Steven Latimer

Earlier this evening, I attended two political events: first, I attended the grand opening of John McCain's Richmond campaign office and -- to a lesser degree -- Republican nerve center.





Right before the speeches officially began, I had the pleasure of briefly conversing with VCU student Lee Vogler, who I blogged about on June 23. We couldn't talk long, since the speeches began in the midst of our conversation.

First, a Vietnam veteran who knows John McCain personally got the party started when he testified to McCain's character that he observed in combat.

From left to right: Bob McDonnell, Roxane Gilmore, Jeff Frederick, Jerry Kilgore. At podium: Vietnam veteran.

Republican Party of Virginia chairman Jeff Frederick then spoke, and suggested that everyone in the crowd of 110 people identify 10 undecided voters, and encourage them to vote for John McCain and Jim Gilmore.

Frederick experienced a small slip of the tongue when he mentioned how important it is that Eric Cantor and Steve Forbes are re-elected to Congress. Of course, he was referring to Randy Forbes, whose Congressional district includes much of Chesterfield County. Supporters of Steve Forbes' 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns must have been pleased to hear Frederick's exhortation to the party faithful, however.

Former first lady of Virginia Roxane Gilmore then spoke in place of her husband and U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gilmore, who was not able to attend this function. Mrs. Gilmore criticized the naysayers who seem to be prematurely writing off this election.

Then former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore spoke on behalf of John McCain; Kilgore is a Virginia co-chair for McCain. Kilgore stressed the need for greater American energy independence, and assailed Obama's reluctance to explore for more oil and natural gas here in our own country. Kilgore said that on the subject of high energy prices, Barack Obama's attitude is, "just get used to it."

Perhaps Bill Bolling had the best laugh of the evening -- noting that the room was unusually stuffy and hot due to the A/C not being on (which was somewhat abated by several fans), Bolling asked, "This is a rather ridiculous question, but -- are you fired up?!"

Bob McDonnell rounded out the speakers and addressed a slew of issues. On energy, McDonnell remarked, "We need to drill here. We need to drill now - so we can pay less at the pump!"

A common theme that all six speakers stressed was Obama and Mark Warner are too liberal, and that McCain and Gilmore both have solid experience, whereas Obama and Warner should be perceived as too "risky."

Delegate Jimmie Massie (l) talks to someone following the event

Happy people milling about afterwards, trying to not be too uncomfortable by the noticeable lack of air conditioning