VA 5th 2010: Virgil Goode: "Groups have talked to me about running" (another NY-23 in the works?)

The Washington Post ^ | 2010-01-17 | Amy Gardner

[rabscuttle385]

Former Virginia congressman Virgil Goode said in an interview today that "a couple of groups" have asked him to run for his old seat in central and southside Virginia's 5th Congressional District -- and while he didn't say he would, he didn't say he wouldn't, either.

Goode, a lawyer from Rocky Mount, said he's paying close attention to the seven candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat Tom Perriello, who unseated Goode two years ago by fewer than 1,000 votes. Goode said his hope is that Republicans will nominate a candidate "who shares most of my beliefs and my ideals."

Goode demurred when asked whether that description describes Robert Hurt, the state senator from Chatham who enjoys the backing of a number of state and national Republicans but is not viewed as sufficiently conservative by local Tea Party organizers. Conservative activists are also rankled that party leaders have anointed Hurt without regard to the views of local Republicans. (Last week, House Minority Whip Eric I. Cantor disclosed that he had given Hurt $7,000 from his leadership and campaign committees.)

[Frantzie]

Newt Gingrich will show up to help the Democrat. McCain may turn up too.

[Prokopton]

Newt Gingrich will show up to help the Democrat. McCain may turn up too.

What about Palin?

[SmokingJoe]

“What about Palin?”

Which Democrat has Palin helped then?

[SmokingJoe]

Nope.
BTW, all 60 Democrats voted for 0bamacare. All 40 Republicans voted against 0bamacare, even Olympia Snow.

[freekitty]

You mean they are going to sell us out?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Goode could end this potentially fractious situation by announcing he wants a rematch... as a Republican. If he runs Indy with Hurt as the “R”, Tom Perriello gets a 2nd term with a plurality.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Is Goode a Conservative? Is he a tea Party goer? How was his record? I would rather see new faces and not retreads. If he is a Conservative in the Reagan mold —lets go for him over some hand picked RINO.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Goode is the former incumbent (1997-2009), a DINO turned Republican (he gave Democrats heartburn when he served in the VA legislature). He had an excellent record, but ran a poor campaign in ‘08 in a seat he shouldn’t have lost. Given the climate, if he wants it, he could get it back. I’d oppose his potentially running 3rd party if Sen. Hurt gets the nod, because that would only serve in keeping the Dem in his seat.

[cripplecreek]

Gosh I hope so. Virgil Goode is great.

I believe he is another example of a conservative tossed overboard by the NRCC a few years back.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

I’d oppose his potentially running 3rd party if Sen. Hurt gets the nod, because that would only serve in keeping the Dem in his seat.

---

Not to single you out....

But...this nonsense is why we have RINOs in the GOP. Real conservatives vote conservative....and vote conservative if the independent is the conservative and the GOP is a Liberal RINO.

Fraud cons like Mark Levin and others...who tell people not to vote for a third party conservatives...are what is killing the GOP....and end up losing elections with liberals

[cripplecreek]

The Retread in my district is leading the democrat incumbant in my district by 10% in early polling.

[cripplecreek]

The GOP wouldn’t have to worry about a potential 3rd party challenge if they behaved like conservatives themselves. Instead of fixing themselves they choose to attack.

Also there’s this top down strategy the GOP seems to be desperately clinging to. We want representatives who will represent us first and foremost, not representatives who put party first. And we want representatives who will uphold the constitution.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Oh, I understand the point you’re making, however, for taking a principled stand, you also have to be willing to accept the consequences for doing it. Running 3rd party candidates is, more often than not, going to usually assure the Democrats win (if by pluralities). Only if by happenstance that the Republican running REALLY is left-wing along with the Democrat does a 3rd party Conservative stand a shot at taking it (and I don’t mean RINO as in they vote wrong just 25% of the time, but RINO as in they vote wrong 75% of the time, and that’s a big difference). In that New York special, for example, the leftist RINO/DIABLO nominated reached the point where she was taking votes from the Democrat, and her exit from the race was actually the worst thing to have happened, because she held onto a small percent of votes that might’ve been either left-wingers or “we’ll vote for the Republican regardless” bedrock — in which case if it was the latter, as I surmised, that cost our 3rd party Conservative.

You have to look at each race one by one and see just how far you are willing to go in tolerating certain candidates. They may not be the best, but they’re “acceptable” in the grand scheme. For example, I ultimately had problems with the MA Senate candidate, because he’s not really a straight Conservative, no member of the MA legislature with an “R” is a Conservative, they’ve been purged, one reason the party is dead there (in spite of Brown’s win, which was a fusion win, not an exclusive Republican win). But Brown’s winning would have immediate positive benefits, as many Republicans who might’ve been reluctant to run before are now stepping up to go this year, and we may ultimately end up with the strongest batch of candidates not currently incumbents since 1994.

Not to say I’ll personally support any “R” just because they are. Some simply go too far. I refused, for example, to vote for the Senate incumbent in TN, Lamar!, in 2008 because he pandered so much (and needlessly, I might add) to the Democrats in this state that if you looked at his ads, you’d have thought he WAS the Democrat nominee. Other candidates (R’s) are so bad as to give aid and comfort to the Democrats, and to support them really is slicing our own throats as Conservatives (Graham in SC, Mark Kirk in IL, and most especially, the abomination himself, John McCain). Sometimes you really are better off if a Democrat openly wins in some of these particular instances and wait for the next election to get someone who isn’t offensively anti-Conservative.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Do you feel comfortable in declaring Tim Walberg will be renominated over Rooney and the other challengers ?

[cripplecreek]

Walberg leads Schauer by 10 and Rooney trails Schauer by 10.

[fieldmarshaldj]

No, no, I meant do you believe Walberg will win the GOP primary ? How does he match up against Rooney in the primary ?

[cripplecreek]

I haven't seen any polling but most people I talk to have never heard of Rooney and those that have aren't thrilled with him moving here to run.

This was included in the email sent out by Walberg yesterday.

"Toss-up" if Walberg is Republican nominee, "Likely Democrat" if another Republican is the nominee

A national election analysis firm, PRIsm Information Network, earlier this week sent a political update to their subscribers, which includes political and public policy leaders around the nation. The complete update, "Walberg Gets Big Boost," is below, but here are some of the highlights:

· "According to the data, Walberg, who served one term before Schauer unseated him in 2008, leads 46-37%. With leaners, Walberg's advantage swells to 50-40%."

· "Though this data isn't good for Schauer, Walberg's Republican opponent fares even worse. Businessman Brian Rooney, brother to Florida Rep. Tom Rooney, is also a candidate for this seat. When paired with Rep. Schauer, Rooney trails 31-39%, a swing of 17 points in favor of the Democrat if he replaces Walberg on the general election ballot."

· "With Rooney attracting ten points under the generic MI-7 Republican number, expect a push from at least the state GOP leadership to convince him not to officially file his candidacy, thus giving Walberg a clear shot at Schauer. This would allow the party to conserve their more limited campaign resources for what will be a fierce battle against the incumbent."

· "A Schauer-Walberg re-match race must be considered a pure Toss-up. A Schauer-Rooney contest would now have to be considered as Likely Democrat."

As far as the other GOP challengers are concerned, they don't appear to be an issue. One of them is the democrat defeated by Walberg when he won the seat in the first place. She's now running as a republican. The other challenger? ((shrug))

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yeah, it seems like Rooney should be running for lesser office first. Schauer was a fluke win, anyway, mostly due to, as you put it, the party abandoning Walberg when he needed funding. We should get back many of those Dem-held seats in Republican districts this year.