Sister Act

In the months leading up to an election, candidates build small armies of supporters. Some are volunteers who pledge their loyalty. Others are paid consultants. Then there are the family members who come from far and wide to help out.

Take Michele Matteson, the sister of Republican candidate Vicki Vasques. She traveled to Alexandria all the way from Washington state to help out her sister’s long-shot campaign for the House of Delegates. In the days leading up to Tuesday’s election, Matteson served as a surrogate for her sister at fund-raising events. Then, on Election Day, she greeted voters at Lyles-Crouch precinct. Although she had never worked a precinct before, Matteson said asking strangers to support her sister was a pleasure.

"It’s easy when it’s someone you believe in," said Matteson, whose 17-year-old son also stumped for his aunt. "It’s a sister thing, I guess."

Anti-Pep Rally

Democrats like to reserve Market Square for the night before a big election and bring in the star power to stump for their candidate. Back in 2006, Democrats brought former President Bill Clinton to stump for senatorial hopeful Jim Webb. This year, the party organized a Market Square rally with Mark Warner and a handful of other Democratic luminaries for Creigh Deeds.

Yet many Democrats say they were underwhelmed by the attendance Monday night, when fewer than 200 people turned out for the last-minute event. Although the purpose of the rally was to excite the base, several Democrats said the event had exactly the opposite effect — creating a feeling of depression about the campaign and a foreboding sense of doom about prospects of the statewide ticket.

"It was disappointing because the turnout was not good," said Brigitte Guttstadt, a longtime member of the Alexandria Democrat Committee. "People were just not motivated this year."

Reappropriating the Message

Last year, Barack Obama rode the wave of "change." The word was everywhere, appearing on campaign materials and placards and speeches. It was an implicit rebuke of former President George W. Bush. But it was also an invitation of sorts for a series of new policies on health care and environmental stewardship.

Now, a year later, Republicans have stolen the message. But they used it was a weapon against the policies that were at the heart of Obama’s campaign. While working the polls Tuesday, several Republicans said that they attributed the success of the Republican ticket statewide to wariness over health-care reform and uneasiness about cap-and-trade legislation.

"Here’s an old word: ‘Change.’ People are ready for change," said Republican City Councilman Frank Fannon. "Voters are coming back to the Republican Party because of the extreme left movement at the national level."

Staggered Sacrifice

Even as voters were processing this week’s election results, the next campaign for the Alexandria City Council was not far from the imagination of many city officials this week. Alexandria’s elected leaders are reaching a final deadline for taking some kind of action to ask members of the General Assembly for a charter amendment, although members are deadlocked on the issue of staggered terms. Four members would like to abandon the traditional way of electing all members at once, while three others would like to create a rotating system of elections.

Any whiff of division could prompt the Republican-controlled House of Delegates to make their own changes to the city’s charter amendment. That means supporters of staggered terms might be forced to back down if they want to change the term lengths in a way to avoid overlap with the presidential election.

"The issue of staggered terms is not a deal-breaker," said Mayor Bill Euille Tuesday night.

When asked about the politics currently unfolding on election reform, Euille signaled he might be willing to support a compromise plan outlined by Councilwoman Del Pepper that would have four-year terms and make changes after November 2015.