Barack Obama > Lou Holtz

The Virginia Gubernatorial election is, thank goodness, only six days away. All of advertisements have been negative, so I'm looking forward to not seeing them on television after next Tuesday. Although I like to consider myself as generally politically aware, I honestly have no idea where Republican candidate Bob McDonnell and Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds stand on most issues. (Please let me know when someone has a good transportation plan and is able follow through with the plan.) In all honesty, it doesn't matter much. The Virginia Governor can only serve one term, so they are essentially a lame-duck immediately after being elected. Virginia is run by the legislature. (Meaning a transportation plan in Northern Virginia never gets incorporated.) Anyway, that's not the point of this post.

Deeds, trailing McDonnell by double-digits in various polls, enlisted the support of President Obama yesterday at a Norfolk rally with nearly 5,700 people in attendance. Meanwhile, "about 200 people sipped wine and munched on cheese and crackers at the Willow Oaks Country Club" in Richmond on Monday night as McDonnell brought out his own secret weapon: Lou Holtz.



Wait, what? I guess the connection is that McDonnell graduated from Notre Dame in 1976 and Holtz coached the Notre Dame football team from 1986-1996. Were Knute Rockne and Tyrone Willingham unavailable?

So what does Lou Holtz have to do with Virginia and with encouraging people to vote for McDonnell? Well, I'm sure that Virginia voters fondly remember Holtz as the head football coach at William & Mary from 1969-1971. You do remember William & Mary as a huge national college football power during that time, right? During his speech Monday, Holtz was asked what was the most important thing he learned while coaching at William & Mary. His response: "We had too many Marys and not enough Williams." Apparently, Holtz didn't want to wait 25 years to have the opportunity to coach current Steelers coach (and former W&M WR) Mike Tomlin.

While it seems like I'm giving Holtz a bit of a hard time, that's not really the case. Holtz is from my mom's hometown, is likely the most successful person ever to hail from there, and has given back to that community even though he hasn't lived there for years. I guess that I don't understand the logic of McDonnell bringing Holtz to an event in Richmond. Were McDonnell supporters really enthused to pay significant money to attend an event featuring Lou Holtz? When you think of Holtz, you think college football. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to have him campaign for McDonnell in Blacksburg or even Charlottesville?

With all of this written, I will give credit to Holtz for knowing his current events as he said, "What do you call a former Redskins player with a Super Bowl ring? Senior citizens."


Finally, boo (and not in the good Halloween way) to WJLA, Washington's ABC affiliate, for having a Battleground Virginia special on Tuesday night instead of airing It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Yes, I've seen the Great Pumpkin dozens of times, but I was hoping to watch it again on Tuesday evening.