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| Home Front: Politix |
| A freshman congressman faces sophomore slump |
| 2009-08-17 |
| In a small middle school library a man is shouting and wagging a finger at Rep. Tom Perriello. Perriello, a Democrat who represents Virginia's mostly rural 5th District extending from Charlottesville to the North Carolina border, has just embarked on his monthlong listening tour, and residents are unloading their anger about the Democratic agenda. They're mad about government spending, legislation aimed a curbing global warming and, most of all, plans to create a massive public health care system that would cover all of the nation's uninsured. "So you're going to steal my money," shouted the middle-aged man as he waved a miniature copy of the Constitution at Perriello, "and give it to somebody else who is not even a citizen?" Elected eight months ago over Republican incumbent Virgil Goode by a thin margin, Perriello faces a daunting challenge. The 34-year-old must try to help his party pass a sweeping plan to overhaul both the nation's health care system and its energy production while not alienating and angering constituents who chose Republican John McCain over Barack Obama 51 percent to 48 percent. "The Democratic leaders know I'm an independent and know I'm going to vote what I think is right," Perriello told The Washington Examiner. "And people in my district really respect that I'm showing up and having the conversation." Perriello is one of 30 or so Democratic members of Congress who are fighting to hold seats usually occupied by Republicans. They cruised to victory in the Bush-backlash election of 2006 and Barack Obama's history-making run in 2008, but now the political winds have turned against them. "I think that there is a great opportunity for this district to be Republican again," said Tucker Watkins, the longtime chairman of the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee, who has been meeting with a dozen possible candidates. "Congressman Perriello has not lived up to his pledge of working overtime, and he has voted against the wishes of the district over and over." Supporters say Perriello is not the standard rank-and-file Democrat his opponents portray him to be. He voted against releasing the second $350 billion in bailout funds for the nation's troubled financial sector, and he cast a "no" vote on Obama's budget proposal. Perriello also opposed a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, still widely grown in the district. "I think his values reflect the district," Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Richard Cranwell said. "I think he has asserted his independence and that is reflected in his votes." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Supporters say Perriello is not the standard rank-and-file Democrat his opponents portray him to be. Well then, he and his 'rational' fellow Donks had better get a replacement for Pelosi and her 'senior ranking' mobsters on the chairmanships or, yes indeedie, he is a rank and file Donk. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-17 08:50 |