Last night’s Colbert Report featured an analysis of Gail Parker, an independent who ran for Senate in Virginia. As Colbert pointed out, she garnered over 26,000 votes, far more than the ~ 9,000 separating votes Jim Webb (D) and George Allen (R). Naturaly, the go-to point-to-be-made was that if more people voted for Webb or Allen instead of Parker, the race might not have been so close.
Anyhow, Parker’s primary campaign platform was that she wanted to extend light rail service thoughout Virginia. As she put it, Virginians “need more trains: reliable, clean, efficient, quiet, safe Rail service.”. That’s all well and good, but the best part of her, erm, platform is her barbershop quartet-esque campaign jingle:
Let’s vote for Gail —
she’s for light rail.
Vote Gail Parker US Senate!
She’s independent,
the US Senate
needs Gail “for Rail” this time!Let’s vote for Gail —
she’s for light rail.
Vote Gail Parker US Senate!
She’s independent…[Post-jingle epilogue:]
“I’m Gail Parker, candidate for
the United States Senate and I paid
for, and approved, this ad.”
It’s so damn catchy that, if I were living in Virginia, I’d almost have to vote for her just for the jingle. Oh, and not that it counts for anything, but she’s also apparently acronym compliant: FEW / ROA / NARFE / ISC2 / AARP / NAACP — did she think anyone would know what half of those mean? (And before you start mashing your thumbs into the comment box, yes, I’m aware of both the AARP and the NAACP ;).)
Heh – well, the whole transportation issue is quite a hot one in Virginia with the whole gradual merging of every community along the Rt. 29 corridor with only 2 lanes each way to connect them. For a while the Charlottesville Mayoral race pretty much revolved around this very issue.
Now, while it’s true that commuting along Rt. 29 is now actually less pleasant than a root canal, I just can’t see a senatorial candidate basing his/her ENTIRE campaign on this one issue. BUt I do commend the 26k voters who found themselves able to vote a non-ticket candidate last week. I know I couldn’t have done it. *sigh*
Ouch. I can imagine how only having such a road with only two lanes in each direction could be trying. What were the Charlottesville Mayoral candidates’ proposed solutions, btw? Build more lanes?
Damn it, Alex! I just managed to get that jingle out of my head, and now it’s back!
Oh god, not the Gail Parker song! :-)
Light rail is a great idea, but it doesn’t seem very feasible to me.
Josh M is right about 29. It’s awful. 33 here in the Harrisonburg area is starting to get annoying, but we’re at about where 29 was 5-10 years ago, annoyingness-wise.
These rural Virginia regions are starting to feel a lot more like Northern Virginia.
Thankfully, since I don’t listen to radio or watch TV, I’ve never gotten such a song into my head.
Hooray for lack of mass media! :)
No worries, Josh M – as usual, YouTube fills in the pop-culture gaps.