THE NEWS DESK
The News Desk is a collection of news, notes and breaking items affecting the Fredericksburg community.
Actress Ashley Judd visits Fredericksburg to campaign for Obama
BY ROBYN SIDERSKY
THE FREE LANCE-STAR
Actress Ashley Judd stopped at President Barack Obama’s Fredericksburg campaign office Sunday to speak to volunteers and help kick off a canvassing effort.
Dressed in a blue Women for Obama T-shirt and jeans, Judd joined Obama supporters across the state in a push the campaign called a “women’s weekend of action” to promote the president’s record on women’s issues.
Before volunteers at the Fredericksburg office left to knock on doors, she gave them a pep talk.
“Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?” she chanted with them.
Actress Ashley Judd gives a pep talk to volunteers at the Obama for President campaign office in Fredericksburg on Sunday. (Photo by Robert A. Martin/The Free Lance-Star)
She thanked them for their hard work and reminded them why they were there. “Knocking on doors today–that is how we are going to win this election for Barack.”
Judd, a Kentucky native and film actress who has long supported human rights organizations, said she’s traveled on Obama’s behalf to North Carolina twice, Iowa twice and Wisconsin twice, and will return there Monday to help with early voting.
She spoke to the volunteers about issues such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Pell grants for college students and her experience as a delegate from Tennessee at the Democratic National Convention.
In an interview after she met with volunteers, Judd said she gets involved with grass-roots efforts because “it’s about personal contact.”
“It is in fact this detail work, one morning, one afternoon at a time,” that counts, she said.
Pamela Yeung of Stafford was at the campaign office to volunteer Sunday.
She said she met Judd at the convention and came Sunday because she knew she would be there.
“She’s very passionate about getting the president re-elected, as I am,” she said.
Judd, who brought her two cockapoos, Buttermilk and Shug, along on Sunday, traveled to Richmond after her stop in Fredericksburg. She had planned to knock on doors in Fredericksburg but ran out of time.
Robyn Sidersky: rsidersky@freelancestar.com
540/374-5413
