Brian Patton provided some surprising news on his blog last night — Jerry Kilgore appears to be considering a run for congress. Brian writes:
I have verified with two sources in the Ninth District that they received polling calls yesterday. The beginning of the call addressed why the person thought Kilgore lost the gubernatorial election. The second part of the call dealt with why the person thought Southwest Virginia continued to support Rick Boucher.
This confirms that Kilgore is looking hard at a possible run against Congressman Rick Boucher in 2006. Kilgore did have a good showing this past election cycle in the Ninth District, receiving 21,101 more votes (12.18%) than the Governor-elect, Tim Kaine.
I’ve got to say up front that I love Rick Boucher. There are are hundreds of thousands of geeks and .com refugees across the nation who can’t tell you the name of their own congressman, but they can tell you all about Boucher. He is an absolute rockstar among my fellow techies. (The man guestblogged for Larry Freaking Lessig last year. How cool is that?) He’s as good as Goodelatte on tech issues, but, unlike Goodelatte, I get the sense that he really gets it. Boucher well deserves reelection, and I’d certainly do what I could to help him.
That said, I really like the idea of Kilgore running against Boucher. I think it speaks well of Kilgore. Rather than just disappearing, or deciding to wait four years for the same seat, he’s got his eye on a smaller prize. Also, I detest our redistricting process and the rarity with which incumbents are ousted, and I can’t help but smile at the prospect of a real race against an incumbent, my incumbent though he might be.
I agree with Brian that it would be a tough race for Kilgore. Folks outside of the Ninth District may not appreciate how liked that Boucher is. (I only lived in the district for a year and a half, but it quickly became obvious to me.) Kilgire is smart to do a lot of polling, since Kilgore’s political career would surely be over if he lost this race by more than a few points. But I find it impressive that he’s even thinking about it, if indeed he is.
Boucher rocks. I always liked how Boucher is like *the* leading technology guy from random rural Southwest Virginia.
From a national standpoint it would be really really hard to oust Boucher. But it might not be that hard from within the district. Given the demographic.
Anyway Boucher rocks and so does Larry Lessig.
Oh one other thing, is Russel County part of his district?
VITA is (presumably) moving their servers and security operations to a technology park/center down there. I wonder if he was involved.
“[I]s Russel County part of his district?”
Yes.
“I wonder if he was involved.”
Not sure how directly, but he was certainly pushing for it to go somewhere in the Ninth District.
If Kilgore does run, I will be impressed. It takes guts to come back from a loss like that and run for what many would call a lesser position.
That said, I wouldn’t vote for him and I’ll give my support to Boucher. I don’t think there’s any way that Jerry Kilgore can beat Rick Boucher. Boucher just doesn’t have any significant vulnerabilities and the tide is generally against Republicans for Congress right now.
Kilgore might be able to earn my respect, if not my vote.
I loved Rick Boucher a whole lot more before he promoted in committee and voted for the hideous bankruptcy bill. I assumed the credit card companies had bought his vote via contributions and/or jobs in his district (call centers, e.g.). Anyone know about the jobs issue? I can look up the contributions.
Any word on where Boucher stands on giving Hitler Internet access? You can be sure that’ll come up if Kilgore runs against him…
— Conaway
For someone who is so keen on internet issues, Boucher’s Website seems WOEFULLY lacking. Waldo, perhaps you can lend him a hand. I’ll give him one thing, he is the consumate politician, he is always on the stump.
Actually, I was surprised that early on folks thought Kev Triplet would run. I think a lot of us here in Scott County ‘knew’ John Kilgore meant Boucher’s seat when he said Jerry’s loss of he governor’s race meant he had bigger n’ better things in store.
Neal: take another look at the bankruptcy bill. It’s hardest on lawyers that used to do a lot of bankruptcy work – most of them are jumping ship. As for the people that need bankruptcy, the number affected is smaller than you might think – EXCEPT in finding legal counsel. Not that I liked it, because I hated it … (something to do with the large number of lawyers I find myself surrounded by, no doubt). In any event, the responsiveness of his office to people with problems (and the lack of any other shining lights here in the 9th) keeps me firmly in his camp.
Agitator: I agree – Rick is very cognizant of Internet and technology issues, but not very cognizant of design issues. That’s a ‘problem’ second only to the quality of printed ads his office habitually generates. Proof that substance is more important than style?
I think that’s a great idea. He would be a fantastic candidate. Able to raise money, top-notch name ID; he would give Boucher a good run for his money. I have to admit, the idea hadn’t even entered my thinking, but if you’re Boucher, you are praying for a Carrico/Boucher race.