The rumors about what
Jerry Kilgore will do following his unsuccessful gubernatorial bid have been all over the board the last few weeks. After talking to a few folks here in the Ninth District, though, his future plans are much more than speculation.
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.
Kilgore will have several problems in 2006, though, that he did not have this past cycle.
Here are a few:
- Boucher is incredibly popular in the Ninth District;
- Boucher has been in the U.S. Congress since 1983 (over 20 years);
- Boucher served in the State Senate from 1974 - 1983;
- Kilgore has NEVER held a local elected office; and,
- Kilgore just completed a very negative campaign which he lost;
Beyond all of these reasons, though, I am pulled back to something Governor-elect Kaine often repeated on the campaign trail - "if it ain't broken, why fix it?"
Although some folks may not agree with his politics, Boucher's constituent services are second to none. He says on his website that his "constituent service offices stand ready to help with any federally-related concern, no matter the size of the problem."
I know a lot of people take him up on that invitation too. His assistance on what would be small issues to most, but extremely important to the few involved, has earned him a notoriety with voters in the Ninth District that Kilgore cannot even imagine.
For these reasons and others, the smart money will be on Boucher to be re-elected in 2006.
Cross posted from Brian Patton