What's Going On at the Langley Shopping Center?

If you wonder why folks are gathering in at the Langley Shopping Center this afternoon it's about politics.

Republican candidates Del. Barbara Comstock (R-McLean, Great Falls) and business woman Caren Merrick have organized an ice cream social to meet voters from 3-4 pm.

Del. Comstock is running against Democrat in November in the reconfigured 34th District which runs along the Potomac from McLean to Countryside in Loudoun County.

Merrick,  who along with her husband Phillip Merrick founded webmethods, a business-two-business software company, announced in December that she was running for the 32^nd State Senate seat.  But after redistricting, based on the 2010 Census, Merrick  now lives in the 31^st Senate District. A German company bought webmethods in 2005 for $546 million. The company remains in Northern Virginia.

Merrick will face the Democratic winner of Tuesday's primary contest between Arlington County Board member Barbara Favola and attorney Jaime Areizaga-Soto.

Comstock and Merrick opened a joint campaign office in downtown McLean last month.

The ice cream is free.