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Dancing with the Donkeys

Richmonders stood in line in the rain like good citizens to take part in what already seems to have been a transformational election. The weather didn't change the plain truth -- in Richmond, Tuesday was a good day to be a Democrat.  



History was written in Richmond and across the nation to bring on a tidal wave of change in a way that few people could have imagined on Election Day four years ago. 

  

After Sen. John McCain's generous concession speech played to a national television audience, President-elect Barack Obama said, "It's been a long time coming ... change has come to America."



Obama's obvious reference to the 1964 Sam Cooke prophetic anthem, "A Change Gonna Come," played well to the adoring crowd in Chicago's Grant Park.  



Meanwhile, in Richmond, there was dancing in the street. Broad Street was shut down, blocked for a while by a spontaneous victory celebration in the Virginia Commonwealth University area. And, at the Paradise Lounge on 5th Street, a more traditional victory party played out to celebrate the victory of Mayor-elect Dwight Jones.



Jones, who has represented part of Richmond in the House of Delegates for 14 years, defeated his closest rival, Councilman William J. "Bill Pantele, by over seven percent in the popular vote. More importantly, Jones carried five of Richmond's nine districts, which means there will be no run-off next month.



The only change on Richmond City Council will be the addition of Charles R. Samuels, who was elected in the 2nd District to replace Pantele. Pantele didn't run for reelection due to his effort to become Richmond's second popularly elected mayor since the City Charter change five years ago, which changed how mayors are chosen.



It's difficult to imagine Jones winning, as he did, without the Democratic Party's endorsement. He appeared onstage with Obama at the jam-packed Richmond Coliseum on Oct. 22. Along with Obama, Senator-elect Mark Warner and other members of Team Donkey, Jones' name was on the sample ballots party workers handed out.



Yes, in Richmond, it was a good day to be called a Democrat.

The wet weather could hardly have dampened the spirit of Richmond's Sen. Henry L. Marsh, who knows a thing or two about change. He was elected to be Richmond's first black mayor in 1977. And, Jones has long been seen as a protégé of Marsh's.



Given the simmering feud between Marsh and Mayor Doug Wilder that has been behind so many political maneuvers in Richmond for the last two decades, was Marsh dancing in the street Tuesday night?



Given the way Broad Street has been used for so many years as a symbol to characterize the divide between black citizens and white citizens in Richmond, the layers of meaning in last night's street celebration was hardly lost on Marsh, or any other longtime observers of local politics.



With 54,306 votes (39.85 percent) in his column, Rev. Jones is the first man of the cloth to become mayor of Richmond since Leonidas Young ... let's not go there.



Speaking of change, when Paul Goldman pulled out of the mayoral race, his endorsement of Jones didn't stop 5,976 hardheads (4.38 percent) from voting for him anyway.



Pantele received 43,794 votes (32.13 percent). Robert J. Grey, Jr., got 28,754 votes (21.1 percent). Lawrence E. Williams, Jr., got 2,730 votes (2 percent).



The Obama/Biden ticket carried Virginia by a 51.7 percent to 47.2  percent margin. (It carried Richmond by a whopping 79.1 percent to 20 percent margin.) But McCain led in Virginia in the early going. Just before 10 p.m. CNN announced that Obama had passed McCain. At 10:42 p.m. CBS called Virginia a win for Obama.



Shortly after 11 p.m., after the polls on the West Coast closed, all the broadcast networks began to call the presidential race over.  



As suspenseful as election night was in many respects, at 7:03, NBC called Mark Warner a winner in Virginia.



Warner's thorough trouncing of his GOP opponent, former-Gov. James S "Jim" Gilmore III -- 64.35 percent to 34.34 percent -- will surely have a dramatic effect on Republican politics in Virginia.  



Democrats have won the last three statewide elections. That would be the gubernatorial in 2005, and the senatorial races in 2006 and 2008. With Obama carrying the state, it's no longer appropriate to call Virginia a red state, or even a purple state.



Wake up and smell the coffee. It was a long time coming, but the Commonwealth of Virginia is now just as blue as Richmond has been for decades.  



Now Mayor-elect Jones will start trying to change the minds of the 60.12 percent of Richmond's voters who cast their ballots for someone other than him. With the shortfalls expected in tax revenues coming soon, stemming from lowered assessments on real estate, that change will be a high hurdle to clear.



But for now, the rain has stopped, let's dance.