My belief that Virginia is in reach for Obama isn’t newly acquired, but it’s certainly stronger these days. \u00c2\u00a0 However, I can’t say that I’ve ever really been optimistic about the races for Virginia’s seats in the House.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, I thought that a Dem pickup in the 11th was a lock the moment that Rep. Tom Davis announced his retirement, but beyond that, I thought we’d be able to count on Virginia’s usual resistance to change to prevent any other swaps.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it looks like there may yet be a ray of sunshine breaking through in Virginia, as two House races have been shifting towards the Democratic challengers.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m still not optimistic about them, but I can definitely picture a victory.<\/p>\n
The first instance is down in the Second District, where Glenn Nye is challenging Rep. Thelma Drake.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a heavily military district, and the race has just been moved from “leans Republican” to “Toss up” by the folks at Cook.\u00c2\u00a0 Drake is one of those “Support the troops on the trail, vote against them on the Hill” Republicans, while challenger Nye has actually worked towards stabilization in Iraq.\u00c2\u00a0 Vivian Paige takes a look at the state of this race here<\/a>, and there’s a longer piece at Roll Call here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The second instance is a longer shot, and takes place in Virginia’s Fifth District.\u00c2\u00a0 Here, Tom Periello is challenging Rep. Virgil Goode, who is perhaps one of the most open and disgusting bigots currently in Congress.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Goode’s constituents, unfortunately, have demonstrated quite a tolerance for his intolerance by putting him back in office over and over again*.\u00c2\u00a0 However, challenger Tom Periello seems to have found a connection with the district, and the DCCC just dumped $650k into the race.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My friend and Fifth District resident Mark Brooks has been writing about the race here<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n So.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s to hoping.<\/p>\n *And as a warning to those who assume Dem = good, I’ll point out that he arrived in Congress as a Democrat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My belief that Virginia is in reach for Obama isn’t newly acquired, but it’s certainly stronger these days. \u00c2\u00a0 However, I can’t say that I’ve ever really been optimistic about the races for Virginia’s seats in the House.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, I thought that a Dem pickup in the 11th was a lock the moment that Rep. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t