I attended an event in Falls Church for Judy Feder which featured Representative Chris Van Hollen. For those of you who don’t already know, Congressman Van Hollen represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District and also serves as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The conference room that the event was held in was filled with people who have been active supporters of Judy’s candidacy and there was definitely a feeling of excitement as people prepared for the long hours of the final stretch. “In the end,” one person told me, “all of the hard work will be worth it if it means seeing Judy elected to Congress.”
As many people who have been following this race know, Judy is considered one of the country’s leading experts on health care policy. Congressman Van Hollen therefore used his speech to stress how her presence in the Congress would be extremely useful because one of the major concerns that the next Congress will be figuring out how to improve health care outcomes in a cost effective manner. He continued by talking about how Judy’s time as dean of public policy at Georgetown and work with the Clinton administration “is a great testament to what she can help us do in the Congress on a whole range of issues. When you are the dean of public policy at Georgetown, you got to cover the canvass from national security issues, to health care, to all of the other domestic issues that we face.”
The Congressman also pointed out how the presidential race is going to be a close in Virginia and, combined with the fact Mark Warner has a big lead in the Senate race, the energy that race has sparked will potentially do a lot of good for Judy’s campaign. For instance, there are a lot of newly registered voters in Virginia and Van Hollen noted that most of them aren’t registering to vote for John McCain. Educating the public about the Congressional race will therefore be a great way of encouraging these new voters to actually cast a vote for Congress. This can be done by highlighting Judy’s great qualifications and highlighting how a President Obama would need a working majority in Congress to ensure that meaningful legislation is passed.
Perhaps in an attempt to provide the audience with a little extra motivation to get out there and work hard for Judy Feder, Congressman Van Hollen brought up the fact that one of his colleagues won in 2006 by only 83 votes. With the race in the 10th being so close, you never know if a similar margin might decide this race. The potential for such a close race ultimately means that if everybody in the room turned out just a few extra voters, then it could make a huge difference in the end.
Before taking questions largely about the economic bailout currently being debated on the Hill, Congressman Van Hollen pointed out how Judy has been doing a great job of not only energizing the Democratic base but also reaching out to Independents and moderate Republicans as well. Plus, her fundraising numbers have been excellent which will really help the campaign reach out to undecided voters in the closing weeks of the election. He ended his speech by saying that he’s confident that he’ll have the opportunity to serve with Judy Feder in the next Congress and bring about the change we need.
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