Vernon Robinson has been a hero of mine during the last two congressional campaigns.  I've supported him in my blog posts as well as financially.  My pal Ogre has not heard much from this campaign despite the fact that he lives in and blogs about North Carolina politics.  As we near zero hour in this election cycle, I went looking for information on this man, and was heartened to find this story. 

"Robinson grew up in Los Angeles in a liberal family and volunteered for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign when he was just twelve years old. But, after graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1977, he started moving toward a macho, Reagan-style conservatism. Interning for Missouri Democratic State Representative Alan Wheat in 1982, he watched representatives decide to kill the state's Equal Rights Amendment over drinks and thought, "Wow!" When he was offered a job on Wheat's campaign for U.S. Congress, he declined, in part because another mentor had advised him that, for him, the GOP would be a "great opportunity." 

Having pinned his star to the Republican Party, he moved to North Carolina to teach in a business school and became known for two things: strong advocacy for school choice and a strong desire to hold public office. After running eight losing races for various statewide offices, in 1997 Robinson finally broke through. Campaigning for a seat on the Winston-Salem city council, he sent out a mailer accusing a primary opponent of being a nudist: "Your vote could determine whether vernon robinson or my opponent—an admitted nudist—yep—like nekkid—like no clothes—represents the Republican Party in the November 4 election," it read. Robinson won the primary and the seat. "

We obviously have the SoCal/liberal upbringing in common.  I read 3 years ago that Strom Thurmond was a mentor to him, and that intrigued me.  Mr. Robinson and I both had been taught that Strom was a racist and the devil from Democrap's idea of hell. 

Vernon Robinson, after what the opposition has put you through, I wish you well on Tuesday, and I hope that you will be a lesson for the back-pedaling GOP.  I am praying for your success, my hero Mr. Robinson!