Hurt Reveals General Election Strategy Against Perriello

The Republican primary in Virginia's 5th District is still a few weeks away, but State Senator Robert Hurt has revealed a sneak peak into his general election strategy against Tom Perriello. So far, Hurt's primary strategy has been to sit back and try to coast to victory. Don't take my word for it. Even those who gave Hurt the inside track earlier on are questioning his approach to the primary.

Hurt’s got top-shelf strategists working for him, but I’m starting to wonder what the hell they’re thinking. It seems that the strategy is to continue to let Hurt take shots and not playing any defense. He’s not going to sit on the money that he has (is he?) but with the clock running out, when is he going to use it? In the past five weeks, Hurt comes out SLIGHTLY DOWN.

Hurt continues to sit on his money, a sign that he's either in a really comfortable position in the primary despite the questions about his voting record or a fear that he'll need every penny possible against Tommy Boy. I think it's a decision that may cost him the nomination. You can't have your best players sit out a tough playoff game just because you think you'll need them more in the next round. That may guarantee you never get to the next round in the first place!

Maybe Hurt needs to call up Andy Sere to talk to him about what happens when Virginia State Senators assume that their primary is in the bag. In 2007, Andy Sere worked for Republican Tricia Stall after she had defeated incumbent State Senator Marty Williams in the Republican primary. Williams had a voting record similar to Hurt and was facing a lot of conservative opposition over his support for the 2007 transportation deal. But he ignored his opponents and Stall won a narrow primary victory before her campaign imploded and allowed the Democrats to take back the State Senate. Sere, who failed to salvage her campaign, could warn Hurt about the dangers of not taking conservative opposition seriously. But I guess the NRCC isn't returning Hurt's calls right now.

If Hurt wins he faces an almost certain third party threat from Jeff Clark. Hurt's got top-notch advisers and they know that if Hurt continues to try to hammer Perriello on being a big government socialist it will only serve to remind Tea Partier and supporters of Hurt's Republican opponents that Hurt isn't exactly the most loyal of allies in the fight against big government. Instead, he'll have to find issues where Perriello is weaker on and Hurt has less of a record to question.

Two press releases from Hurt today reveals that he's taking that approach.

First, he's announced the endorsement of former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, who now lives in Charlottesville. This isn't the type of endorsement that will make a splash in the primary, but Eagleburger is an important ally in attacking Perriello's liberal agenda of surrendering our national security to Russia and other totalitarian regimes.

I've blogged before about how Perriello is a Manchurian candidate. He talks about jobs, faith, and the like, but in reality his campaign against Goode and his time in office has been little more than a tentacle in the evil empire of chief vampire squid George Soros as he destroys America from the inside. From undermining our friend Israel to coddling terrorists, Perriello's liberal foreign policy agenda is ripe for attack and Hurt's advisers hope it will unite the conservative base after the bitter primary fight.

Second, Hurt has come out swinging at Perriello for standing silent while Obama has nominated an actual traitor to the Supreme Court. I'm not exaggerating. Kagan banned military recruiters at Harvard Law School during a time of war. If that's not treason, defined as giving aid and comfort to our enemies, I don't know what is! It's outrageous, but it's exactly the sort of liberal Ivy League agenda that Kagan and Perriello share.

Now there are two questions. First, will Hurt be able to use this strategy of attack in the general or will he be eliminated in the primary? Second, will this strategy work with the Tea Party movement? Stay tuned . . .