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By Nicholas M. Horrock
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
With all four front running presidential candidates pouring money and time into Virginia, the state’s Democrats believe they’re on a roll for a major primary voter turnout on Feb. 10 and a chance to revitalize the party here for the fall elections.
Linda Bland, spokesperson for the Virginia Democratic Committee said that Senators John Kerry, D.- Mass., John Edwards, D.-N.C. former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark have all agreed to attend the Jefferson-Jackson Day in Richmond Saturday and that the dinner has been sold out for several days. “That’s never happened before,” she said.
Even if one candidate sweeps the 269 delegate votes available on Feb. 3, Bland said, the total needed to win is nearly 2,200 and Virginia becomes a key part of the test for electability in the South.
In Rappahannock County with some 5,000 registered voters, Floyd Stilley chairman of the county Democrats sees the election has an opportunity to identify- independents who will back the issues the Democrats want to emphasize.
Though western Virginia has traditionally been heavily Republican, as people in Northern Virginia move out to the rural counties, the number of Democrats or liberal independents increases. Virginia does not register by party affiliation and the primary is an important time to find voters.
The Rappahannock Democratic party is holding a meeting at The Theatre on Gay Street in Washington Sunday at 2 p.m. to see a documentary critical of President George W. Bush’s Iraq war policy, Stilley said. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with surrogates standing in for the foui main candidates. He said Democrats from nearby counties will be invited and refreshments will be served.
Polls open in Rappahannock at 6 a m. Tuesday, Feb. 10 and close at
See PRIMARY, Page A6
87.2%