Lobby day 2010 was a rousing success in Virginia this year. The pro-rights folks were out in droves (my head count at one point was somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 people) while the "million mom march" sponsored group was approximately 300 people with 37 participating in their "laydown".
The VCDL people played it VERY smart this year, vacating the bell-tower area before the MMM folks took the stage. This had the dual effect of avoiding any confrontations (which it seems like the MMM folks actively sought out two years ago) and also creating this big empty space and lack of participants that even "tactical" use of news cameras failed to hide.
A few of the local news clips.
Mostly just factual
http://tinyurl.com/yep9szv
Anti and then Pro sides
http://tinyurl.com/yc8lctb
The VCDL people played it VERY smart this year, vacating the bell-tower area before the MMM folks took the stage. This had the dual effect of avoiding any confrontations (which it seems like the MMM folks actively sought out two years ago) and also creating this big empty space and lack of participants that even "tactical" use of news cameras failed to hide.
A few of the local news clips.
Mostly just factual
http://tinyurl.com/yep9szv
Anti and then Pro sides
http://tinyurl.com/yc8lctb