Sen. Robert Hurt is courting the fringe right, Olympia Meola writes in today’s Times-Dispatch:
Some conservatives object to Hurt’s voting record—principally his support of a $1.4 billion tax increase pushed by former Gov. Mark R. Warner in 2004.
After he cast that vote, Hurt was among 19 Republican delegates and 15 Republican state senators featured in a “Virginia’s Least Wanted” poster issued by the Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform.
This month, Hurt went to Washington and attended a meeting of the anti-tax group.
“He basically made the case that this was not a vote he was comfortable with and that it wouldn’t happen again,“ Grover Norquist, head of the group, told CQ Politics.
Ain’t that a damned shame? Hurt’s reputation is as a reasonable, common-sense conservative. He’s a Republican, but he’s not angry about it. (He’s a Sorensen graduate.) A lot of his support comes from that reputation. It’s depressing to see him abandon his core principles for the sake of political gain, especially since the teabaggers aren’t going to buy it.
What’s more, he’s got baggage on the social conservative side as well.
Hurt’s only hope is that the eighty-four conservative primary candidates (who knows how many there are?) split the conservative dissent… in which case if Hurt wins, they stay home and Perriello gets a second term.
It’s a tough spot. Hurt has to explain away to conservatives why he won’t vote in Washington as he did in Richmond. The conservatives have to step up and explain why their more qualified than Hurt to take on Perriello.
All the while, Perriello is making every right move within the district — 26 town halls, a vote for Stupak (despite a vote for the health care bill). You may disagree with Perriello, but you get the feeling you could have a beer with the guy.
VA-05 will be the toughest pickup in Virginia this year. Mark my words.
You’re right, Waldo. Much better that he join President Barry’s “let’s charge the lunch to our children” crowd.
By the way, what’s up with the aggregator in the last few days? Is it affected by Snowpocalypse, too? ;-)
I think you mean “the Bush-Obama big spending program,” as Newt Gingrich recently referred to it. These folks are only upset when a Democrat is in charge. The worst part is that these pledges are bullshit, anyhow. (“Read my lips: No. New Taxes.”) But the choice isn’t binary. We don’t have to pick between Reagan- & Bush-style debt and Tenther-style anarchy. It’s a false dichotomy.
I have no idea what MediaTemple is doing. I pay an extra $20/month for a dedicated MySQL server for my aggregators, and it’s down at least once a week. I’m running out of ideas. They’ve got a great reputation, but my experience has not been good.
Mr Kenney, Periello has been running for re-election since he won his seat. (which is what anyone would be doing in a seat won in such a close race) He won in a district where Obama lost and McCain won. Republicans won over 60% of the vote in the November. The deck is stacked against Periello but he is the current congressman and that is still something. I do love to see people talking about how many town halls he did like the experience was a total plus.
To understand the race of ’10 you have to know why Goode lost. Moderate republicans found him no longer acceptable and Goode ran on of the worst races in Virginia-till Deeds’s race this year. Moderate will decide this race as well. The republicans can win this if the eventual nominee doesn’t have to go to far right.
That said, republicans can get some tea party approved person that puts republicans in trouble again.
Smart move by Hurt, and I’m glad to see him do it. He needs to kiss and make up with the conservative side of the GOP to keep them away from a 3rd party candidate. Hurt will certainly pull most moderates away from Perriello. The question is will he inspire enough of the base?
I think Hurt is smart enough to know how to win, and the climate next year will probably be just as good for Republicans (and bad for Democrats) as this past election.