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McDonnell goes door-to-door in Manassas
"There's got to be somebody somewhere!" said a bewildered Bob McDonnell after he knocked on a door in Manassas.The Republican candidate for governor could only sign another flier (campaigns call them "literature") and put it on another door in the Stonewall Precinct for the sixth time in a row.
McDonnell could have been anywhere else that morning. He had another speech planned for that afternoon in Vienna, another walk-through -- this time of businesses -- afterward and a SummerFest visit that evening in Burke.
But within minutes after his speech that morning with Del. Jackson Miller (R-50th) in Old Town, McDonnell seemed legitimately excited about going door-to-door, asking for votes.
"Alright, let's go walk!," he told staffers as they walked toward a black Ford Expedition with a license plate reading RMD 4VA.
His crowd in Old Town eagerly backed McDonnell and Miller, showing off their devotion with stickers and words of praise.
"All of it. I'm for everything," said Tom Whitemore of Manassas when asked what he liked the most about McDonnell's platform.
About 15 to 20 minutes later, McDonnell stood in front of the first house of of the day on Lafayette Drive.
"Alright Colonel, come on up here and act like you know what you're doing," he jokingly said to Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-31st), who accompanied McDonnell on his march through Manassas.
Lingamfelter, wearing his veteran's hat from the first Gulf war, joined McDonnell on the porch, shared a laugh and waited ...
Nothing.
As they moved on to the next house, his campaign staffers reeled off statistics about the Stonewall precinct: in his successful bid for attorney general in 2005, McDonnell bested state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-25th), who is the Democratic nominee for governor this year, with 57 percent of the vote.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) carried it last year with 57 percent also, but the same precinct backed Barack Obama (D) for president with 52 percent.
"Redskin fans, yes!" exclaimed an exuberant McDonnell after seeing a bumper sticker on one of the vehicles parked in the driveway of one of the next houses.
"You've got a connection here, Bob," remarked his press secretary, Crystal Cameron.
Armed with a commonality, McDonnell knocked three times.
A dog barked inside. A trash trucked pulled up and, within seconds, pulled out.
McDonnell turned around but hid his dejection. Like he would do at every house that day where no one answered, he signed a flier and left it on the door.
"You can learn a lot from bumper stickers," McDonnell told his staff as he moved along to the next house.
Finally, at house No. 7, a man answered.
As governor, McDonnell told the man he would work to reduce spending and gave him a quick list of his general goals.
"No pictures, please," the man said to McDonnell's entourage.
Undeterred, McDonnell pitched his resume, which included four years spent as attorney general (he resigned this spring to concentrate on campaigning for governor full-time).
Whether his sales pitch resonated was tough to say.
"Never can tell," McDonnell said, his slip-on brown leather shoes guiding him to the next house.
Campaigning for any elected office in Virginia, from school board to governor, requires physically asking for votes.
"Bob is making a statement about the personal contact with people," Lingamfelter said outside one house, while the GOP candidate chatted with a possible supporter.
McDonnell's crew filled two SUVs and was joined by three reporters and a photographer. And then there was Lingamfelter with his "original campaign truck," a flatbed pick-up with the back hatch down.
"Hello ma'am, I'm Bob McDonnell," he said to a woman whose house still had a small "Merry Christmas" banner hanging on it.
She cracked opened the door enough to hear the former prosecutor talk about his energy plan, which includes drilling off the Virginia shore, and experience as attorney general.
"Still in the Christmas spirit, huh?" he asked.
"Yes," said the woman with a nervous laugh.
After leaving the house, McDonnell walked across the street, only to run back as a white Ford Windstar pulled in. Sure, a truck had to stop and wait behind the minivan, but McDonnell had a sale to complete. Right there, in the middle of the street, he pitched himself to the man in the van, trying to secure three voters from the last two houses.
Finding a way to relate to voters individually became a hallmark of McDonnell's successful contacts with people willing to engage him in conversation. To a 16-year-old boy whose parents were out, he pitched his plan for 100,000 more students to earn college degrees.
To Ana Santos, he made it even more personal. Santos' son Angel serves in the military and is deployed to Iraq and McDonnell's daughter Jeanine served there in the Army from 2005-06. He pointed to a picture of Jeanine on his flier while talking with Santos, who was celebrating her 50th birthday.
He and Lingamfelter thanked her for her son's service and the candidate for governor told her military families "really appreciate freedom."
McDonnell, an Army veteran in his own right, then came across another military veteran in Jason Guay at the next house. Guay said that in his area, he hears "a lot about immigration issues" and transportation.
On the latter, he added, "We need to make some in-roads somewhere," before planting a "McDonnell for Governor" sign in his front yard with the candidate himself.
A couple fresh into Virginia were walking a dog down the street when McDonnell bolted from his campaign staff to talk to them before heading up to Vienna.
The couple, in a group of four people, ended up being from Pennsylvania, McDonnell's birth state, and were already registered in Virginia. He was careful not to let that commonality slip by and pointed out he was born in Philadelphia, though he lived there for only 11 months.
McDonnell's Manassas tour concluded with questions from reporters and a quick hello from Miss Virginia 2008 Tara Wheeler along the side of the Lafayette.
She informed him that she planned to shave her head to bring awareness for pediatric cancer research and she and mentioned her own commonality to McDonnell: she plans to obtain a degree from Regent University, from which McDonnell earned his M.A. and J.D. from in 1989.
She managed to bring a smile to one of his field volunteers after mentioning she graduated from Penn State University, drawing an accompanying "We are!" response.
From there, McDonnell finally headed up to Vienna, ready for another round on the stump.
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