A Campaign to Get Excited About!
Never mind Glenn Nye’s campaign. Elections around here are a crap shoot anyway. Time and energy is limited so why not get behind a candidate with courage and conviction who needs and appreciates our support.
Here’s two articles of interest supporting Rep. Tom Perriello:
Tom Perriello And Marco Rubio Have Massive Fundraising Quarters (Huffington Post)
Nye, Perriello take different approaches to re-election (RTD)
Here’s also his report on “How the Clean Energy Economy is taking off in the 5th District: A News Round-Up“.
WE MUST RETURN TOM TO WASHINGTON!!! He’s exactly the legislator we need. He represents everything we hold dear. http://www.perrielloforcongress.com/
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July 13th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Way to abandon ship, Eileen!
July 13th, 2010 at 7:59 am
By all means — get excited about Perriello and contribute to his campaign, but residents of the 2nd District can’t vote for him.
We must return both Rep. Perriello and Rep. Nye to Washington to preserve Democratic control of the House.
Rep. Nye is not the liberal that some of us may prefer, but he did vote with the Democratic Party 83.9% of the time (not that different than Perriello’s 90.0%), including key votes in favor of the economic stimulus bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, repeal of DADT, and financial reform (but against the climate change bill and health reform). His LCV score is 64% in favor of the environment (not very far from Perriello’s 71%).
Consider the alternative. If Rigell is elected, he will consistently vote with “the party of no” to obstruct President Obama and Congressional Democrats on a host of issues. He has recognized the impossiblity of repealing health reform, but has promised to de-fund it to impede implementation. His LCV score is likely to be in the single digits. If Republicans gain the majority in the House, Rep. Barton (R-BP) may become the Chairman of the Energy Committee.
July 13th, 2010 at 9:17 am
So you think Nye will not win reelection?
July 13th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I didn’t say that.
The 2nd is a swing district. Nye ousted Drake two years ago 52%-47% with Obama on the ballot.
According to the only poll I am aware of:
Rigell: 41%
Nye: 35%
Golden: 4%
MoE: ±4.9%
That makes it a statistical tie.
Rep. Nye and the Democrats in the 2nd district better get motivated.
July 13th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Or you could vote for and support Kenny Golden. You may not agree with him on everything, but unlike Nye and Rigell, you will always know where he stands on an issue. He will show up to every event and debate, answer any question on any issue, and will never shy away from an argument.
He is a social libertarian, so you don’t have to worry about him allying himself with any religious whack-jobs.
He has a plan for achieving energy independence and had a great town hall meeting on it last week.
He isn’t beholden to either party, so he won’t need to pander or suck money from special interests.
Come by his headquarters every Friday from 5pm to 8pm and meet him for yourself. Ask him any question, I guarantee you will be impressed; just ask Vivian Paige.
The choice is clear this November, you can choose two wimps who will never take a stand or you can chose a real man who always will.
July 13th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Slightly closer to home, another great progressive candidate with convictions – Wynne LeGrow – running against Conservative Randy Forbes in VA-4 – a district Obama won!
http://www.legrowforuscongress.com
http://twitter.com/wynnelegrow
(For the record – I fully support the re-elections of both Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello and all those who volunteer for them – keep VA blue!)
July 14th, 2010 at 6:39 am
Golden ought to be included along with Nye and Rigell in any public candidate debates. There isn’t much in Golden’s stands on the issues that would appeal to most Democrats, but I would encourage Republicans to give him another look and consider switching their support from Rigell to Golden if they are so inclined.
July 14th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Maybe most liberal democrats, but those are the vast minority in the 2nd district as any election statistic will show. For centrist/moderate democrats who are fiscally conservative, but socially liberal and are only turned off by the religious right, Golden has a lot to be happy about.
July 14th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
James Landon: If “liberal Democrats” are such a “vast minority in the 2nd district as any election statistic will show,” how did a “socialist” like Obama win the 2nd district 51%-49% two years ago?
July 14th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Hey, I’m a moderate and I am Glenn Nye supporter.
I was considering Kenny when I became upset with Glenn when I realized he had voted against the Unemployment Benefits extension but I have decided to forgive Glenn for this vote. The measure passed in the House anyway without his vote.
Here is the reasoning behind my forgiveness. I remember back when Glenn was campaigning right here on this blog during a question and answer session. I asked him to consider becoming a Blue Dog Democrat. By his response I judged he didn’t really even understand what a Blue Dog was. (This was understandable and excusable due to his lengthy service overseas.) But what happened once he got to Washington and figured out what a Blue Dog was? He threw in with them. He did exactly what I asked him to consider doing and just how can I now hold that against him? OK, OK, he might be a shade or two darker blue then I would find to be perfect, but once the economy improves enough I might be forced to hold my breath so that my shade of blue matches his.
Go Blue Dog Democrat Glenn Nye go.
Maybe he is trying to provide leadership and the best leaders are not those who simply try to stay in front of the pack.
All you Kenny Golden voters should consider voting for Glenn. Kenny has little chance of serving as anything more then a spoiler while Glenn could win. If you don’t want Rigell to emerge victorious how about considering voting for the guy who could keep him out of there? This comes from someone who has seriously considered voting for Kenny, not from someone who was going to vote for Glenn just because he was the Democratic candidate. I also think it would be real neat if Kenny looked at his chances and withdrew and endorsed Glenn. Are you listening Kenny?
July 14th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Oh, I forgot to add: Greetings from Kansas.
I like to add that tag to identify that I am on the road. This is pertinent because while I am on the road I am limited in my access to the internet. If you respond or ask a question of me and I don’t answer it is not because I am ignoring you, it’s because I am on the road right now.
July 15th, 2010 at 5:18 am
LittleDavid: Instead of sitting in front of a computer screen, you are out there in the real world. Keep on truckin!
July 16th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Obama didn’t campaign as socialist, he campaigned as a slight left of center populist. After the disaster that was George Bush, any democrat could have won the 2nd district.
Golden sees himself as vastly more qualified to handle the rigors of the job than both Nye and Rigell. Think what you will about his stances on the issues, but there is no doubt that Kenny’s experience dwarfs Nye and Rigell’s combined.
There is not a position Kenny has that is not backed by decades of first hand experience and education. You may disagree with him on some things, but unlike Rigell and Nye, he can and will always give a detailed explanation of where he stands on any issue, why, and how he arrived at that decision.
Nye and Rigell will never be able to do that for the 2nd district and that alone to me makes them not qualified to serve in Congress.
July 16th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Obama campaigned as (and has performed in office as) a pragmatic moderate Democrat. Many liberals have been disappointed that he hasn’t fulfilled their unrealistic expectations. We agree that President Bush was a disaster.
I have no doubt that “Golden sees himself as vastly more qualified.” Most political candidates need that kind of ego to run for public office.
Rep. Nye is a Congressman. Golden has never held elective office. How does “Kenny’s experience dwarf Nye’s?”
I disagree with Golden on most issues. I won’t vote for him just because he has “detailed explanations” for policies I disagree with.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Kenny has an undergrad from UVA in education, a masters in human resource management from Pepperdine, a masters in international relations from the Naval War College, and a federal executive fellowship at Oxford University. Therefore his educational experience dwarfs Nye who only has an underground from Georgetown.
Nye has 7 years in the state department before joining Congress. Golden has 31 years active duty in the Navy. Nye recused a few people from the Macedonian Embassy. Kenny was the task force commander for Amphibious Ready Group 8 that pulled 4,000 people out of Albania. Nye did foreign service work, Kenny made the first port visit to Russia since WWII and commanded the USS Dubuque homeported in Sasebo, Japan. Golden also commanded the first Navy helo squadron deployed during Desert Storm and was the commander of the largest amphibious task force since the Korean War; 7 ships with 10,000 sailors and marines.
Therefore Golden has more leadership and foreign policy experience than Nye.
Nye has been in Congress for 2 years.
Golden worked for 2 years at the office of the chief of Naval Operations coordinating Congressional testimony and then worked another 2 years as the officer in charge of the Navy’s carrier based helicopter program where he managed a $212 million annual budget.
Golden was also the first J5 and J8 at Joint Forces Command in Norfolk. He was in charge of policy planning, IE overseeing war planes for all the armed forces. Golden clearly has more time and experience working with Congress than Nye.
The biggest economic issue facing the district right now are those carriers leaving. Who is more qualifed to deal with that? Nye who has never served on a carrier? Or Golden who served for 20 years on one, has been a ships captain, has lead sorties to protect carriers from hurricanes, etc.. etc..
Care to argue how Nye is more experienced than Golden? Care to argue my point that Nye will never tell you where he stands and why? I want a Congressman I can trust and I can’t trust someone who can’t or won’t tell me where they stand.
July 17th, 2010 at 4:24 am
Oh, Nye will tell you where he stands.
And when it’s time for him to stand up, and keep his promises, he will be nowhere to be found.
July 17th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
James Landon: Golden will tell me where he stands. I don’t like where he stands.
spotter: Given a choice between Nye (who votes with Democrats 84% of the time) and Rigell or Golden (who will vote with Democrats 0% of the time), I hope Democrats in the 2nd district will vote for Nye. Like it or not, that is the choice they have.
July 17th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
It is so early. I predict as time goes by the national parties and special interest PACs will fling so much mud at he party candidates, people will stay home or vote for neither benefiting Golden. Somehow I remember that’s how Jesse Ventura won the Minnesota gubernatorial election.
July 18th, 2010 at 5:34 am
David, after 5 or 6 million dollars gets spent destroying Nye and Rigell, a large chunk of voters will be happy to vote for someone as straightforward as Golden. There is a large chunk of the electorate that is so fed up with both parties that they would gladly vote for someone honest and straightforward even if they disagree with them. Neither Nye nor Rigell have any resume or record to stand on, so the negative attacks are going to be very personal.
Innocent by-stander,
I was in Minnesota that year. What happened was that Norm Coleman used to be a democrat, and the DEMS in Minnesota saw that Ventura was polling high enough to play spoiler and let Coleman win. Because they hated Coleman so much, they pulled support from their nominee and gave it to Ventura, who somehow ended up winning.
July 18th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Golden is straightforward in the wrong direction. He is currently polling at 4%. To the extent that Republicans vote for him instead of Rigell, I wish him luck.
July 19th, 2010 at 5:50 am
Oh my, tsk,tsk Mr. Campell. That 4% figure, as I understand it, was a Rigell initiated push poll subsequent to the primary. That is not valid data to ascertain what will be on November 2. Fortunately, polls don’t determine elections, voters on election day do.
Thank you Mr. Landon for your clarification and information. Seems like a similar situation in the 2nd district with Democratic advocates upset with Representative Nye’s blue dog votes.
Additionally, it appears Rigell is reluctant to participate in any debate if Golden is invited. Smartlyl, Nye should insist Golden participate. Grab your popcorn ’cause this race is going to be one to watch. After watching a couple of Youtubes of Rigell arrogantly refusing to respond to an interviewer and the jaw dropped deer eyed Rigell staff doing nothing, I was immediately reminded of an excerpt from the keystone cops silent movies.
July 19th, 2010 at 6:39 am
It is true that this was an internal poll by Public Opinion Strategies (a partisan Republican polling firm) for Rigell, and possibly even a “push poll” (they don’t state the specific questions used). It is also true that it is still early, well before most voters are paying any attention to the race. However, it is the only poll we have at this point. I am sure we will hear of an independent poll soon enough.
The New York Times and the Cook Political Report both rate the race as a toss-up between Nye and Rigell, and don’t even mention Golden. Based on the limited information that we have, it appears that Golden has his work cut out for him establishing name recognition and persuading people to vote for him.
That’s going to be rather difficult, given Golden’s shortage of campaign money. As of the latest report, Nye has $1.26 million in the bank, Rigell has $227,000 (99% of it his own money), and Golden has $1,300. That won’t even buy many yard signs.
I have already agreed (comment #6) that “Golden ought to be included along with Nye and Rigell in any public candidate debates.” Golden is more likely to attract voters away from Rigell than from Nye.
Your theory that liberal Democrats like spotter who are “upset with Representative Nye’s blue dog votes” will vote for Golden is implausible. Nye isn’t 100% liberal. However, he is much more liberal than either Rigell or Golden. According to the National Journal, Nye voted more liberal on economic, defense and foreign policy issues than 45% of all Congressmen in 2009. It is more likely that voters like spotter will just stay home in November than vote for Rigell or Golden. Unfortunately, lack of Democratic enthusiasm for Nye will only help elect Rigell.
July 19th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Mr. Campbell, good points! And your rationale and assessments are valid. Unfortunately, many of the liberal sector are not as pragmatic as you. Plainly, and politely put, ten atta’ boys is negated by one aw-shucks. Representative Nye has more than one aw-shucks to his credit. Even as exhibited by this website’s founder, Nye’s name is Mudd and unforgiven. I believe, as I have gleaned, Golden approaches energy issues as a progressive and more acceptable to both liberals and moderates on social issues than either Nye and Rigell. Candidly, Rigell’s right-wing intolerance and religious hypocrisy will be his undoing. Nye will have to adequately contend with Golden.
July 19th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Thanks!
To the extent that Democratic voters care about political issues at all, their best choice is clearly Nye.
I see no evidence that Golden is “progressive” on energy or social issues. Golden’s positions on many issues are less than clear. Please let me know if I have mischaracterized them or if you can provide a source with a better statement of his position.
Nye voted for the stimulus bill — Golden opposed it: “government doesn’t create jobs.”
Nye voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Act — Golden opposed it.
Nye voted for repeal of DADT — Golden defends it: “We are not denying anyone their civil rights just because they cannot announce they are homosexual.”
Nye voted for financial reform — Golden opposed it.
Nye voted against climate change legislation — Golden favors free market solutions.
Nye opposes drilling offshore Virginia — Golden wants Virginia to receive 75% of royalties from offshore drilling.
Nye voted in favor of environmental protection 64% of the time — Golden seems philosophically opposed to government regulation.
Nye voted against health reform — Golden calls it “a government takeover of our health care system.”
Golden would forbid any federal subsidies for health care from going to any entity that performs abortions (which would effectively ban abortion).
Golden proposes “eliminating the income tax” and the Federal Reserve.
Golden proposes mandatory 2% annual budget cuts on each department except Defense and Homeland Security.
Overall, Nye votes with the Democratic Party 84% of the time — I don’t think Golden would be anywhere close to that level of support for Democratic priorities.
I find it very hard to believe that Democratic voters like Eileen and spotter who think that Nye isn’t liberal enough would vote for Golden. However, I can easily see how some of the less religious-right and more libertarian-minded Republicans may prefer Golden to Rigell.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
David Campbell,
Greetings from Missouri.
I thought Glenn voted against the stimulus. He did vote for TARP but against the stimulus. I’d do my own research on this but I have a real spotty WiFi connection (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will improve when truck traffic at the fuel islands dies down and they stop blocking the signal).
If Kenny Golden’s position on offshore drilling remained what it was as you identify it, I would put a check mark in his column. However right here on this blog he made a comment that seemed to indicate he is back pedaling towards opposing drilling off Virginia’s coasts due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf. I believe I commented that this seemed to indicate he was willing to stick his wet finger in the wind and cast his sails in whichever direction the populist winds blew (or something to that effect).
James Landon & Innocent Bystander:
Kenny Golden has an extremely impressive resume. However the resume only wins the interview and that is where Kenny is going to have trouble.
I love your comparison to Jesse Ventura up there in Minnesota. I get up into Minnesota frequently and I must say I love the people up there. People up there are different and I mean this in a complimentary way for the most part. People are so different up there that the Democratic Party up there is just not the Democratic Party, it is the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. My wife wants to relocate. I briefly considered relocating either there or in neighboring Wisconsin but eliminated them due to the hard winters. Snowmobiling would be great but you also have to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. Winters are hard and to deal with it you need the experience on how to deal with the winters to survive and it doesn’t hurt to have family to help. I can see retirement on the horizon and it is my understanding more Minnesota citizens retire to Florida then Florida citizens retire to Minnesota. I’ve experienced all four seasons up there. Three of them are down right pleasant but winter is brutal.
My point in that last paragraph is that is wrong to compare Virginia’s 2nd to any Minnesota congressional district. I do not think Kenny stands a Hale Mary’s chance of getting elected in this election in my district. I think Kenny needs to look at his chances and go one way or the other. He might be King Maker. In a biased question (colored towards my candidate) I will ask who will he go for? The used car dealer or the kid who chose to serve his country in the best way he knew how, and who’s service put him at great risk of his own personal welfare just like Kenny’s service did? Not every man has what it takes to serve in the trenches, but Glenn served in areas where often the employees of the State Department were bigger targets then those who served in uniform.
July 20th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
I always thought they should use the tourist advertising slogan “Missouri loves company.”
To set the record straight, Nye (and Perriello) voted with Republicans twice on procedural measures to delay the vote on the stimulus bill (maybe that’s what you remember?), but both voted for the stimulus bill. Not a single House Republicans voted for it, despite the inclusion of tax cuts.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:11 am
When you witness the entire Gulf of Mexico destroyed by an oil spill and decide to change your position, I don’t think that is sticking your finger in the wind.
Let us remember a few things;
Kenny has been not only the Captain of a ship, but a nuclear weapons officer/specialist, so he knows a thing or two about safety procedures. In the military, you must have full confidence that someone can do their job until given proof otherwise. The oil companies said they could operate wells safely, they said they could clean up a spill, and they have had a pretty good record of doing so. When was the last time you heard of an oil well blowing up? During Katrina they were able to shut all the wells down and not loose any oil.
With a military mind, of course you are going to support offshore drilling because all the empirical evidence shows we are capable of doing it safely. Clearly, the facts have changed. If you look at what happened in this case, it wasn’t any lack of regulations or safety rules, it was a complete lack of adherence to those rule and enforcement of those rules on the federal side and BP’s side.
The oil companies have no proven that they cannot safely operate wells and clean up spills. For someone to not change their position on drilling in light of this would be absolutely insane. So I totally disagree with your characterization that Golden jut stuck his finger in the wind. Lets be serious here, the Gulf of Mexico was just killed by an oil company that made promises it couldn’t deliver on. You would have to be crazy to not change your opinion of drilling in light of the new facts.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:59 am
It is an admirable trait to be flexible enough to change your mind in response to new information. That is certainly preferable to stubbornly clinging to a position in the face of overwhelming contrary facts.
Golden was in favor of drilling offshore Virginia. Now (after the BP disaster), he still favors drilling offshore Virginia but with more governmental regulation and enforcement (although he is generally opposed to governmental regulation and enforcement).
I have always been and remain opposed to any drilling offshore Virginia. All the empirical evidence shows we are not capable of doing it safely. Instead of continuing to provide massive government subsidies for an archaic and destructive source of energy, we ought to shift our resources to energy efficiency and clean sources of energy.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:05 am
UPDATE: The debate about the debate is in the news.
Rigell is demonstrating weakness by refusing to participate in any debate that includes Golden. Nye and Golden should show up and debate an empty chair.
July 21st, 2010 at 11:42 am
David, can you give me examples of empirical evidence showing we couldn’t drill safely before this BP disaster? I know there have been oil spills from ships, but anything even remotely close to this scale from a rig? I know there was a spill off the coast of Cali or Mexico decades ago, but I can’t recall anything sooner than that.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:36 pm
That’s like saying: “Aside from the Hindenburg, what evidence do you have that hydrogen dirigibles are unsafe for passenger travel?”
I would think that the Deepwater Horizon spill alone would be sufficient empirical evidence that we are not capable of doing it safely. In addition, there have been many major oil spills and countless minor oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the world. Those that occurring now are on modern state-of-the-art rigs, and some were under more strict regulatory control.
The fact remains that offshore drilling entails the inherent risk of oil spills. Although the probability is low, the negative impact is potential huge. BP operates thousands of rigs that haven’t had major spills, but it only takes one. The only way to absolutely guarantee that no spill will occur is not drilling.
Drilling offshore Virginia is an unacceptable risk. The Chesapeake Bay has been terminally ill and on life support for decades. Even a relatively small oil spill could pull the plug.
Also, the Navy has determined that drilling offshore Virginia would interfere with its training and operations.
Drilling offshore Virginia would not have a significant impact on importation of foreign oil or the price at the pump.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
There also was a large spill off the coast of Australia within the past couple years. Eileen used that large spill as an example of what could happen to Virginia’s coasts if drilling was allowed off our shores. I think that spill never reached shore in any significant amount and spilled oil stayed out in the ocean for the most part, but it was a large spill.
I remain in favor of drilling off our coast. It is part of my being in favor of “all of the above” approach of lessening our dependence on imported oil.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:07 am
In my comment #22, I skipped over an important point about the latest campaign finance report — who is supporting Rigell’s campaign, besides Rigell himself?
To date, Rigell has already contibuted $923,000 of his own money and spent most of it in the primary.
During the current reporting period, his general election campaign has $227,000 in the bank, of which he contributed $50,000 and loaned $175,000. That’s 99% of the funding for his campaign.
I’m sure he will eventually receive a big influx of cash from the national Republican party, but at this point it doesn’t look like Rigell has much support in the 2nd district beyond the walls of his own house.
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Maybe Rigell could get Sarah Palin to campaign for him. Rigell consultant Chris LaCivita “said Rigell was ‘absolutely not’ afraid to appear publicly with Palin, and that Rigell planned to take pictures backstage with her that would soon appear on his Facebook page.” Not that it would help him.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 am
UPDATE: Bad news from the 5th district: Republican Robert Hurt is leading Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello 61%-35%.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:41 pm
On the bright side, all that excitement here in Virginia Beach and the creative advertising seem to have swayed over three-quarters of the black vote, where Perriello holds a commanding lead 76% – 21%. I wonder if the campaign staff will be able to find more black voters in the next 60 days?
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 am
Here’s a link to a Washington Post poll that reports on a poll that shows a less commanding lead for Hurt.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/08/gop_poll_gives_hurt_6-point_ed.html
Please note the article I linked to claims that the competing poll was conducted in August, while if you follow some of the links you will discover it happened in July. However the same organization (surveyUSA) that is now reporting the huge gap obtained about the same results back in July as the results they came up with for August.
What is one to make of these huge disparities in poll results?