FamilyFoundationBlog.com

Here’s a reminder to our readers in Fairfax County: There is a special election tomorrow, in the 37th Senate district, which is made up of precincts in the Braddock, Sully and Springfield supervisor districts. The election is to fill the seat of Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli, who resigned from the Virginia Senate after his election victory in November.

Polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. and voting is at your normal polling place. Click here to see if your precinct is in the district. Bring your voter registration card or a picture ID.

Voting is a sacred responsibility that we need to exercise every time we have the opportunity. People of faith turned out in record percentages for November’s election and we elected three pro-life, pro-family candidates to the three top offices in the state. This election could be nearly as important since the Virginia Senate is so closely divided (a 21-19 Democrat majority). The last election for this seat was decided by only 92 votes, so your vote does make a difference.

To see where the candidates stand on issues important to the family and to people of faith, click here, to visit tffaction.org. We have prepared voter guides especially for this election in English, Spanish and Korean. You can also watch footage, by clicking here, from a candidate forum hosted last week by the Fairfax Family Forum. Be an informed voter, and support the candidate that stands for the values that you believe in. (Click here the to read about the role of the tax issue as well as how one candidate’s “home” is a room in a friend’s house, and click here to read the role of social issues.)

Thank you for making the commitment to go out and vote tomorrow. Please pass this link to your like-minded friends and family members in the 37th district.

Regardless of who you intend to vote for on Tuesday, polls showing large gaps in the statewide races are no excuse to not vote. Every pro-family, pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-traditional values Virginian must take the responsibility of voting seriously and exercise that sacred freedom at every opportunity. We urge you to ignore the polls and news stories and vote on Tuesday.

The Family Foundation has produced one million non-partisan Voter Guides to educate voters for this year’s elections so that citizens can be prepared when they vote. If your church has yet to distribute these guides, we urge you to contact us at 804-343-0010 so we can get them to you in time. Sunday is the last opportunity to educate your fellow church members concerning where candidates stand on pro-family issues.

Please click here to review the statewide Voter Guide that includes the races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Read the Voter Guide and study where the candidates stand. Also, please forward this blog post link to your family and friends and on your social networking sites, so others can be informed.

We also urge you to watch our online Video Voter Guide and share it as well. You can even  download it to a disk to show at your church. This is another way in which we are trying to educate Virginians prior to this year’s crucial elections.

Samuel Adams, one of our nation’s leading Founding Fathers, said:

Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote . . . that he is executing on of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.

We I trust that you will vote on Tuesday, and that your vote will reflect your values.

Speaking of TFF Action’s 2008-09 General Assembly Report Card (click here to see and/or print) — as we were Wednesday (see news release and statement and video) — there are three candidates for statewide office running for their respective party’s nominations who currently sit in the General Assembly, and therefore merited scores on the TFF Action Report Card.

They are: Democrat Creigh Deeds (governor), Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Steve Shannon (both for attorney general). Former Delegate Brian Moran, a Democrat running for governor, served only one of the two years the Report Card covers, so he is not included in it. (Note: These links are to the candidates’ campaign sites. Those below are to their General Assembly sites.) 

Report Card scores are on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the best possible rating.

Deeds: 23

Cuccinelli: 91

Shannon: 13

UPDATE
TFF Action has had some inquiries concerning what another Democrat candidate for governor, former Delegate Brian Moran’s, Report Card vote would have been if he had not “retired” prior to this year’s session. 

Based on his votes from the 2008 session, Delegate Moran would have scored an 80. He voted “pro-family” on 4 of 5 bills (right vote: student religious liberty, payday lending limits, HPV vaccine delay, and increase fuel tax; wrong vote: coerced abortion). 

Perhaps that’s why his collegues in the GA would yell out “statewide Moran” when he cast his vote in favor of legislation that the majority of his Democrat friends voted against.

A quick look at Barak Obama’s campaign web site finds several references to faith and values. Unfortnately, there doesn’t appear to be any such reference on John McCain’s site. 

This, while a new Gallop poll indicates that Republican voters are growing more concerned over the state of the nation’s moral values. In just two years, the percent of registered Republicans who said the moral condition of American is “poor” has risen by 15 points. Today, 51 percent of the GOP is frustrated with the nation’s moral climate, compared to 36 percent two years ago.

So, Republican voters appear to be more concerned about traditional values — not less. As such, these voters are more likely to seek out candidates who they believe share their concerns. Apparently, McCain and his advisors still don’t get it.

And its not just Republican voters with concerns. Since 2002, Republicans, Democrats and Independents have grown more pessimistic about the nation’s moral direction. In fact, 81 percent believe the nation’s moral state is “getting worse.”

So, in that context, how smart is it for McCain and other Republicans to avoid talking about moral issues? While their campaign consultants may convince candidates to avoid all talk about marriage and abortion, that appears to be exactly what the voters (and activists) want them talking about. 

Don’t get me wrong. Candidates can’t talk only about moral issues. They have to address rising gas prices, the economy, Iraq, terrorism, etc. But they can’t completely avoid moral issues either.

The message to Republican candidates is clear — avoid these issues at your peril. Don’t expect the activists and voters who got you into office to be energized if you refuse to even mention the issues they care about. 

Neither The Family Foundation of Virginia nor The Family Foundation Action endorse political candidates. The organizations are forbidden to do so by IRS regulation. Any statements made to the contrary at today’s Republican Convention, from the podium or by representatives of either campaign, are completely inaccurate.

A recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article on voter guides was interesting, not so much for which organizations provide them — but tellingly — which do not.  It seems that the policy groups and

special interests which research and provide voter guides and report cards, like The Family Foundation Action, gladly do so, unafraid to promulgate which candidates stand where on issues of concern and importance to those who share each particular group’s vision as well as the general public.

 Except . . . it seems certain leftist groups do not provide such information.  Perhaps approving grades by liberal groups would blow the cover of their favorite candidates who, for electoral survival, contort their real records into a “moderate” image during campaign season (while demonizing conservative opponents).  Surely, voters wouldn’t recognize a stellar rating from a liberal report card from a candidate’s carefully crafted campaign brochure.  Nor would they appreciate it come election day.  Talk about unintended consequences.

 There’s nothing like the truth about candidates’ records — not by groups viewed as antagonistic, but by friendly ones.   If their message is as broadly accepted as they claim, these liberal organizations should paper the Commonwealth with information on exactly which General Assembly candidates stand shoulder to shoulder with them and not act embarrassed about exposing alleged “moderates” in swing districts.