Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

Since January, Republican Liberty Caucus members in Virginia have been planning a re-launch of the RLC affiliate. The affiliate was chartered at the RPV Advance in 2007, but RLC Chair D.J. McGuire stepped down to run for Supervisor in Spotsylvania County and subsequently the affiliate needed to elect a new Board of Directors.

On Friday and Saturday, over 10,000 Republican Party delegates from across Virginia came together at the Richmond Convention Center to select their nominees for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and state GOP Chair.  The winning candidates for those races included Bob McDonnell for Governor, Bill Bolling for Lt. Governor, Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General, and Pat Mullins for Virginia GOP Chair.  Cuccinelli was endorsed by the RLC and our members helped him win in the most contested Convention race.

Although not delegates, Matt Gagnon and I spent all day yesterday (starting very early in the morning and going until the Convention concluded) reaching out to prospective RLC members at the state GOP Convention.

The RLC booth at the RPV Convention, sponsored by RLC member Lisa Miller of Alexandria, was a massive success, with:

· Nearly 100 Convention-goers signing up to receive e-mail alerts from the RLC;

· 135 individuals took the World’s Smallest Political Quiz;

· The Virginia RLC meeting after the Convention, attended by 35 liberty-loving Republicans from across the state, was a huge success;

· The Virginia RLC solidified its new Board of Directors;

· The RLC gained a dozen new members on the spot;

· The RLC’s endorsed Attorney General nominee (Ken Cuccinelli) won on the first ballot.

Our quiz results were as follows:

This was the first time the World’s Smallest Political Quiz was used at Virginia GOP Convention.  I was surprised to see how many folks who took the quiz landed in the ‘libertarian’ quadrant.  There were even some RPV delegates that joined me at 100-100, the far top of the chart.

The exact results were: 64 right libertarians, 15 center-libertarians (including ten at 100-100, the top of the chart), 12 left libertarians, 15 centrists, 26 right conservatives, two left liberals, and one statist.  Therefore sixty-seven percent of quiz-takers scored in the libertarian quadrant; eleven percent were centrist; and nineteen percent were right conservative.

The response to the booth was overwhelmingly positive.  Virginians were proud to see the quiz providing a diamond view of the political spectrum and several teachers commented that they would be presenting the chart to their students.

At certain points, the booth was so busy it was very hard to keep up with the demand:

After the Convention, RLC members in Virginia held the Annual RLCVA Meeting at the Hard Shell restaurant in Richmond.  The venue was perfect for our meeting.  The food was great, the company excellent, and the quality of the individuals who attended our meeting was extremely impressive.

Some photos from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia Annual Meeting are below.

The Virginia RLC also elected its new Board of Directors: Matt Gagnon (Chair); Steven Latimer (Vice-Chair); Krystle Weeks (Secretary); Cliff Dunn (Treasurer); and At-Large Board members Rick Sincere, Leonard Harris, and Matt DeLeon.

Look for more activity from the Virginia RLC affiliate on Facebook or at http://www.RLCVA.org/. Some additional RLC Convention photos are available here.