I attended the Virginia Republican State Convention yesterday as a delegate supporting Shak Hill. It was interesting. Ed Gillespie's folks were clearly nervous. They spent the morning and early afternoon lobbying Shak's delegates. When the vote, came Shak was clearly outnumbered but probably received 30-40% of the vote. (Actually, RPV published the results. Shak received almost 39% of the vote.
See here -- 1040 to 1616.) Considering he was running against a better known candidate and favorite with establishment backing and plenty of money, his numbers were pretty impressive. The reason we don't know exactly how many votes he received is that, before all the results were announced, Shak motioned for the convention to elect Gillespie by acclamation. His brief statement was a gracious class act and he quoted Gillespie's statement that we should exit the doors of the convention in unity to elect a Republican Senator to replace Obama-clone Mark Warner. Ed Gillespie reached out to everyone in his acceptance speech and mentioned the Tea Party by name. He emphasized that Republicans needs everybody who supports our core principles and we're all part of the team. Unity was his big message. I hope he means it. Party conservatives have been the ugly stepchildren of the party for far too long.
