Town abuzz over Obama victory

Downtown Culpeper buzzed with political conversation Wednesday, the morning after this small town joined Virginia and America in electing the nation’s first black president.

“It’s a blessing,” said James Wise, 54, a black public works employee who grew up in Culpeper during segregation. “I think it might be a big improvement.”

As for president-elect Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Tuesday night, “It was tremendous,” Wise said.

In typical fashion, the town of Culpeper — population about 16,000 — went out on its own Tuesday, bucking its Republican-leaning big sister in the county to select Obama with 55 percent of the vote at its two precincts.

The county’s 11 other voting precincts, meanwhile, overwhelmingly selected Republican John McCain for president with the exception of Mitchells, a rural hamlet south of town that fell just 14 votes short of endorsing Obama.

Nish Suvarnakar, regional field officer with the Culpeper Obama campaign, felt local efforts to boost the Democratic candidate proved successful.

“I think it got people activated, it got people interested,” he said. “It got people to see that they weren’t the only Democrats in the county.”

Inside the Main Street campaign office Wednesday morning, Obama volunteers tidied up from the night before and glowed in the victory of their candidate. “Yes we did!” someone had written on a white board.

“I’m feeling fantastic,” said volunteer Rose Herrity of Culpeper, who’s been working for the Obama campaign seven days a week since the end of September. She was hopeful Obama could facilitate unity among Americans.

“He’s going to the center, asking everybody to help; this is the time we have to pull together,” said Herrity. “And he’s going to help the middle class,” she added, “That’s the whole thing.”

Linda Glascoe Washington, an African-American slave descendant born and raised in Culpeper County, put her heart and soul into volunteering for the local Obama campaign.

She described Culpeper’s voting results as “a great success” and felt voters countywide would overwhelmingly re-elect Obama in four years.

“To me, the change I feel we need is going to come about,” she said from inside the campaign office Wednesday. “I think about my grandchildren and where I was 60 years ago and where they can be 60 years from now.”

Washington, 60, attended George Washington Carver High School — a regional public school for black students from 1948-1968 — during segregation. She said she could never have imagined then that America would elect a black commander in chief.

Washington also remembered the days when she wasn’t allowed to sit in the main auditorium of the State Theater on Main Street because of the color of her skin.

“Later, we were able to sit on the main level, but that was only because the fire marshal had condemned the balcony.”

All that is behind her now.

“I have a lot of history and I’ve seen a lot of changes growing up in Culpeper,” said Washington. “We have a long way to go, but this campaign and this election has shown that we can all come together and break that color barrier.”

Tuesday night, after Obama was named victor, a group of about 40 volunteers marched from the campaign headquarters — ironically located in the boyhood home of famed Confederate General A.P. Hill, a Culpeper native — down East Davis Street to Raven’s Nest, a coffee shop from where the BBC broadcast live on Election Night.

Raven’s Nest owner Jessica Hall said the timing of the march was just right.

“The Obama headquarters did a parade down here and they came in during the last segment, which was great television,” she said. Hall was overwhelmed by the night’s flurry of activity, but was honored and humbled to be part of history as well.

“I think it’s fantastic,” she said of a black man being elected president. “I think it’s about time,” said Hall, a white woman, adding, “My wish is that it was a black woman.”
Nonetheless, the Obama supporter looked ahead.

“The hard work is in front of us, not behind us,” Hall said. “All of this energy that we saw for the past 21 months, can we have the next 21 months of that energy putting it to work? It’s about getting some work done.”

Walking down East Davis Street Wednesday, Jim Charapich, director of the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce, stopped to chat about the historic presidential election.

Charapich, a Republican, openly said the Obama campaign was successful in bringing people together, getting out the vote and energizing the electorate. He said both candidates handled themselves humbly Tuesday night.

“We’re looking for that same quality (Obama) developed in the campaign to continue through his presidency to move the country forward in some positive ways,” Charapich said. “There’s a lot of opportunities to move it forward.”

Over in the 4C’s Restaurant on South Main Street, the usual group of six older white gentlemen — all in their 70s or 80s — gathered Wednesday morning for coffee and lively discussion. This day, it was all politics.

Of the six men, three supported Obama and three McCain.

“I don’t think color had a whole lot to do with it,” said Joe Tucker, a retired appraiser from Rappahannock County. “I don’t think Obama is qualified to be president, period. He has no record of doing anything except running his mouth.”

Culpeper Town resident Mike Byrnes, on the other hand, was “Obama all the way.” He sported a button, to his friend’s chagrin, that poked fun at Sarah Palin, McCain’s folksy running mate: “Obama, you betcha.”

Byrnes said he was shocked the town of Culpeper joined him in voting for Obama. But then again, he said, he was amazed at the diversity he saw on the voting lines Tuesday.
“I lived here for 20 years and I voted in every election,” Byrnes said, “and I never saw so many African-Americans vote as I did yesterday.”

Van Logos, a retired D.C. fireman, said he voted for McCain for his qualifications.

“I get very emotional thinking about this,” the Rappahannock County resident said, adding that the only reason Obama got elected is because he’s black and was able to secure the black vote.

But for friend Blynn Cascadden, a Culpeper County resident who’s retired from the CIA, the issue was war not race. Tuesday, he voted the first time ever for a Democratic president.

“I decided three years ago when Bush was one year into his second term that I was going to vote Democrat because I was tired of the lies and the Iraq War,” Cascadden said.

“I saw these veterans coming back and I saw how they were being treated at Walter Reed and it just broke my heart.”

Despite their differing opinions, the six friends agreed they don’t get mad at each other.

Well, Pete Magee, a town resident that supported McCain, did get a little mad earlier Wednesday.

“I whipped my dog twice this morning,” he said with a grin.

Back in Raven’s Nest, Culpeper Mayor Pranas Rimeikis, an Obama supporter, reflected on the swing in the political makeup of his town.

“There’s been this shift in demographics here and I suspect some Republicans jumped the fence,” he said Wednesday.

Rimeikis said Tuesday’s election, thankfully, was decisive. It was also historic, he said, comparing it to the times he saw Sputnik fly through the sky — soon after immigrating to Chicago from Germany with his family — and watched, in person, as the Berlin Wall fell.

“But then to take part in an election where you send the first black man to the White House: that’s incredible,” Rimeikis said.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or .