After fielding a front-stoop conversation with a South Riding resident that meandered from "When are they going to finish the Loudoun County Parkway?" to "Want to see my pond?" (answer: yes), Del. Gary Reese went for the sale.
"I hope you'll vote for me," Reese (R-67) said.
"I don't know," said Mary Ellen Absez. "We'll see. I have to do a little research first."
Reese was out on Mink Meadows Street in South Riding last weekend to practice a traditional, low-tech kind of campaigning — the door-to-door kind. Armed only with a list of registered voters, Reese, joined by House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith and campaign staff, knocked on doors and chatted up constituents in the hopes of helping Reese maintain his seat in the House of Delegates.
In a seven-and-a-half-hour day, Reese can hit up hundreds of houses and deliver a swift, Cliff's Notes version of why he should be re-elected at the June 14 primary: He supports schools. He would fight traffic. He would help bring a hospital to the Dulles south area — in other words, the hot-button issues that are dear to South Riding.
Reese, who has two precincts in South Riding compared to 13 in Fairfax County, has found himself learning what issues resound in South Riding from his walks through its neighborhoods. A May 25 community meeting with VDOT on the Route 50 corridor, sponsored by Reese, only came about after talking with residents.
"I wouldn't have known Route 50 was such a problem for South Riding and the other communities if I hadn't been out here knocking on doors," Reese said.
ROUTE 50, ROUTE 50, Route 50. South Riding residents didn't seem to have much else to complain about. Mink Meadows Road, one of the development's older streets at about five years old, is home to South Riding's most mature trees and established residents who have watched the traffic situation worsen.
"Can you cut my commute down by half an hour?" Pat Hollett asked Reese.
Few residents seemed concerned about social issues — with the exception of one man who called down from a second-story window to ask Reese about his stand on abortion and gay rights.
"You caught me at an indiscreet moment," the man, who just poked his head above the windowsill, said. Later he came down in a pair of shorts and handed Reese a pamphlet of poems called "Nursery Rhymes for Our Tymes." It included poems with names like "DeLay-ing Tactics" and "Georgie Has a Little Lamb."
Reese, a Republican, laughed and wrote on a brochure he slipped into the man's door handle: "I was one of the 17."
He was referring to an infamous vote made by 17 House Republicans last year to end the state budget stalemate. Both he and western Loudoun's Del. Joe T. May voted for the budget after several rounds voting against it.
Both May's and Reese's opponents have seized upon the vote as a critical part of their campaigns against the incumbents.
THE MOST memorable thing about walking — besides running into an occasional familiar face from the past — is, both Reese and Griffith said, the dogs.
"You do remember the dogs," Griffith said. He recalled when a standard poodle tackled him on one walk. "I've only seen that dog once, but I can tell you its name was Ginger."
Last Saturday on Mink Meadows Road, however, it was a perfect, quiet, dog-free day. A few residents openly gave Reese their support; others were undecided whether to go with Reese or his opponent, political newcomer Chris Craddock.
Andre Balderrama still hasn't made up his mind, but getting a personal visit makes a difference, he said.
"It is helpful," he said.
Mary Ellen Absez didn't mind the unannounced visit and took some pride in showing off her garden and brand-new fish pond. But nothing but her own personal research into the two candidates would make her decision.
"Surveying me right now is a waste of time because I haven't made up my mind," she said.