Politicians Get Ready for Shad Planking Wednesday
Politicians from around the state will flock to tiny Wakefield on Wednesday for the 60th annual Shad Planking, a longtime Virginia tradition where politicians come to see and be seen.
Speakers include U.S. Senate candidates, Republicans James S. Gilmore III and Robert G. Marshall, and Democrat Mark R. Warner. It may the only time the three men share a stage before a Republican nominee is picked next month.
Democrat Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, who is running for governor next year, and his potential rival, Del. Brian J. Moran, both sent their staffs to Wakefield today to help Warner's team set up.
Deeds will skip the actual event tomorrow, choosing instead to go to Blacksburg on the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R), who is expected to run for governor, will attend the Shad Planking before taking a state plane to Tech for a candlelight vigil. Moran will attend the Shad Planking.
John H. Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, will introduce the speakers. He has attended almost every year for three decades.
"The Shad Planking has a long tradition in Virginia politics, and I have enjoyed it each time I have been blessed to be a part of the program," Hager said.
By Anita Kumar |
April 15, 2008; 6:24 PM ET
| Category:
Anita Kumar
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Election 2008/U.S. Senate
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Election 2009
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James Gilmore III
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Mark Warner
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Robert F. McDonnell
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Timothy M. Kaine
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Virginia Tech massacre
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Posted by: J. Tyler Ballance | April 15, 2008 9:53 PM
well plank my shad!
Posted by: Anonymous | April 23, 2008 5:25 PM
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Here's an alternative to listening to those sell-out politicians. While they prattle on from their perches on the flatbed trailer, join your fellow Virginians in singing our good old State song!
Here are the lyrics:
Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where the old darke'ys heart am long'd to go,
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.
CHORUS
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darke'ys life will pass away.
Massa and missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore,
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.