Southwest Virginia is More Blue Than I Thought!

Alright, maybe I was a little prejudiced, but being from Fairfax (NOVA) I always looked at Southwestern Va as being very conservative. I'm not sure if it was the southern accents, or the inreasing amount of confederate flags I see as I travel down past Richmond, but I thought for sure I would be one of very few liberals here. I was very, very wrong. I went to the first YD meeting at VT and was amazed at the participation. One Hundred and Twenty students attended the first meeting (as opposed to the 20 members that they had last year). Apparently, those of us from NOVA aren't the only ones pissed off about the direction our country is headed in and determined to make a change. Two weekends ago, I attended "Acres of Democrats" which is an event that has been taking place in Southwestern Va since 1947. The old southern democrats listened to their country music and eat fried chicken with potato salad before the speakers took the mic. This was a shock to me because I always think of democrats being represented by musicians like Dave Mathews and Bruce Springstein. It does take a bit of getting used to the type of democrats that are down here, but they are enthusiastic and energetic. I found myself appreciating these southern liberals as another of our diverse party's groups. There is always a place for people like this in our party as far as I am concerned (an exception being Zell Miller... you should have a reason for being a democrat beyond being born one). The Virginia Tech Young Democrats are currently planning a huge "Rally for Democratic Unity" to take place on the drill field of our campus on October 17th from 1-5pm. The VYDs have agreed to make this a "Campus Invasion" event, but all ages of democrats are invited from all over the state. There will be speakers, a band, and food/merchandise vendors. I hope some if not all of you can come! Tell people you know about it too! Hopefully this gives you some hope that Virginia can go blue, it was definately reassuring to me.