Prelude to Philadelphia: Account of the Capitol in Virginia
Drive for Democracy: Virginians Striving at History. 
This morning in Richmond we met in the building that Jefferson designed and built while America was etching out the base of our democracy -- based on ancient greek buildings, Jefferson first imagined a place that could hold the shouting, messy weight of democracy when he visited France in the 1780s. In his "Account of the Capitol in Virginia," he explains that it is based on "the Temples of Erectheus at Athens, of Balbec, and of the Maison quarrée...."
You can feel Jefferson's voice in the building, the high pillars and marble floors, the sense of striving at history.
You could also feel it in the Virginia Capitol this morning, with Krispy Kremes and coffee and Don Beyer and over 70 volunteers leaning forward to talk about what they can do in the next two months and next year. As Henry in Richmond said in the comments:
I was moved by the whole event (there were a lot of serious, dedicated people there). To repeat what others have been saying, this is an opportunity for the people to make a difference, for volunteers to make a difference, we sure need to be pragmatic, hard headed at need, and tough, but we need to be worthy of this, to keep reminding each other to stay on the high road in the rough days to come. The Virginia Democratic Primary is just 60 days from today, on February 10, and the Virginia campaign is in high gear.
They've finished a massive, 20,000-signature petititon effort, and are now in the midst of making tens of thousands of phone calls (the only problem with this weeks' phone banking is that there are more volunteers than phones!). Recent polls show Dean leading in Virginia because of the strong Virginia grassroots, but they are working even harder now than ever, with several full-time and near-full-time volunteers, and thousands of volunteers on the ground. They are also working on launching a caravan-to-Iowa from the midatlantic states, with a goal of bringing together 200 cars to caravan on January 15th.
Thanks Virginia, for all your work and an inspiring morning.
Tomorrow is our last official Drive for Democracy event, in our destination city of Philadelphia -- please join us there at 3 PM.
(But we can't quite stop travelling and we have to stop in NYC, so we are doing an overdrive event in New York on Tuesday at 7 PM -- RSVP here.) [Blog for America]
11:12:14 PM 
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The Gaul. 
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