Tuesday, October 27, 2009

HORSERACE

Bob McDonnell and the Best-Smelling Campaign Event of the Year

When Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell comes to northern Virginia, he brings the rain, it seems. Last Friday he held a stop at a flower shop in Arlington, and had a small crowd come out as he discussed the importance of supporting small businesses. Today, he came out in a light rain to the Eden Center in Falls Church to speak with local business owners and shoppers, a tour that was heavy on Vietnamese restaurants and bakeries, making this the best-smelling campaign event I have covered this year.

McDonnell was joined by Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, a Louisana Republican and the nation's first Vietnamese-American congressman. (Cao was born in Saigon and his father, an officer with the South Vietnamese army, was imprisoned by the Communist North Vietnamese. Cao escaped to America at the age of 8.)

Campaign events held on rainy mid-afternoons on weekdays tend to attract modest crowds, and the folks around McDonnell rarely exceeded two dozen at any one point today. But winning campaigns tend to have a bandwagon effect, and with two polls out today showing McDonnell up big, an interesting measuring stick will be how McDonnell performs among easily overlooked minority groups like Falls Church's Vietnamese-Americans.

One man who clearly wasn't in the shopping center for the campaign event approached me as I stood on the outer edge of the small crowd around McDonnell. "Is it for governor for Virginia?" one man asked me. I assured him that indeed, McDonnell was running for this state's governorship.

Above: A Bob McDonnell sign, with text in Vietnamese, posted at today's event in Falls Church.

10/27 04:30 PMShare