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No Purchase for Perriello in VA-05, Another Democratic Incumbent Congressman in Trouble: In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia's 5th Congressional District today, 09/02/10, Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 61% to 35%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 6 weeks ago, little has changed; Hurt is up a nominal 3 points; Perriello is flat. Hurt has increased his lead among men, younger voters, independents, and lower-income voters, and now is at or above 62% among each of those groups. Perriello, who...

State Sen. Robert Hurt has proposed the 5th District GOP host five debates before the June primary for the seven candidates hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Perriello in November. In a news release sent Thursday, Hurt called on all 21 Republican unit chairs in the district to work together to sponsor, schedule and plan the debates across the district in the coming months. “I believe that by having the local Republican committees develop the plan for these five debates, Republican voters across the 5th District will be well served by increased debate attendance, greater participation by smaller units...

With Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman running neck and neck with the Democrat in Tuesday’s special election in New York, some other disaffected Republicans are seeing the third-party route as more viable. And it could hurt the Republicans in those races. In Virginia’s 5th district, state Sen. Robert Hurt’s entry into the GOP primary has spurred little-known candidate Bradley Rees to switch to the Virginia Conservative Party. And in Ohio, another GOP primary contender said this week that he’ll run as a Constitution Party candidate. Both will go at the GOP nominees from their right flanks and try to expose...

Former Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) opened up a sweepstakes in his old district when he said last month that he wouldn’t run in 2010, and state Sen. Robert Hurt has emerged from the clutter as the odds-on frontrunner. Hurt has yet to make his intentions known, but those close to him say he is seriously looking at the race and is leaning toward entering it. Freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) has gained plenty of attention – some of it unwanted – during the August recess for the tightrope he is walking in a conservative district on issues like health care...