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Mr. Irrelevant helps make Obama relevant
Every year, the last man taken in the NFL Draft is named "Mr. Irrelevant" and awarded a week's vacation in Newport Beach, California.
The last man to vote at the Culpeper County Library polling station in an election year, on the other hand, doesn't even get a trip to Newport News, much less Newport Beach. But Jason Adair, the father of two who emerged from that West Fairfax polling place at the 7:00 p.m. deadline, at least got the satisfaction of knowing that his preferred presidential candidate will be very relevant for the next four years.
Even though Barack Obama handily lost Culpeper County to John McCain in Tuesday's general election, falling 54.29 percent to 44.56 percent, the Democratic senator from Illinois avoided the clean sweep of Culpeper's 14 precincts that John Kerry suffered in 2004. Obama edged out his Republican opponent by five votes in West Fairfax, 1,335 to 1,330, and won big to the tune of 1,153 to 722 in East Fairfax.
More importantly, Obama moved Virginia into the blue column, and in doing so, helped himself to an overwhelming Electoral College win and the presidency. No doubt this bit of news sat well with Adair, who rushed over across town from Wal-Mart to cast his last-second vote for Obama.
"It was a last-minute decision," said Adair. "I liked his policies better than I liked McCain's, especially his tax plan, more than anything else, and his reasoning behind a potential universal-health care system."
Health care loomed large in the mind of another late-comer, garbage truck driver Freddie Shanks Jr., who was wearing a cap sporting the logo of that prodigious consumer of medical resources, the Dallas Cowboys. "I work for a company that don't issue health insurance, and the reason is that the cost is too high," he said.
Shanks' job almost trashed his chance to vote. "I had to finish my route, come from Sterling to Manassas, then Manassas to here, so I cut it close," he said. "I thought about taking off, but I couldn't afford it."
Several feet away from Shanks stood a not-so-latecomer, Josh Miller, who voted at the East Fairfax station across the street at 6 a.m. so he could pass out McCain campaign literature in front of the library in the late afternoon and early evening. He waited in line for an hour-and-a-half to vote for a man whom he calls "a centrist with Republican values."
"I've voted in the last three elections, but I've never done campaign activities like this before," said Shanks. "It's kind of boring. I was hoping for some excitement."
A similar lack of excitement could be found at the Culpeper County GOP offices, which were dark and locked at the time the polls closed. Down the road at 102 Main Street, however, the Obama paid campaign offices were abuzz with excitement over the West Fairfax win, a nice payoff of sorts for the husband-and-wife team of Rose and Mike Herrity, who have volunteered every day for the campaign since Oct. 1.
"We've been doing everything from canvassing to phone calls to working on the paperwork to picking up seniors to whatever else they've needed," said Rose Herrity. The couple supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries, but there was never a chance that they'd join the estimated 16 percent of Clinton voters who defected to McCain in the general election. "The country needs a change and he's the one for it," said Mike Herrity.
Turnout for the county was 19,708 out of 27,275 total voters, or 72.25 percent. That's way above the pace of 68.6 percent in 2004. Victorious U.S. senatorial candidate Mark Warner trounced James Gilmore III 57.99 percent to 40.64 percent in Culpeper, and incumbent Congressman Eric Cantor cruised to victory over Anita Hartke thanks to performances like his 61.31 percent to 38.59 percent local showing.
Obama lost Culpeper County 9,670 votes to 7,430 votes, a big improvement over Kerry's 4,556-vote loss in 2004.
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