Ah Virginia, where the political merry-go-round never knows to stop. With five weeks remaining in the 2009 political season, the 2010 race for congress in the Fifth District is already as crowded as a Saturday at the City Market.
Five Republican hats are already in the ring for the right to challenge first term Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello, and three of them belong to Albemarle County residents: Ken Boyd, a county supervisor; Laurence Verga, a commercial real estate businessman; and Michael McPadden, a pilot who is slated to make his official announcement this week.
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“I’m in this to the end,” says Albemarle Supervisor Ken Boyd, who wants to unseat Perriello in the Fifth District. |
“Basically, I believe people who want to run for office these days don’t understand what the basic principles of the constitutional republic are,” says McPadden of North Garden. “I want to bring back the concept of what our country was founded on, which was individual liberty and property rights.”
Traditionally, Fifth District Republicans have selected their candidate in a convention, which would be held in May, but some want a primary now that the task involves more than just feting Virgil Goode, who announced in July that he won’t go a second round with Perriello.
That announcement was to Fifth District Republicans as the pied piper’s melodies were to the rats of Hamelin. At least a dozen showed interest, and the most formidable candidates have yet to announce their intentions. Three state senators from the Fifth District—Robert Hurt of Chatham, Steve Newman of Lynchburg and Frank Ruff of Clarksville—are rumored to be considering bids.
Boyd says he’s in the race no matter who else shows up. “I’m in this to the end,” say Boyd. “The only way they’ll get me out of this is if I don’t get the nomination.”
All the chop-licking suggests that Perriello is easy pickings. But is he? GOP officials like to explain Perriello’s 727-vote margin of victory as a once-in-a-lifetime coattail campaign courtesy of Mark Warner and Barack Obama. But by 2010, Perriello will have the advantage of two years of doling out constituent services and federal pork.
And then there’s Perriello’s affability, which earns good marks even from the competition. McPadden was impressed by his delivery at a local town hall.
“He seems like a nice enough guy,” says McPadden. “He handled himself really well in front of a crowd. But a lot of what he said seemed disingenuous to me.”
The merry-go-round keeps turning.
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