In case you don’t have a phone and haven’t received dozens of GOTV calls to remind you, today is Election Day in Virginia! So, here’s your opportunity to share your voting stories, predictions, analysis, thoughts, whatever is on your mind concerning today’s vote. Post your comment now!
Thanks to so many of you who have helped us distribute hundreds of thousands of Family Foundation Voter Guides (click here) to churches in every corner of the state. (It’s not too late to spread the guides around, either — forward this link to your friends, family and fellow church members). With your help, our Winning Matters staff has conducted the largest Voter Guide distribution effort in the history of The Family Foundation. We are excited that so many values voters across the commonwealth will go to the polls tomorrow armed with the information they need to make an intelligent, informed choice when they cast their vote.
We’ve developed an online tool to assist us in tracking which churches distributed our Voter Guides. If you helped deliver Voter Guides, would you log on and let us know to which churches you delivered them? As an extra motivation, we are offering prizes for your participation. Win a framed photo of the Virginia capitol by being the person to submit the largest number of churches you coordinated with and delivered TFF Voter Guides to. If you distributed at an event, that also counts. Enter just one church or one event where you delivered Voter Guides and you will be entered into the drawing to receive an autographed copy of Governor Mike Huckabee’s latest book. Click here to enter to win! Your participation in this effort will help us better plan our future Voter Guide distribution efforts and enable us to be better stewards of the resources we have been blessed with.
Of course, don’t forget Tuesday is Election Day. Exercise your sacred duty and make sure your friends and family members go out and vote also.
The nearly 1,300 pro-family Virginians who gathered at the Greater Richmond Convention Center last night at The Family Foundation of Virginia’s Annual Gala were treated to a fantastic evening of inspiration, motivation and topped off by a wonderful keynote address by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. The host of the Fox News Channel hit Huckabee was in great form with an inspirational speech filled with philosophy, morality, Biblical principles, humor (lava soap, anyone?) and capped with a moving exposition as to what happens when people ignore the tragedies around them (see Washington Post Virginia Politics Blog).
Just a week before election day, it was abundantly clear that pro-family citizens are excited about the future and are mobilized to act. The energy in the convention center was palpable. From the beginning of the program with an inspirational rendition of our National Anthem by eight-year-old Alana Springsteen to the final special music by April Lee, no one could leave room last night not feeling excited about the future of Virginia and the future of The Family Foundation.
Governor Huckabee combined humor with personal stories and an emotional challenge to the crowd, encouraging them to fight for our freedom, regardless of the cost. Touching on his time as a pastor and then as a politician, he made it abundantly clear that there is no time when Christians should abandon politics and government. Instead, we must continue to fight for our values to ensure a prosperous future.
As Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb told the audience:
We look forward to election day this year with cautious optimism. One might even say we look forward to the future with hope for change. Yet, while we may anticipate electoral victory, we realize that it is just one small part of the cultural renewal that we seek, and there is so much more to be done. The Family Foundation has had one of the busiest years in our history, but the results on Election Day are not the completion of our work – just a new beginning.
The Family Foundation Gala has become the largest pro-family gathering of its kind in Virginia and Governor Huckabee’s message was perfect for the evening. Joining the him in the program were our emcee, and new Chaplain to The Family Foundation’s Pastors For Family Values, Bishop Earl Jackson; Speaker of the House Bill Howell, who introduced Governor Huckabee; and Pastor Jonathan Falwell of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, who gave the invocation and voiced strong support for the Family Foundation’s work.
Also last evening, Delegate Glenn Oder (R-94, Newport News) was honored with The Family Foundation’s Legislator of the Year Award for his leadership on payday lending reform (see The Shad Plank). Delegate Oder showed principled leadership and an ability to work with a diverse coalition of organizations and legislators to get results on a tough issue. The compromise bill he was able to craft has significantly reduced the number of payday lending stores in Virginia and helped protect families from predatory lenders.
Now we’re not talking about any prize winning sweepstakes — it’s much more important than that. We’re talking about the opportunity to make your voice heard for traditional values in the most important election in the nation this year and the most important Virginia election in modern history.
By making sure you, your friends, family and fellow church members are registered to vote and go to the polls on Election Day, you will help send a strong message that secular progressivism has no place in a nation founded on Judeo-Christian values.
You can also do a lot to help make sure others are registered. If you are a pastor, please hold a voter registration drive in your church and encourage your congregation to get registered. If you are not a pastor, please ask your pastor to allow you to run a voter registration drive in your church. We have kits available with everything you need to run such a drive, and can get those to you ASAP.
Also, churches can urge people to register and to vote by including an announcement in the church bulletin. Sample language for your bulletin can be found, here, on the TFF Action Website.
There are only three Sunday’s left before the voter registration deadline, so don’t let time run out!
In order to be eligible to vote in the November 3 election, all voter registration applications must be postmarked by no later than October 5.
So, make sure you are registered! Should you have any question as to whether or not you are, please go ahead and complete the application, closely following the instructions provided, and send it to your local registrar’s office. If you already are registered, your application will simply be discarded. However, please make no assumptions. Your voice is too important during this crucial time.
Should you need a voter registration application, or know people who do, please visit tffaction.org or familyfoundation.org, and there you will find a link to the State Board of Elections where an application can be downloaded, printed, completed, signed and mailed according to the instructions on the application.
If you have further questions about voter registration, please feel free to contact John Smith at john@familyfoundation.org or call him at 804-343-0010. We are glad to assist you.
Thousands have registered to have their voices heard this election year; make sure yours is one that will ring loud and clear for traditional values!
The term “Chicago thug politics” has been used to describe some events in national campaigns over the last two years or so — a conviction in the Midwest of a liberal activist who slashed tires on a conservative get-out-the-vote van on election day and all of the forged and made-up voter registration signatures from ACORN last year, come to mind. But after an eyewitness account and the pictures below were sent to me, we may have a new term for campaign misDeeds.
Although less physically intimidating than tire slashing and not quite the level as felony vote fraud, it seems liberal activists are practicing a more deft style intimidation in this year’s statewide elections. It may not have started at the traditional Labor Day Parade in Buena Vista, but it was well documented there. Thus, the term, “Buena Vista-Style Politics.” However, as the campaign now heats up, we’re sure this kind of activity is only the tip of the Angry Left Spear.
Here is the eyewitness account:
Basically, McDonnell and Bolling’s crews came in early on Saturday/Sunday to set up signs in preparation for the parade. Deeds’ crew, plus purple shirted SEIU folks, acted overnight Sunday to cover those signs with Deeds’ signs, sometimes stapling signs over the top of the big 4×8 foot signs. The locals said they’d never seen anything like it in all the years that they’ve been having this event. Chicago thug style politics have arrived in Va.
. . . . see how Deeds signs covered all of McD’s signs. This was EVERYWHERE. It was truly a disgraceful display, with the Dirty Deeds crew in all their full regalia. I have started to refer to the CreighP Deeds’ sign with the blue stripe with the white stripe down the middle as ‘the road to nowhere’ sign. Sigh.
Before: This baseball backstop is dominated by signs for the GOP statewide candidates and Delegate Ben Cline. Notice that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds only has signs on the second row and a few small signs (appropriately) on the left side.
After: Everything but the top row Bob McDonnell signs and one Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli sign are covered with the small Deeds signs. Union muscle at work for Deeds.
Also FWIW one of the Bolling volunteers told my husband that Sunday night while they were putting up signs one SEIU type held a crowbar and shouted, ‘Who wants to get their ass kicked by a liberal?’ Lovely.
Here, two large Bill Bolling signs, obviously there first, were covered up by lefty union workers for Deeds and delegate candidate Jeff Price.
We also have pictures of another instance of Deeds’ crew standing guard while others plant his signs in front of prepositioned McDonnell signs. We hope to get them up later.
Furthermore, thanks to Bearing Drift, we have this picture of a large McDonnell sign defaced with Deeds stickers. But what makes this distasteful is that the Deeds crew went on to a McDonnell supporter’s private property in the Hampton Roads area to do their mischief — and was caught! According to Bearing Drift, one of the red-handed begged that the police not be called, while another of the perps was recognized as a paid Deeds Hampton Roads staffer.
Doing dirty deeds but begging for mercy. What else do you expect from liberals?
So, as the boys from South Park would say, “We’ve learned something today.” We’ve learned that despite what we’re taught, the early bird ethic and initiative have no place in liberalism. Be lazy, but use your muscle, and overcome others’ hard work. Then, expect a double standard, because it’s due you (for no discernible reason) and not be held to account for you illegal actions. I can’t think of anything better that exemplifies what we see in liberal policies than in Buena Vista-Style Politics.
Our Winning Matters campaign — the voter identification, registration, education and mobilization projectof both The Family Foundation and The Family Foundation Action — is in full gear. It has been, actually, for some time, and a great deal already has been accomplished.
We have nearly a dozen full- and part-time staff hard at work across Virginia. With the help of pastors and other committed Christians, they are identifying, informing and mobilizing pro-family, values voters to cast values-driven votes on Election Day.
The first phase of Winning Matters is identifying eligible voters in Virginia according to their values and making sure they are registered to vote. Sadly, statistics tell us that nearly half of self-proclaimed evangelicals are not even registered. Thus, they ignore a critical responsibility and minimize the effectiveness of pro-family citizens in the political process.
While it may sound over-used and outdated, one of the best methods for identifying and registering like-minded individuals is through churches. Every day our field staff meets with pastors from some of the more than 5,000 churches we have identified across the Commonwealth, and encourages them to conduct voter registration drives prior to the October 5th registration deadline.
Many pastors still do not practice this basic civic process in their churches. Some pastors still do not understand that it is not a political activity — in fact in Virginia, voters cannot even register by political party.
Therefore, Winning Matters encourages all churches to host a voter registration drive either on Sunday, September 13, 20 or 27.
Beyond churches, the process of voter identification has become an incredibly precise science in recent years, especially with the Internet. Anytime you visit a Web site to shop, read political news or participate in other special interests, you leave a fingerprint. These consumer behaviors can be predictive of one’s potential vote. This type of “micro targeting” was extremely effective in the California marriage amendment campaign. Our Winning Matters campaign is capitalizing on all of these established practices to do our part to find conservatives who might not be registered to vote.
In a less high-tech way of demonstrating this, believe it or not, we have individuals who support us or who have signed an issue petition who are not registered to vote. As part of Winning Matters, we will cross check our entire list with registration rolls and will send a letter and a voter registration form to any who need them.
After all the identification and registration is completed, Winning Matters will move into phase two — education. We will provide an update on that portion of the campaign after the October 5 voter registration deadline. In the meantime, if your pastor is not familiar with Winning Matters, or you know of other people who maybe instrumental in activating your church into this civic action, or even know individuals who are not registered to vote, forward them this link so they can learn more about Winning Matters.
When I appeared on Tertium Quids Radio Friday (click here) with fellow guest Nick Howard, host Norm Leahy asked us where we would make cuts to balance the in-deficit Virginia budget. I offered the observation that the deficit is about the exact size of the new spending over the previous budget’s baseline, i.e., when revenue is flat, you don’t spend more. Imagine that! (Especially when it’s people’s money).
But here are two good specific cuts, not only because they will save money, but because the principle involved is sound and just. First, all state money to Planned Parenthood must be eliminated, immediately. An organization that makes millions killing babies should not be on the government dole (see here). Regardless of what you think about abortion, if it is such a “private matter” then it should not be publicly financed.
It would save us at least $200,000 a year in Virginia. We can’t say for sure because that’s all we can find for sure. The rest is tucked away in certain nooks and crannies of state bureaucracy under grants and contracts that are not always easy to find, for various reasons.
This brings us to another, but not unrelated topic (also discussed Friday): Budget transparency. It’s not too early to bug your delegate and senator about voting for online budget legislation this coming General Assembly session so we easily find where our money goes. Simple line items for entire agencies doesn’t cut it anymore. We need to know which vendors are employed, where the grant money goes and why, and what contracts are offered and to whom.
Here’s another example, courtesy of Republican Attorney General candidate Dave Foster. Friday, he released a letter he sent to Jean Cunningham, chairman of the Virginia State Board of Elections and all board members.
First, as a matter of principle and dignity, he urged the board to count the hundreds of absentee ballots cast by Virginians serving overseas in the military. (The courts have ruled that Virginia is at fault here, but did not offer a remedy, unfortunately.) As if their votes not counting isn’t bad enough, get a load out of this:
According to Foster:
“In response to a complaint filed by the Department of Justice, the Board is refusing to count even those ballots that were filled out by Election Day. As you read this, your tax dollars are supporting the legal fees of a private law firm that is defending the Board’s refusal to count these ballots.” (Emphasis added. See full statement here.)
We don’t know the figure, but one dollar is too much. Governor Kaine (contact here) should order an immediate halt to this horrible insult to those who serve and defend our country.
There. That’s two ideas. Plus budget transparency. Plus holding back the increase over the last budget. Pretty soon, we’ll see surpluses again.
