So that happened. Now that my self-imposed gag order has expired since the elections are over, it’s time to say some random thoughts about what happened in Southside’s Congressional elections.
Here we go…
5th District Thoughts
- Tom Perriello was doomed from the start of this election season, but he fought hard until the end. Sitting across the interview table from Tom last Thursday, I could feel the passion of his talk, along with a slight bit of desperation because the clock was running out. I don’t give a damn if you stand for the exact opposite of everything Tom Perriello stood for, Tom Perriello has earned my highest respect for truly believing in (and standing behind) his actions.
- Likewise, Robert Hurt was in the driver’s seat from the day he declared his candidacy. Robert Hurt surrounded himself with smart people who knew how to play the political game, and it worked perfectly. Chris LaCivita is a political genius, no matter if you like what he does or not.
- Robert Hurt and his handlers ran a campaign that I just simply didn’t like, but damn, did it work. As a person, he was very hard to make contact with and he didn’t do much with the “little people”. But when you’re ahead of a sitting incumbent all throughout the campaign, the correct gameplan is “Don’t Make Mistakes”. Hurt didn’t make any mistakes, and he’s the new Congressman.
- I am immediately pissed off at the “OMG The 5th District Made A Horrible Decision And The Sky Is Going To Fall” attitude that I’ve started to hear from the extreme-partisan part of the losing side. Extreme-partisanship sucks, no matter which side of the aisle you represent. The world isn’t going to end. We’re going to be just fine, just like we would have been if Tom Perriello had won. Your guy lost. Let’s move along and work together with everybody. Together, we truly can make this a better place. Just to make it clear, I would have said the same thing about the Extreme-Republican side’s inevitable same type of whining that would have came out if Hurt had lost.
- Robert Hurt is a conservative. Anybody who said otherwise during the campaign was full of crap.
- Tom Perriello wasn’t a liberal. Anybody who said he was during the campaign was full of crap as well.
- Jeff Clark’s candidacy turned out to be perfect for everybody. He got his point across and neither of the major parties can say he ruined things for them. I truly hope that Jeff Clark stays around in the political way of life and would be very interested if he runs for Danville’s City Council in 2012. Jeff Clark earned my respect for what he did during this campaign, despite a few missteps along the way.
- If you voted for Jeff Clark because you believed what he stood for, you did the right thing. If you voted for Jeff Clark because you thought Robert Hurt wasn’t conservative, you were an idiot.
Enough about the 5th District… let’s talk about the 9th District.
- Wow. Rick Boucher lost. Wow again. I never thought it was possible, even when Morgan Griffith started running one hell of a campaign.
- One vote can make a difference. I’m not talking about an individual’s vote, but Boucher’s vote for the “cap-and trade” legislation. No matter how Rick Boucher tried to explain that he did it for the coal industry, the voters saw it as a vote against his own people. “Cap-and-trade” ended Boucher’s 28-year career as a Congressman.
- Although I’ve got a firm position against out-of-area political candidates, there’s no way I could paint Griffith that way considering his property line was the 9th District boundary, and the fact that he’ll be in the 9th District after redistricting. Boucher’s “He’s not from here” advertisement simply pissed me off.
More “thoughts” coming about other election results soon…
I am not in the 9th district, but lived up that way years ago before I moved here in 1981. Boucher seemed to have been in office FO-EVAH. I am glad to see him go. I agree that the cap and trade vote killed any chance.
I also think the health care bill vote killed Perriello’s chances. He (well, his office) actually repsonded to a letter I sent back during all the debate about that horrid bill. I must say I was impressed that I got a response that was not a form letter and addressed the specifics of my letter.
I did not vote for him the first or second time but I was surprised to get that letter!
Profane statements aside, I pretty much agree with all your remarks–at the very least for the 5th District (because I simply didn’t pay attention to the 9th District).
I’ve said this elsewhere online (where you, Mr. Blogger, know where to read, ha ha,) thus I’ll give the encapsulated version here:
– I respect Congressman Perriello for clearly stating his specific goals. Also, agree or not with the message, he **really** knows how to make a good TV ad! (or at the very least, has some **highly** skilled publicist(s) on his staff!)
– Simply as a free-thinker, I felt personally insulted that Senator Hurt did **not** attend **multiple** debates **because** Mr. Clark *did* attend! I genuinely told a guy at his campaign office (when a live person called my home phone) that that fact alone *really* hurts his campaign. Also as a free-thinker, my jaw literally gaped a couple times during the one time I saw Sen. Hurt in public debate with Rep. Perriello (sans Mr. Clark) due to the astounding way he never answered any questions. Q: “Why did you vote this way?–and what would you do differently?” A: “We’re hard-working Americans who need more jobs and can’t handle any more of this other guy’s rubber stamp.” Wait. Where was the answer?! (paraphrased of course, not real quotes) That was about the last straw right there.
– I voted Jeffrey A. Clark, independent, because of what he stood for, and the fact that he -stood- for it. Especially on his website, he stated all his goals (for and against) with reasons why, and *multiple contingencies* for if certain goals and strategies fell through. This was a man with a plan. I hate to say it, because of the *obvious* implication upon my fellow human beings, but I’m leaning *heavily* toward the belief that the senator won this race *because* he was Republican and because this was a We Hate Democrats election year from the get-go. I wouldn’t be surprised **at all** if droves of people voted “R” for the sole sake of the “R”–as in, if anybody else had been in Sen. Hurt’s place, that they would’ve gotten it, too, just because of the R. I *don’t* want that to reflect upon Sen. Hurt himself as an individual, but rather the voting mentality–*but* in this case I *do* have to let this reflect upon Sen. Hurt *because* of how his campaign was a do nothing campaign! Like you said above, his strategy seemed to be, “just ride it out, don’t say anything, and let the waves bring me in.” Nevermind actually *trying* to *do* anything. *Ugh.* As opposed to Mr. Clark, who seemed to at least *try.*
Anyway. It’s late. Rant rant rant. heheheh
To be clear, I’m not so much ranting about the candidates as I am the public mentality of strategizing politics like what George Washington warned against from the very beginning. Erg! (However, I admit I -am- ranting a certain amount about Sen. Hurt shying away from debates, then going to one debate and opening his mouth for four minutes at a time without actually saying anything, with one exception: when Rep. Perriello commented about how we need to get away from all the 30-sec attack ads, Sen. Hurt got very specifically down to business and called him out on his blatant hypocrisy: “thank you for reminding me about those thirty-second attack ads, since that’s been about all we’ve seen from your campaign in the last few months”–ouch! awesome! good job! lol (and I *did* quote that one best I could, from memory))
…
Didn’t I already say it’s late? Yeah, okay, I’m done. Thanks for the venue. Heheheh.
What’s up with all the ************??????
JimBob
I think on some blogs that is the way you make your letters bold.
Bruce,
I agree with almost every part of your last post.
I simply must take issue with the comment that Perriello was not a liberal.
I know he spent lots of time talking about being an ‘independent voice’…but the facts simply do not bear that out.
He voted with the most liberal wing of his party over 90% of the time. When he did not (the unemployment compensation act of 2009 for example) it was not because he was breaking with big spending liberal line, it was because it was not big spending and liberal enough.
He also was supported strongly by ultra liberal special interest groups who did not so invest in actual moderates like Heath Schuler in NC-11 for example.
TP got the NRA endorsement because of a stupid flaw in their endorsement system that skews it toward incumbents, not because he was more ‘gun rights friendly’ than congressman-elect Hurt.
The Huffington Post, Talking points memo, and other progressive and liberal outlets also sung his praises, again not something they did for other dems in tough races who were actually moderate to conservative (blue dogs).
He was a liberal progressive (boy I like talking him in past tense) plain and simple….
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I will say that I give him credit for standing by his voting record when pressed and not running from it. Every time Hurt said something about the “failed stimulus package” TP would not shy away from that vote. I disagree with him and his vote on that…but I respect that he stood his ground. His “I’m a fighter” comments and strategy worked and his passionate speaking helped further that strategy…that to me what made it a race…other wise I think Hurt would have smoked him.
Same with Boucher on Cap and Tax…that one vote did him in. His no vote on health care helped him stay close…IMO, if he had voted for Pelosi and Obama’s health care reform – independents would have broke even more to Griffith and it would not have been close.
A greatly ironic thing about the 5th district race is this, TP got into office in large part because of the coat tails of then candidate Obama and what he was partner with him to accomplish, and 2 years later he got voted out in large part because of what was accomplished in his partnering with President Obama.
Interesting, huh? No matter your political stripe that is just plain intriguing.
I can say Robert hit the streets on foot to meet the little people like me. I met him in Halifax on day in a small store when he walked in. I even told him I liked a man who got out on the streets to meet the people.
about the debate answers that did not answer the question: neither candidate excelled here. The discourse was so acrimonious at the end of the race that it was naive to expect otherwise. cruel but true.
Perriello, even with his horrible, horrible liberal votes, is one of the best campaigners I’ve ever seen. He is not the best speaker, but he doesn’t shy away from an event or a person or an issue. Robert Hurt ran exactly the correct campaign against Perriello. no mistakes.
In November 09, Sen. Hurt told me that the next Congressman would be the one who made the fewest mistakes.
The voters in the 5th district have given one term Tommy his pink slip.Tom Perriello had alot of townhall meetings but he thought the people in Charlottesville were the only people he had to pay attention to. That didn’t pay off for him.A endorsement from the NRA,VFW,the far left wing News and Record(Tom McLaughlin),and a visit from Obama couldn’t save Tommy boy from defeat.Here is a message to our elected officals if you don’t listen to us we will throw you out like yesterdays newspaper.
And now we’re back to the status quo of neo-con circle jerks. Good thing, too, or sc.com might have collapsed into a black hole or something. 😉
Well Andy, while I am not sure I accept your premise regarding discussions here….
I pointed out to you on this very sire just the other day that if you prefer the liberal circle jerk (which I am sure you do) halifaxTalk is still open for business, and you are still a moderator.
And you’re welcome to post on HalifaxTalk.com as well.
Go reread the comments here on sc.com. The overwhelming majority are from conservatives with a lot of them just being sanctimonious backslapping.
conservatives have much to cheer this week. and though we have work to do, we can be allowed our few days of “backslapping”.
I don’t begrudge you the victory celebration.
And you guys have a constant circle jerk here telling each other how smart you all are to be conservatives, etc. Honestly, I don’t expect anything different, which is exactly why I pointed out that you were acting differently in the comments on Dave’s guest column.
Just pretend I’m not here. I’ll leave a box of tissues for easy clean up when you’re done.
AndyR like I have told you before if you aren’t happy with your elected officials you could always run yourself.
This has nothing to do with our elected representatives. It has to do with the childish behavior of this blog’s readers. You assume a mob mentality more often than you’re willing to admit.
It’s like middle school… complete with the popularity contest (thumbs up/down and star ratings).
As far as elected officials, I support the person who most closely lines up with my views. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose. I’m ok with it either way. That doesn’t mean that I’m prepared or willing to run for office. How does your mind even make a connection like that?
AndyR you have complained about many of our elected officals in the past.Im not trying to pick a fight it just gets under my skin for people to complain about our elected officals who give alot more than we give them credit for but are unwilling to do the job themselves.
And you’ve done your share of complaining as well. It’s what we all do. As long as people are involved enough to understand the issues and are motivated enough to vote, I welcome all complaints, from all sides of the political spectrum. Even my favorite representatives haven’t been above criticism from me.
You are correct I have but I also spent over 30 years working for candidates that made me proud.I have gotten way to old to be in the trenches any longer.If you remember back in the primary I supported Mike McPadden but after he lost I did what I could to help Robert Hurt.Perriello did NOT speak for me hell you couldn’t even get him on the phone.That is the very reason Perriello lost. He had alot of townhalls but he didn’t listen to what the people were saying.Will Robert Hurt listen ? I think he will but if not he will surely face the same fate that Perriello did.
Ahhh…gotcha.
I have to have 30+ years of campaign experience or actually run for office before I complain.
You have a lot of STFU’s to serve, then…and on both sides of the aisle.
Thats not exactly what I was saying but being you have gone there.What have you done to be involved in the politics you complain about ?
I read from various sources to stay informed about politics and how it affects my life. When a candidate comes along that I really support, I donate monetarily to the campaign, and when I have free time (which is very rare for me between work and other civic commitments) I volunteer to prepare mailings or make phone calls for the campaign.
In my opinion, any citizen has the right to complain about any candidate or representative, especially if they vote.
I agree with you on that but most of the ones that complain do very little to change things.
though I don’t live in Robert Hurt’s Senate district, I am interested in who is running for his seat because our 5CD chair has announced.
Bruce, do you know the persons from Danville who are also interested?
TEA Party leaders must take the stand now for morality in all aspects of civil society and seek to bring about true conservatism by protecting the nuclear family (Marriage Amendment), defending the unborn (Life Amendment), and replacing Social Marxism and the threat of Islamic encroachment with Biblical Christianity (Religious Declaration Amendment).
Therefore, to restore the republic TEA Party Patriots must return the True God to His rightful place in our nation and resist the temptation to compromise for the sake of political gain.