This afternoon, I left work a smidge early -- so I could pick up Av from day care a smidge early. We then came home and met K at the door. Without even going inside the house, K pulled out the stroller and we put Av in.

And then we walked to our polling place at the elementary school. And voted.

Yes, today was the primary election for the state of Virginia -- Jim Moran, a Democrat US Representative, is up for re-election this fall. One other Democrat was up for his seat. I voted for Moran back in 2000 and he won without a contest. But this year I wanted to make sure that he would not be a contender for November's race. So I voted for his opponent, Andy Rosenberg.

I knew I was going to blog about this momentous occasion -- ousting Jim Moran from the Democratic nomination -- so I even thought of a clever blog title! (see above). All three of us were there to facilitate democracy -- to help our party choose better leadership for the race in November.

Well, Andy lost the race, just about 60-40. But I still like the title of the blog and I'm keeping it.

So -- Moran will be running against Republican Lisa Marie Cheney in the Fall. I'm torn -- I feel our district would be best represented by a Democrat. But I can't help but feel uneasy with him in office since March of last year when he stated that the reason we're in a war with Iraq was because of strong Jewish community pressure. And since then -- as recent as May -- there have been further allegations of antisemitic statements. Perhaps I'm being too paranoid, but when an elected official preaches about the influence of the leaders of the Jewish community to affect foreign policy, it makes me worried about backlash.

Turnout was rather low. We arrived at about 5:50pm and were the only two people in line. K and I were voters 247 and 248 -- and per the web only 295 people turned out in our precinct. The electronic voting machines were pretty cool, though, and with only one question on the ballot, both of us finished in literally less than 30 seconds.

So Andy Rosenberg didn't win. But at least we went out and voted. I'd be kicking myself if I hadn't.

The main upside to the afternoon? Fun with stickers!