The Family Research Council Action political action committee waded into the closely-watched Republican primary in Virginia’s 5th District Thursday, announcing that it is endorsing teacher Feda Morton.
"Feda Morton has proven that she is a true friend of the family. We need men and women who will fight to defend the family, and family budgets, against the extreme agenda of the Left in the House of Representatives," said FRC Action PAC Chairman Tony Perkins. "I am convinced Ms. Morton will do just that.”
. . .
While Perriello campaigned as pro-life during his successful 2008 run against veteran GOP Rep. Virgil Goode, the freshman Democrat has taken criticism from pro-life groups for supporting the health care reform bill. Some in the pro-life community argue that the legislation lacked sufficient restrictions ensuring that the bill would not provide federal funds for abortions.
In this divided primary, Feda Morton has slowly been building up momentum behind her campaign as the strongest social conservative in the field. Social conservatives are the base voters in the Republican Party, the people who loyally go out and work tirelessly for GOP campaigns everywhere. And with recent questions raised about the social conservative credentials of other candidates, I think Morton is in a very good position as we approach the mad dash to the finish line. Good luck Feda!
It's that time of year again. It's like Christmas in the spring. Members of Congress line up their local projects for taxpayer funded pork. Check out Tommy Boy's list of projects here. Here's an interesting one:
Project Name: Sesquicentennial Celebration of the End of the Civil War Recipient: Appomattox County, VA Address: 153A Morton Lane, Appomattox, VA 24544 Amount: $200,000
Description: This project is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because the 150th Anniversary of the End of the Civil War in 2015 represents a major opportunity for job creation and economic growth for the County of Appomattox as a tourist destination. The funds will be used to further enhance the Appomattox Courthouse, improve its facade, and address parking accommodations for tourists.
Since Congressman Tom Perriello is supporting additional funding for Appomattox to prepare for the 150th Anniversary of the End of the Civil War (Or the War of Northern Aggression in these parts) to make Appomattox a tourist destination, would he also agree with Governor Bob McDonnell's statement recognizing the Confederacy and its impact on Virginia? McDonnell's statement was designed to encourage tourism to our historical sites in Virginia, including Appomattox. Doesn't Perriello want all of America to "See the Fifth," including Appomattox?
Let's take a step back from the Republican primary in Virginia's 5th District and look at the other vulnerable freshman Democrat in Virginia, our dear friend Glenn Nye.
For the last few months, everything was falling into place for an almost certain Republican victory in the 2nd District. Nye's strategy of voting and acting like a Republican has totally alienated his Democratic base. Just look at the reaction to his health care vote from the base, party activists to precinct chairs to this warning from Delegate Lionell Spruill:
Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, said Nye should support health-care reform out of loyalty to President Barack Obama, on whose coattails Nye was elected in 2008. "If Glenn Nye is not for it, I will not be there to support him. He owes the president that vote, as far as I'm concerned."
Worse for Nye, he's in the same Commonwealth as Perriello. Every time he's going to a big liberal Democratic donor and tries to explain his voting record, they'll ask him why he can't be more like Tommy Boy. Nye's entirely dependent on the big establishment money of corporate PACs that have corrupted our political system.
Can it get any worse?
Well, throw in Krystal Ball next door in the 1st. Every Democratic activist in Tidewater Virginia will be drawn to her progressive campaign, which is obviously doomed. But that doesn't matter for these liberals. Every liberal college student from W&M or ODU or CNU that drives to the 1st instead of the 2nd is one less person knocking on doors for Glenn.
What a disaster and a horrible, horrible choice on his part.
Could this save Nye's ass?
It's possible, which is why I have to wonder what is going through Kenny Golden's mind in making this move? Who in the world would council him that this is a good idea?
If Golden is unable to raise significant funds, his Independent bid will not make much of an impact. So we'll have to closely monitor who is behind his campaign. Will any Republican donors bolt to support his campaign? I hope not, but I have my fears . . .
I have long suspected that there is some funny business going on in the 2nd. Nye may vote conservative on a few issues, but he's still a Pelosi supporting Democrat. The NRCC has treated him with kid gloves while going after Perriello with everything they've got. My fears went away during the recent months with no additional signs that the GOP was favoring Nye, but now this third party bid by Golden has me worried again.
Just who is behind Golden's attempt to split the anti-Nye vote?
If Nye survives because of a third party candidate, who benefits?
Certainly not the liberal Democrats who would rather see Nye defeated this year so they can find a more progressive candidate in 2012.
If Nye does survive, he'll be between a rock and a hard place facing redistricting. Unlike Perriello, who has everything to gain from a more Democratic seat, Nye would risk a Democratic primary challenge if the 2nd District was made more Democratic. As I've said before, it's very possible to draw an additional minority-majority district in Tidewater Virginia. If Nye scrapes by this time, the Republicans can go to him and say that he either switches parties, much like Virgil Goode did, or he'll face an almost certain challenge from the Democratic base. Who might benefit from this plot?
The GOP won't need Spruill to push their own gerrymandering bill in the House, but his support for the bill could influence a few Democratic State Senators. Enough to get the GOP gerrymandering through?
And certainly it would be good press for the GOP, the party of the recent Confederate History Month, to say that they are pushing a "bipartisan" redistricting plan that helps minorities!
And they also ensure that the 1st and the 4th, two Districts that may be trending Democratic, are purged of enough Democrats so they don't have worry about them for years to come.
So when can I buy a Spruill for Congress bumper sticker?
I know I haven't been posting that much recently and my absence has been greatly missed but after the health care "reform" vote I was pretty burnt out with politics. It's hard to keep going after that sort of crushing defeat for conservatism and the Republican Party. The Republican opposition fumbled at the end in picking the wrong issues to focus on and enabled the Democrats to rally together and pass a historic expansion of government control of the economy and our lives that may never, ever be repealed. I was almost going to drop out of politics entirely.
But here I am. Because I love this country too much to give up just because the Republicans in Washington are more hapless than the French in stopping the expansion of the Obama Reich.
Part of the problem is that there are a lot of well meaning but stupid conservatives out there who undermine our efforts. Terrorists who make threats against Tom Perriello and his family. Idiots who make racist signs at rallies. And morons who write letters to the editor with outright lies in them.
If the health care bill is so extraordinarily wonderful, why has Congress exempted its members and their staff from it? It seems to me that if it is so well thought-out and advantageous, everyone would beg to participate.
No Susan, the truth is that members of Congress and their staff will have to go onto the new exchange.
If this bill is so wonderful, why was the Senate forced to use reconciliation to pass it and the House to use the deem-and-pass option?
No Susan, the truth is that the House did not use the deem and pass option. And be careful about focusing on reconciliation, which is an option to change existing programs to cut costs and lower the deficit. So a Democrat like Tom Perriello can defend the reconciliation as a way to cut down the size of the health care bill even more and remove the kickbacks you mention later.
If it can stand on its own merits, why did the Senate have to bribe members with special exceptions for states where the senators didn’t really want to vote for it?
Good question. Those Senators should be voted out of office. But these special exceptions were removed by reconciliation.
Where in the Constitution does it specifically state the government can force all citizens (except, of course the congressional members, their staffers and the president and his staff) to buy a specific product?
Thank you Susan. It took you a while but you finally got to the biggest problem, although you undermine it by falsely claiming that Congress has granted itself an exemption. That is the key of the multiple lawsuits against the bill. That's what Republicans have to run on. That's why this is socialism. Next time save some space in your letter and focus only on this.
I asked Isaac Wood, who covers House races for Larry Sabato's "Crystal Ball" at the University of Virginia which districts with high minority populations where the Democratic incumbents are in a lot of trouble stick out most in his mind. He named two, both of which turned out to be on the list of 23: Steve Dreihaus in OH-1 and Tom Perriello in VA-5. . . . As for Perriello, Wood noted that he "won a 727-vote victory in the closest House race in the country in this district where 23% of the residents are African-American. While McCain garnered 6,000 more votes in 2008 than Bush won in 2004, Obama outperformed Kerry by a whopping 36,000 votes. That is a lot of votes to pick up in just four years and the 28% of the district that is non-white likely played a big role."
When someone whips out statistics about a single in isolation, never, ever believe them.
Now, Wood is right in that there's a big difference between the performance of the two presidential candidates in 2008 and 2004. Obama received 35,402 more votes than Kerry, which in my math class would round down to 35,000 and not up to 36,000. But what about, say, Glenn Nye's 2nd District?
There, Obama received 40,681 more votes than Kerry! And McCain actually received 4,372 fewer votes than Bush!
The fightin' 11th?
52,411 more votes on the Democratic side, but 5,101 less on the Republican side.
