Virginia Cavalier

New Republic
by Eve Fairbanks
February 04, 2009

‘I love chicken waste!” Terry McAuliffe shouts to a crowd of several hundred elegant northern Virginians at Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory art gallery. McAuliffe—the former Democratic moneyman dubbed by Al Gore “the greatest fund-raiser in the history of the universe”—is running for governor of Virginia, and tonight is the official rollout of his primary campaign. As he rhapsodizes about Virginia’s 1,000 poultry farms, his pale eyebrows hop around furiously on his sharp, ostrich-like brow ridge. McAuliffe’s listeners—many of whom are decked out in the kind of pricey wearable art that’s offered for sale in the gallery—seem nonplussed. But McAuliffe presses on. As governor, he explains, he would transform the nearly half-a-million tons of chicken poop the state produces every year into an alternative energy source. “Ew,” murmurs one elderly man. But, if McAuliffe recognizes any shade of absurdity in all this, he never lets it show. “Fifty thousand tons of chicken waste equals forty megawatts of power, which could power forty thousand homes!”

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A Must Read

The campaign’s just 15 days old, but we’ve clearly got the momentum on our side. This morning, the Washington Post‘s Tim Craig highlighted some of the things we’ve accomplished, and I wanted to make sure you had a chance read his article.

Noting our “sophisticated, media-savvy approach,” Craig wrote that, “Although many State House insiders were initially skeptical of McAuliffe, he has been running a nearly flawless campaign. Democrats and Republicans are taking him seriously.”

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Reflections on Terry's Announcement Tour

I’ve been following Terry around Virginia with a camera, and some things have become pretty clear:

First: Terry is an impact candidate. Wherever he goes, Terry not only draws a crowd, but he engages that crowd in a real conversation about where this Commonwealth needs to go. When people leave a Terry McAuliffe event, they’re energized, they know they’ve met a candidate with the talent and drive to win, and they’re engaged in the fight we have in front of us in 2009 to keep Virginia on top.

We’re going to need that energy and that engagement. We’ve just had a huge election for Democrats, but the Virginia Governor’s race will be the only competitive top-of-the-ticket race for 2009, and there won’t be any national race to turn Democrats out. The Republicans are hungry – they’ve been losing and they have a strong candidate in Bob McDonnell. We need a candidate who can create his own energy and generate the kind of support we’ll need to drive strong Democratic turnout, win this race and keep Virginia heading in the right direction.

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Campaign Kickoff in Norfolk

It’s finally here. The big campaign kickoff! We finished up our first town hall of the day, and I wanted to drop you a line.

We woke up very early in order to get to the National Maritime Center in Norfolk. It couldn’t have been better. The views out of the windows at Nauticus were amazing. The USS Wisconsin, one of the largest battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy, was berthed just outside. And even though it was bright and early, the crowd was pumped up and ready to go.

I told everyone who came that I’m running for governor because I believe we need to think bigger. Instead of just focusing on how to get through the next month, the next year, or the next election, we need to think more imaginatively about how to make our Commonwealth run better. Not every good idea comes from Richmond. And in the coming weeks, I’m going to lay out a detailed business plan for Virginia – big ideas that will put people to work and grow our economy

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Terry McAuliffe Kicks Off Announcement Tour

NORFOLK – Pledging to make job creation and growing the economy his top priority, Terry McAuliffe today formally announced his candidacy for Governor of Virginia.

“As Governor, I’ll make it my job to protect your job,” said McAuliffe, a nearly twenty-year resident of Fairfax County.

A successful businessman with a long record of creating jobs, McAuliffe focused on a few of his ideas to revitalize the Virginia economy, and talked about the need to have an economic strategy – or “business plan” – for Virginia.

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Announcement Tour

Terry is taking his town hall on the road. On Wednesday, McAuliffe will kick off a week-long campaign announcement tour, hosting town hall meetings and other events across the state.

Read more for details of the tour.