Anne Holton gets out the vote in Alexandria

Perhaps it was the intermittent rain today, but only about a dozen Democratic activists showed up this afternoon at Ben Brenman park in Fairfax County for a plea by First Lady of Virginia Anne Holton for volunteers to get out the vote for gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds and the entire Democratic ticket.

Delegates Charniele Herring and Dave Englin and Alexandria Vice Mayor Kerry Donley joined Holton by the big gazebo at the park, which sits on a former Army base south of Alexandria, for what was billed as a rally but ended up a more subdued affair. The group enjoyed a brief respite from the windy, wet weather on a day when volunteers for virtually every candidate on the ballot in Virginia would be out knocking on doors.

Holton told the gathered volunteers that it was imperative that they motivate the masses who turned out last fall to elect President Obama. More than 500,000 new voters registered last year, with most of those newcomers likely drawn into politics by the history-making race.

Republicans, she said, "are counting on those new voters not turning up," she said. "If the Democratic core voters turn out, and they will, if all the new voters turn out, then we will win."