Brian Moran at GMU's LRI

I had been meaning to blog about this, but it got caught up in other election day stuff.

George Mason University has something called the "LRI".  That stands for the "Learning in Retirement Institute".  It was founded a few years ago to give senior citizens the chance to take classes in topics they were interested in.  It's become a really successful idea with thousands of seniors registered and taking classes they are interested in each semester.

This semester they were offering a class in how the General Assembly works that was taught by former State Senator Emilie Miller.  They had spent the last few weeks going over what happens in the General Assembly, this history of it, and other stuff focused on what has happened there, so Emilie wanted the last class on Election Day to be on what was going to be happening in the 2007 elections.  So I was invited to go do a presentation after Brian Moran.

Brian did about a 20 minute speech/20 minute Q&A on what issues he saw as important in the 2007 session, and the 2007 elections.  It's always interesting to hear Brian talk, but the questions from these seniors were really challenging and it was interesting to watch Brian respond.   One of the great things about senior citizens is all the experience they have on certain topics, and Brian answered questions varying from education policies to transportation and health care.  It was a tough crowd, and people let Brian know when they disagreed, but for the most part he left most of the group nodding along with his answers for Northern Virginia.

When Brian finished, I had the last 40 minutes in class to go over some of the specifics of the 2007 elections and where the elections would be the toughest and most competitive.  I wasn't sure what to talk about for that long, but it turns out that I never even finished the presentation.  This group was asking a lot of questions, they wanted to know about how particular districts had been voting, where turnout was highest or lowest, they were asking about specific challengers and what their chances were, how popular certain incumbents were in 2005, and so on. 

The whole class was a lot of fun, and thanks to Emilie for inviting me. I'm signed up to do a few other speaking engagements around the state this winter and spring, so I will try to let you all know in advance next time in case anyone wants to show up from the blogworld.

Comments

Great Job NLS!

[brimur]

Speaking of elections and Brian Moran. I think this most recent election offered further proof that we need a strong NoVA candidate on the ticket in 2009. If Warner decides to run for the Senate I think it's clear that Brian Moran's our best candidate for Governor.

brimur- Ha. and i'll leave it at that.

NLS- i hoped you shaved.

[Not Susan Allen]

Webb is not the standard NOVA candidate; Webb is conservative, and strong on rural issues. His 2nd amendment stance helped him out greatly in SW VA and he's more of the Creigh Deeds mold than anything. If Warner doesn't run again--its all about Deeds. Someone who can have broad statewide appeal. Webb appealed in NOVA, SW, and everywhere---and Deeds does the same thing.

[Bryan J. Scrafford]

George Mason has had a fair number of Democrats recently visit the University. Andy Hurst, for instance, was just there a few weeks ago talking to students.

http://ambivalentmumblings.blogspot.com/2006/10/coverage-of-andrew-hurst-at-gmu.html

Harris Miller also made an appearance here last Spring. Although you were specifically speaking of the senior citizens, I believe it is extremely important to note that more and more students at Mason are at least interested in politics. In Virginia's blogosphere there's myself, Nate de la Piedra, Mason Conservative, at least one of the girls from Monstrosity, and there might be more that I simply don't realize go to Mason.

[brimur]

Deeds is a great Democrat, but he woefully underperformed the Democratic ticket in NoVA. A strong mainstream Democrat like Moran will dominate NoVA and will be also be able to compete elsewhere. You may not know it, but he too is good on gun rights.

[LAS]

Why do people keep saying that Webb is conservative? Yeah, I get the 2nd amendment thing, but other than that?

On economic and social issues, he's definitely a progressive.

I see that he's a foreign policy conservative in the way conservatives USED TO BE foreign policy conservatives, but no longer are. Otherwise, I just don't get it--unless this is something conservatives are just repeating over and over again to make themselves feel better?