Our Man in Arlington

Last weekend, your man in Arlington was in Richmond attending the annual Jefferson- Jackson Day dinner. His wife Jean was there too, by far the most politically astute of the duo.

The dinner, known among aficionados as the JJ Dinner (for “Jefferson Jackson”), is the annual orgy Democrats impose upon themselves to dramatize the party’s strengths. “Orgy” is truly a misnomer. Virginians would not have the slightest idea of how to have an orgy. It was a lot of fun, nevertheless.

Arlington was very well represented. I intended to list the Arlingtonians there until my count grew to more than thirty and was still growing. Falls Church was also well represented, particularly by our redoubtable editor, Nick Benton. More than two thousand people from all over the state attended, making it the largest JJ dinner in the history of the Virginia Democratic Party

Four of the candidates for the Democratic nomination for president were there in full force: John Kerry, John Edwards, Wesley Clark, and Al Sharpton. Adoring fans surrounded all of them wherever they went. The dinner had all of the excitement of a national convention, particularly when the candidates were introduced for their speeches. Hundreds of enthusiastic partisans paraded down the aisles waving colorful signs and chanting their candidate’s name. At least, that was what we thought they were chanting. It was very hard to hear what they were actually saying, the din being overwhelming at times.

One of the most heartening sights (for a Democrat) was the very large number of enthusiastic young people at the dinner. A quarter of the crowd appeared to be under thirty, a good sign for the future of the Virginia Democratic Party.

The national press was out in force. A young Kerry aide told me that Kerry alone had at least sixty members of the press traveling nationally with him, the true sign of his dominance of the race so far. Whole Richmond streets were blocked off to accommodate the large number of press vans who were broadcasting the event all over the world.

The speeches were pretty standard fare, though all of them good. Mark Warner keynoted the event with a very hard attack on the Republicans in the General Assembly opposing his restructuring of Virginia’s inefficient mess of a tax system.

As much as we liked Warner’s workmanlike remarks, we were there for the red blood of the presidential campaign. We weren’t disappointed. Time and time again we leaped to our feet cheering all of the candidates indiscriminately. The best speech of the evening was Rev. Al Sharpton’s, short and full of some great quotes. If he were an honest man, I would even consider voting for him. Sharpton came up with the best quote of the evening, wrapping up several issues with, “This election isn’t about who you sleep with. It’s whether you are going to have a job when you wake up in the morning.” Two thousand people leaped to their feet, cheering at the top of their lungs. It was totally invigorating, and it was difficult to believe that we were in the very heart of the capital of the Confederacy. I think I heard some serious rumblings from the confederate graves in the old Hollywood Cemetery just a couple of miles away.