George,

I just saw Jeff Fracher's unfortunate email and don't have time to be exhaustive in response. The letter suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the Charlottesville Democratic Party executed the Caravati Searls campaign and, in fact, all its local campaigns.

There never were two campaigns, there was one coordinated campaign. The fundraising was joint, as were the press releases, the mailings, etc. To
suggest that Blake's campaign was "aggressive" and Alex's "abysmal" is unfair and inaccurate.

We are all stinging from our defeat on Tuesday. Let's all sit back and reflect on our collective short-comings to come up with a plan for improvement. Let's don't shove abuse on Alex. Every Democrat in Charlottesville shares some part of this defeat, just as we all share in every victory.

Alex worked hard for 6 months in pursuit of the nomination and general election. We should thank her not blame her.

Russell Perry (electronic mail, May 9, 2002)