply" to this e-mail. Please direct your replies to KC4AG@Cuccinelli.com.