Before the campaign, the advice I got from political activists was "Don't run." I haven't raised a lot of money and I didn't spend most of what friends have sent on the theory that if I win the primary, I will need cash to counter the corporate money the Republicans will have.
I've been living figuratively in the "South Park Bubble," the liberal, largely Jewish, activist neighborhood of big old houses and brick streets south of downtown and walking distance to West Virginia University's Downtown Campus.
I attended a Democratic chicken lunch, cooked by volunteers, in a church auditorium in Granville, an industrial town just across the Mon river from Morgantown. I was in a suit, because I was at a bar mitzvah at Tree of Life earlier. All of us candidates spoke (we were only supposed to introduce ourselves). The people, coal miners and blue collar workers, mostly older and, with very few exceptions, American-born Caucasians. were in T-shirts and jeans. One of the other candidates said he wouldn't show up in a suit for an event like this one. A speaker for Jim Justice, who switched parties to run for Governor as a Democrat, and is the wealthiest man in West Virginia, pointed out that his candidate was not an "Obama Democrat." I felt out of place.
I spoke this week at "Mountaineers For Progress." They had a forum for candidates with questions the moderator was to ask us. We had two minutes to answer. Eight of us showed up- seven of the eight Democratic candidates and one Republican, a WVU student. We had the questions in advance. I didn't write anything down, but I knew what I wanted to say. That event went well. We stuck to issues (except for a two-minute introduction). Most of us Democrats were on the same page and the forty people in the audience were receptive.
Yesterday there was an "after hours" meeting at a local law office, sponsored by The Morgantown Chamber of Commerce. I had my regulation blue blazer on. There was food: shrimp things, beef on little crusty pieces of bread and "firecracker chicken meatballs." I stuck to fruit and vegetables and one cookie. The men at this event were in suits; the women were well-coiffed and with designer purses, in dresses and heels. Nothing at all like the Democratic lunch Saturday. Candidates were specifically invited. The judge candidates (whose positions will be decided in the primary) were all there. I got the impression that most of the people were avoiding me, but then I saw that the other candidates were also shunned. We spoke to each other, and I met a young woman and man who work for Sprint, out of place in Sprint uniform shirts and jeans. The Sprint woman was the only African-American in the room.
Someone told me he couldn't vote for me in the primary because he is a Republican. A pretty young woman who is finishing law school talked about working on Republican Shelley Moore Capito's Senate campaign. I met the contractor building Ruby Memorial Hospital's new children's wing. He said he lives in Nashville. We local Democrats didn't have much of a constituency in the room.
I've been invited to the Democratic Women's Lunch this Saturday. I told them I couldn't come because it is the first day of Passover. They said I could just introduce myself and not stay for lunch. The person involved was nice about it, so I said I might go. I probably won't. I'm way overtired, and my sister Robin will be here. Better to acknowledge the holiday and take the day off and spend it with family. We have a temple seder Friday night, and we are going to a home seder with friends Saturday night. I have to set a line for myself and say "It is important to me not to campaign on this holiday."
I finally got signs for my campaign. There are probably ten or fifteen of them out - six in South Park, two on our street and the rest scattered around among the Bernie Sanders people, who have endorsed me.
In today's Dominion-Post, our local newspaper, the West Virginia Business and Industry Council listed its endorsements. They endorsed the three Republican incumbents in our District. No one I know understands how these people got elected: they are anti-choice, anti-union, anti-gay, and anti-environment. They countered pleas from law enforcement and passed a bill allowing anyone over twenty-one to carry a concealed weapon with no permit. Of course, the Council wants to make sure there are no regulations on auto dealers, nursing homes, and polluters. That's where their money ( and a lot of it) for the Republican incumbents comes from.
The Bernie people feel that Hillary stole New York from Bernie, but really, it's just the way the game is played. It's actually worse in West Virginia. My fellow Democrats who think they will win against the Republicans because "I'm an eleventh generation West Virginian and my father was a coal miner" or "I'm a father and husband and small business owner," well, they are as delusional as I am. I think I can win by standing up for abortion rights, gay rights, cultural, racial and religious diversity, the environment, and labor against management. None of us really understands what we are up against.
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| Our house with my sign |
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| At the Brooklyn debate Watch Party |
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| Democratic Party Chicken Lunchlast wek - 7 of the 8 Democrats running for Delegate in our District |
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| At the opening of the Bernie Sanders For President office in Morgantown |
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