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Two recent polls, one national and one for Virginia show President Obama up against all possible Republican contenders.
First, the Quinnipac University Poll has Obama up in Virginia over Mitt Romney 47-43.
For the first time in this election cycle, President Barack Obama inches ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the leading Republican candidate, 47 – 43 percent in Virginia, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Romney has a commanding lead among likely Republican primary voters in the state’s no-Newt Gingrich presidential primary.
Also, the recent Pew Research Center poll has Obama up nationally against all Republican rivals:
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Feb. 8-12 among 1,501 adults, including 1172 registered voters and 552 Republican and Republican-leaning voters, finds that Barack Obama holds sizable leads over Santorum, Romney and Newt Gingrich in general election match-ups.
We need your help to keep Obama on top. Here are a few ways you can help:
Peyton Williams, a retired Army special forces Lt. Colonel, announced he was going to run for the 5th District seat in the House of Representatives. The Daily Progress has more:
Originally from Norfolk, Williams has lived in Charlottesville since 1996.
He and his wife, Bobbie, have been married for 33 years.
Williams received two master’s degrees, one in research methodology from the University of Virginia in research methodology and a second in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College, now the National Military Intelligence College.
He completed doctoral research in ecology at the University of Georgia and worked in Orange as an ecologist.
Williams retired from the Army in 1999 as a lieutenant colonel in Special Forces and from Lockheed Martin in 2010 as a systems engineer.
Williams began teaching SCUBA diving in 2010 and has been a leader for Boy Scouts for 27 years.
“One of my strengths is getting people together to talk about problems and finding solutions that are acceptable, workable and likely to achieve the result,” he said. “I look forward to bringing civility, compromise and progress back into the legislative process.”
Read the full Daily Progress article. Look for more from Mr. Williams has his campaign launches in the coming weeks. Give the 5th District Democratic nominee a boost by contributing to nominee fund on ActBlue.
Help commemorate the life, words and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The 27th Annual MLK Community Celebration will take place on Sunday, Jan 15 at the Mount Zion First African Baptist Church on Lankford Avenue. Join Holly Edwards and an inter-congregational choir in honoring Dr. King. And on Monday, Jan 16, participate in the MLK Day of Service and help your community in the name of Dr. King.
Last night, Democrats from across the county gathered for their biannual mass meeting and reorganization. Members were elected to the Democratic committee and officers were elected for the next two years.
How you can help:
The 2012-2013 steering committee members are:
- Chair: Valerie L’Herrou
- Vice Chair: Cynthia Neff
- Counsel: Bill Love
- Secretary: Diana Mead
- Treasurer: Robert Whaley
- Vice Chair, Organization: Stephen Davis
- Vice Chair, Finance: Ashleigh Crocker
- Vice Chair, Outreach: Graham Paige
- Vice Chair, Special Projects: Cauline Yates
- Vice Chair, Voter Registration: Richard McGrain
District Chairs were also elected from their respective districts:
- Jack Jouett: David Shreve and Kate Acuff
- Rio: Robert McAdams
- Rivanna: Joe Nasevich and Kirk Bowers
- Samuel Miller: Wren Olivier and Madison Cummings
- Scottsville: Dolores Rogers and Doris Holt
- White Hall: Mary Rice
Help the committee get started by taking our survey, volunteering for a leadership role or committee, and joining the committee.
Public Policy Polling just released their latest poll of Virginia and Obama is in a strong position for next year.
PPP has polled Virginia four times in 2011 and has come to the same conclusion every time: Barack Obama just hasn’t slipped there to the extent he has nationally. That’s a finding with major, major implications for his reelection prospects because if he wins Virginia he’s probably going to win the Electoral College…and our polling in the state over the course of the year has certainly suggested he’s in a good position to do it.
Read more about the recent poll and get excited for next year – we have a lot of work to do!
Join us on January 9th for our mass meeting as we organized the party for the next two years!
Every two years, the Albemarle County Democratic Committee reorganizes and elects new leadership at a mass meeting. We’ll be holding the next Albemarle County Democratic Committee Mass Meeting on Monday, January 9, 2012, at 6 PM in the Lane Auditorum at the County Office Building on McIntire Road. This is your chance to:
- Elect leaders for the local Democratic Party for the next two years
- Find out how to get more involved in the party
- Meet other Democrats from all over Albemarle County
- Find out about our efforts in the 2012 Elections
Find out more about the Mass Meeting at our 2012 Reorganization page.Have feedback, ideas or input for the County Party? Take our survey.
Our very own Delegate David Toscano (57th District) was elected Minority Leader by the House Democratic Caucus this morning.
GLEN ALLEN, VA — Delegate David J. Toscano was unanimously elected new House Democratic Caucus Minority Leader by his Democratic peers in today’s Organizational Meeting held at the Wyndam Crossings in Glen Allen, Virginia.
“It has been an honor serving the Charlottesville-Albemarle community in the General Assembly for the last six years ” said Delegate Toscano. “As House Minority Leader, I look forward to continuing the work we have begun by building an effective House Caucus team that projects a positive vision for the Commonwealth and works to implement that vision for the benefit of her citizens over the next several years.”
Read more. Congrats David!
Senator Houck continues to receive key endorsements in his campaign to continue serving the 17th District of Virginia
Following close on the heels of The Free Lance Star‘s endorsement of Senator Edd Houck’s reelection race, two other newspapers in Senator Houck’s district have followed suit to endorse his candidacy guarding against a radical Republican takeover of the State Senate. Albemarle’s hometown daily, the Daily Progress, endorses Senator Houck, citing his experience and ability to work across the aisle in Richmond:
Experience counts. That’s not just a campaign slogan, it’s a reality.
The 17th Virginia Senate District has been altered to include much of Thomas Jefferson Country. Voters here might not know a great deal about the incumbent who is asking for their vote. So here are some highlights about Sen. Edd Houck’s career and accomplishments:
He is one of the ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee. In this day of budget stress, that’s no small matter. Mr. Houck has experience in making tough budget choices. He has worked with other leaders on both sides of the aisle and knows how to get things done. Experience not only with policy issues but also with the people and processes that make those policies work is a valuable asset.
He’s a supporter of higher education and economic development initiatives; for instance, he supported a research and development tax credit to boost advanced technology and bioscience. He voted for state investment in promising technology and life science companies in Virginia. High-tech and biomedical advances are crucial to the University of Virginia’s mission, crucial to the growth of tech and science companies in surrounding communities, and crucial to creation of good jobs in clean industries for our community.
Mr. Houck also has a good record in other areas.
He’s a traditional moderate of the type Virginia once took pride in, before partisanship began trumping common sense. He has supported some tax cuts — including voting to repeal the unfair death tax — and he has supported some tax increases. He makes those decisions based on the best information available at the time, not on orders from the party.
Mr. Houck has long been a supporter of open government and transparent leadership. Through his efforts, public records and meetings are more likely to be open and available, and Virginians have a better chance tracking just exactly what their government is up to.
Another of his commendable votes tightened the definition of “eminent domain” to further protest private property rights.
Also endorsing Senator Houck in his race against extremist Republican Bryce Reeves, the Culpeper Star Exponent:
There are many who have pointed to Sen. Edd Houck’s 28 years in the Senate and have said it’s time for it to come to an end.
We’re not one of those.
Yes, it’s rare for a Democrat to have served for as long as Houck has in a Republican stronghold, but Houck connects with the people.
His votes, at least the vast majority of them, are with his constituents in mind, trying to find ways to better District 17, of which Culpeper is a member.
Houck has shown he is capable of working across party lines, working closely with Gov. Bob McDonnell on ways to address the transportation issue in the state.
We may not agree with every one of Houck’s votes, but we’re unlikely to find many politicians who we’d agree with over a 28-year span.
Sometimes concessions have to be made to find common ground with senators from the other party, and sometimes you have to back your party.
Houck’s support of education and agriculture has directly impacted Culpeper County, with many farmers singing his praises for the land rights bills he’s helped support in the Senate.
Houck should be commended for 28 years of service to our community, not denigrated for it.
His opponent, Republican Bryce Reeves, is campaigning with a pro-jobs platform, and we agree with him — jobs are needed.
But Reeves can at times sound like a broken record, citing the need for more jobs and less government regulation, but not really addressing how he’s going to go about creating jobs and combating the regulators.
While he is certainly well-educated and well-spoken, we’re concerned with how well his voice will be heard in the Senate.
He said he won’t serve long, and we respect him for announcing that early on, but sometimes politicians take time to make an impact and by the time he’s ready to, it may already be time for him to move on.
Houck has the experience and a good heart, and we feel as though he should continue to serve the people of the 17th District.
These endorsements affirm what we already knew: Edd Houck is the best person to represent the 17th Senate District for another four years in Richmond. Despite his opponents desperate and irresponsible attacks, Senator Houck has shown time and time again that he has what it takes to prove a measured and responsible leadership with decorum in the State Senate. Vote for Senator Houck and all of our other great candidates on Tuesday and help guard against an extremist takeover of our government!
Senator Edd Houck with speaks with a constituent
Sen. Edd Houck, the top target of anti-choice activists, Albemarle’s senior legislator and half of the two-vote firewall in the Senate that keeps extremist legislation from the Republican General Assembly from being enacted into law continues to find himself targeted by false attacks. This time, radical anti-choice activists are spreading a flyer claiming that he supports racial genocide. The Free Lance Star reports:
This particular flier says that Margaret Sanger, an early advocate of birth control whose work led to the founding of Planned Parenthood, was a racist who gave talks to the Ku Klux Klan, and that Planned Parenthood puts abortion clinics in black neighborhoods “not by accident.” The flier says that Houck is supported by Planned Parenthood and that voters in the 17th state Senate district should vote against Houck and “save our children from the abortion industry’s agenda.”
Not surprisingly, local African-American leaders are outraged at the ridiculous attack:
The Rev. Lawrence Davies, a former city mayor, said he was “outraged” when he saw the flier with the headline “Would you support killing African-American babies?”
Davies said he was particularly upset by the flier’s headline. “What is it that they say in here that indicates the person who supports Sen. Houck would be killing African-American babies?” Davies said. He said he’s never heard of a “black genocide agenda” from Planned Parenthood. “I don’t know of any abortion facilities in the black neighborhoods here,” Davies added.
To date, Republican candidate, extremist Bryce Reeves, who proudly received the endorsement of right-wing radical Mike Huckabee, has not condemned the spurious attacks being run on his behalf. With classless opposition like this, it’s no wonder that the Free Lance Star has endorsed Sen. Houck for reelection. Don’t forget to vote to Sen. Houck and for all of our other candidates in Albemarle County this Tuesday, November 8th!
A number of letters to the editor have appeared in the Daily Progress in recent days supporting Cynthia Neff for Rivanna Supervisor.
First, Peggy Beattie writes, “In thinking about the future, choose Neff for Supervisor.”
I urge voters to support Cynthia Neff for Rivanna supervisor. She will provide open, accountable leadership. Her years of working for IBM provide good business experience for serving on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Then Jason Halbert sends in “Neff a key to building a strong and sustainable economy”
It’s crystal clear that Cynthia Neff’s practical business experience and forward thinking will bring more companies and more jobs to Albemarle County. Leadership is not about pandering to paranoia, it’s about building a strong and sustainable economy for the future.
Finally, George Larie writes “Vote for Neff if you want transparent government”
She believes in open, transparent government, something we have not had recently by the majority of the current Board of Supervisors and including her opponent, Ken Boyd.
She detests the “midnight coup” in June by the Board of Supervisors in resurrecting the U.S. 29 Bypass without citizen input and without any data that would support building this very expensive road at federal and state taxpayer expense.
I urge citizens to vote for Cynthia Neff on Nov. 8.
Vote for Cynthia and all of our candidates on Tuesday. Email ben@albemarledems.org if you have an hour or two to volunteer.
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