Monday night, in what I assume was some sort of loyalty test, my good friends in the Delaware Manufactured Homeowners Association invited me to attend their monthly meeting at the Indian River Fire Company in Oak Orchard.  If you haven’t been to Oak Orchard, there is a simple way to find it: get on Mapquest, find the furthest point from Matt’s home that you can drive and still remain in the state of Delaware, and you will probably be in or around Oak Orchard.

But I gladly went, because I never turn down an invitation from DMHOA.  Its President, the soft-spoken and demure Ed Speraw, is one of my 82 honorary campaign co-chairs (even though he is a card-carrying Republican).  And many of its members have been some of my longest-standing supporters.  That is a good thing, because they are one of the largest groups in the state—Ed believes that there may be over 100,000 Delawareans living in manufactured housing.  I got a wonderful reception from the DMHOA folks—they made the long trip well worth it, and I got to listen to my various ESPN podcasts all the way home in the car to prepare myself for the rigors of the NBA draft coming up this week.

Yesterday, over a dozen DMHOA members were present in Legislative Hall to watch the House of Representatives pass legislation to allow manufactured homeowners a ‘right of first refusal’ when the owners of the parks that their homes sit on put those parks on the market.  DMHOA proposed this bill, DMHOA fought for this bill, and in the end, they won most of what they were seeking because they were organized, they were determined, and they were right.

Some of the members wandered over to the State Senate to join me in watching my landmark homeowners insurance bill pass the Senate.  The bill is now on its way to the Governor for her signature, and when she signs it, we will become the 5^th or 6^th toughest state in America when it comes to homeowners insurance carriers canceling policyholders’ policies when they come up for renewal.  This is a big deal for all homeowners, but it is an especially big deal for manufactured homeowners who have more limited options when it comes to insurance for their homes.

This state’s manufactured homeowners are one more group that is going to be with me in November, because they know that I have been with them when they needed me.   But next time, Ed, if you are going to make me drive two hours home at night, do you think you could spring a little extra for caffeinated coffee at the refreshments table?