Leslie Cockburn in Charlottesville

Award-winning  journalist and Emmy winner Leslie Cockburn is planning an event Sunday in Charlottesville, Virginia, where her daughter, actress Olivia Wilde, will campaign on her behalf. The Republican incumbent is in treatment for alcoholism and has withdrawn so she is running against Denver Riggleman, brewery owner. Riggleman is also co-author of a self-published book called “Bigfoot Exterminators, Inc.: The Partially Cautionary, Mostly True Tale of Monster Hunt 2006,” a work about people who look for Bigfoot.

Leslie describes her candidacy as follows: “At the very beginning, I had five male rivals for the Democratic nomination. There was a lot of discussion of ‘I don’t know if a woman can win.’ So it became a battle cry. And we won by a landslide. A  lot of women made that happen.” According to the most recent NY Times poll, Lesie is up 1% over Riggleman. Give a hand to Leslie.