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Virginia electors make historic vote Date published: 12/16/2008
RICHMOND-- In the same Capitol that served as the capital of the Confederacy and saw the nation's first black governor inaugurated, Virginia's 13 presidential electors yesterday cast a historic vote for the first black president, Barack Obama.Gov. Tim Kaine, a close friend of Obama's who was considered as the vice-presidential running mate, pointed out the Capitol's history and the evolution of the state's experiences with race in his address to the electors. "Each such election is important, but today, in a special way, we celebrate the slow but steady maturation of the noble human project begun on Jamestown Island 401 years ago," Kaine said. "We rejoice in the moral power that has bent institutions, traditions, behavior and hearts ever closer to the equality principle." Electors across the country cast their votes yesterday at noon. Virginia's electors are the first Democrats since 1964 to cast such votes, since that was the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won Virginia. The hour-long ceremony was solemn, as electors formally took oaths of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice Leroy Hassell, stood in turn to call out their vote for "Barack Obama, of Illinois," and then "Joseph Biden, of Delaware," and signed numerous copies of certificates of their vote. But it was also marked by moments of levity, such as when Kaine reminded the electors that after Virginia's electors refused in 1836 to vote for Vice President Richard Johnson--Martin van Buren's vice president--Virginia electors have been bound by law to support the candidate who wins the state's popular vote. Kaine pointed out that the electors represented the 3.7 million Virginians who voted Nov. 4. "More people participated in this presidential election than in any other in our nation's history whatever our political views, today we sense that our democracy is reinvigorated, that we have both the right and the obligation to participate, and that our destiny is of our own making," Kaine said. "This election demonstrates again the power of Jefferson's truth and the ever-growing commitment of Americans to welcome all to the blessings and responsibilities of complete and equal citizenship." Harold Boyd of Culpeper, the elector from the 7th congressional district who teaches government at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, said afterward that he was still having trouble taking it all in.
The sooner we get Bush out of office, the better off we will all be.
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