Thank You Tom!

After losing my internet for a while (Comcast is awesome), I've finally managed to get my internet back online and thought I'd share a few thoughts from Friday. I went to Tom Perriello's office in Uptown Martinsville, where a goodly number of local supporters came out to thank the congressman for his vote on health care reform last weekend.

The atmosphere was one of optimism and hope, with lots of excitement in the air. It was a feeling of energy that I personally haven't felt since the runup to the 2008 elections; it's the feeling we were missing in 2009. We are on the verge of passing real health care reform, and despite the lies and scare tactics of AHIP and AFP, our congressman had the backbone to do the right thing. Here are a few pictures of the rally:




All this occurred within fifty yards of the old campaign offices, where we made phone calls for hours on end and worked to get our candidates elected.

A lot of pundits will say that he health care fight will damage representatives like Tom, but I think it would have hurt him a lot more to vote against it. Because he voted to stand up to the insurance companies and offer his constituents a real set of choices in health coverage, the folks you see standing here to thank Tom will also be the people who go back to the campaign trenches next year.