Posted on 02/18/2010 12:45:30 PM PST by freespirited
WISE, VA. -- The anger at Washington that is seeping across the country registered a while back in the high ridges of Appalachia, a once-indomitable Democratic stronghold where voters turned away from President Obama in 2008 just as overwhelmingly as they embraced him most everywhere else.
Voters in Virginia's 9th Congressional District are mad that the government has spent hundreds of billions to fix an economy that seems only to deteriorate around them. They're fearful of a federal takeover of health care. They're petrified that proposed emissions limits would destroy the coal industry that provides most of the region's jobs. And they want no part of a president they view as elitist and unlike them.
That anger, combined with the area's traditional Democratic ties, makes this mountainous region -- and a wider, rural arc from southern Ohio to Arkansas -- a prime battleground in this year's congressional elections. Democrats have been losing ground here for a generation, but 2008 brought a seismic party shift that Republicans hope to make stick in November. Already, four of the region's remaining Democrats have announced their retirements.
Even Rep. Rick Boucher, a 14-term incumbent who hasn't faced a strong challenger since the Reagan years, is in peril, prompting him to shift into campaign mode months earlier than usual and before Republicans have chosen his opponent. Whether he -- and other Democrats like him -- can hold on will probably determine whether his party can continue to control Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Would love to see us get rid of Rick Boucher.
Replacing Boucher would be awesome.
Boucher is dead meat this November along with Connoly, Pereillo and Nye.
If you know anyone who is wavering about voting for Boucher...say two words...NANCY PELOSI. She’s his boss, and getting rid of him will go a long way to getting rid of her.
His service to the voters is some of the best I have seen in a Congressman. I don’t think we can unseat him unless he gets caught with a child.
I’m hoping that Dave Nutter runs.
SWVA PING!
If the GOP can find a strong challenger, then Boucher's finished.
“Voting for cap and tax was his big mistake.”
He voted for the “stimulus,” the omnibus spending bill ($410 billion) and Pelosicare/Obamacare too.
He voted for:
Cap and Trade
Pelosicare/Obamacare
The “stimulus”
The omnibus spending bill
Service or not he’s toast this November.
This seems to mean he is afraid.
It would do my heart good to see Rick Bitcher sent back to Abingdon to open up a latte shop.
This could be the year.
Toast.
If you want to vote in the Republican Primary, contact your county GOP immediately and become a delegate to the 9th district Mass meeting in May. Most counties have a deadline in early March to file to become a delegate. Only delegates will have a primary vote.
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