Despite recent successes, the GOP remains deeply divided and burdened with the lunatic teabagger set which seems opposed to backing any Republican who isn't a Christianists and in need of mental health care. All of this is good for the Democrat incumbent of Virginia's 5th District congressional, Tom Perriello. The district contains an extreme range of voters that range from liberals in Charlottesville - perhaps Virginia's most liberal city - to stagnant backwaters like Danville and Martinsville which reflect Virginia's less than glorious past (and believe in the slogan at right) as opposed to the future. One can only hope that the GOP civil war will leave far right voters so divided that Perriello wins a second term. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:*
By all rights, Tom Perriello should have almost no chance to win reelection to Congress. He's a stimulus-backing, health-care-reform-loving, cap-and-trade-supporting liberal Democrat who represents a conservative central Virginia district where antipathy to the president and all things Washington runs high.
Perhaps too high. Perriello's opponents are so divided about who is the best conservative to replace him that they are transforming what should be a gimme for Republicans into a national emblem of GOP strife, potentially setting up a replay of the special election in Upstate New York in November that handed the Democrats a seat in a region they hadn't represented in more than 100 years.
Republican leaders in Virginia are backing a moderate state lawmaker, Sen. Robert Hurt, whose record enrages many conservatives, including a disparate band of Tea Party activists. To them, Hurt is not a real conservative because of his past support for tax increases, and they're promising a third-party challenge if he wins the nomination. And lurking on the sidelines is Virgil H. Goode Jr., the former GOP congressman who lost to Perriello by 727 votes and has hinted at running as an independent.
"We want a conservative, not a situational Republican," said Laurence Verga, a business owner from the Charlottesville area and one of five Tea Party candidates in the Republican primary. "I really believe the 5th District congressional election is about the soul of American politics."
But in such places as Virginia's 5th District, conservatives are uncompromising. Their goal isn't simply to reclaim the seat from Democrats: They want to fill it with only the purest of conservatives.
Unless leaders can bring the disparate groups together in districts like these, Republicans are likely to offset every unexpected victory they gain in a place such as Massachusetts with an unlikely loss elsewhere.
At least five distinct Tea Party organizations have formed across the 5th District, and activists say more are on the way. So far, seven candidates, including Hurt, are vying for the Republican nomination. Hurt is doing what he can to win over his conservative opponents.
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Nonetheless, the feelings against Hurt are growing. Last week, on the day of a large Tea Party rally in Richmond organized in part by groups from the 5th District, dozens of activists swarmed Hurt's Senate office, although he wasn't there. And last weekend, Hay and a handful of Tea Party leaders met to figure out how to block Hurt's nomination.
Perhaps too high. Perriello's opponents are so divided about who is the best conservative to replace him that they are transforming what should be a gimme for Republicans into a national emblem of GOP strife, potentially setting up a replay of the special election in Upstate New York in November that handed the Democrats a seat in a region they hadn't represented in more than 100 years.
Republican leaders in Virginia are backing a moderate state lawmaker, Sen. Robert Hurt, whose record enrages many conservatives, including a disparate band of Tea Party activists. To them, Hurt is not a real conservative because of his past support for tax increases, and they're promising a third-party challenge if he wins the nomination. And lurking on the sidelines is Virgil H. Goode Jr., the former GOP congressman who lost to Perriello by 727 votes and has hinted at running as an independent.
"We want a conservative, not a situational Republican," said Laurence Verga, a business owner from the Charlottesville area and one of five Tea Party candidates in the Republican primary. "I really believe the 5th District congressional election is about the soul of American politics."
But in such places as Virginia's 5th District, conservatives are uncompromising. Their goal isn't simply to reclaim the seat from Democrats: They want to fill it with only the purest of conservatives.
Unless leaders can bring the disparate groups together in districts like these, Republicans are likely to offset every unexpected victory they gain in a place such as Massachusetts with an unlikely loss elsewhere.
At least five distinct Tea Party organizations have formed across the 5th District, and activists say more are on the way. So far, seven candidates, including Hurt, are vying for the Republican nomination. Hurt is doing what he can to win over his conservative opponents.
*
Nonetheless, the feelings against Hurt are growing. Last week, on the day of a large Tea Party rally in Richmond organized in part by groups from the 5th District, dozens of activists swarmed Hurt's Senate office, although he wasn't there. And last weekend, Hay and a handful of Tea Party leaders met to figure out how to block Hurt's nomination.
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