Rep. Tom Perriello is this election's test case of whether casting tough votes is better than ducking them and whether a progressive who fashions an intelligent populism can survive in deeply conservative territory.
So begins E. J. Dionne in today's Washington Post in a piece titled Virginia's 5th District race may say a lot about the electoral landscape. It is a thoughtful piece which can help one understand how the Congressman functions, and why he not afraid to run on the record he has created.
I will explore the piece a bit below the fold.
And full disclosure - I met Tom Perriello through Creigh Deeds in February on 2008 and we have become friends. He is the primary recipient of our limited political contributions this cycle.
Let's be clear. In many ways Perriello was rightly considered the most vulnerable Democratic Congressman this cycle. His was the closest House race in 2008, with him defeating longterm incumbent Virgil Goode by only 727 votes, perhaps only winning because Mark Warner carried the district in the Senate race with 65% of the vote. Obama lost the district by more than 7,000 votes. This time neither Warner nor Obama (whose presence helped turn out African-American votes in the cities and young voters at UVa) would be on the ballot.
Yet recent polling has had the race neck and neck (except for SUSA, which as readers of the front page here at Daily Kos know somehow has Republicans winning the 18-35 year old democraphic).
The district is Conservative. Yet Tom Perriello is not, being more of a populist.
Perriello did not take the route of the Blue Dogs. In fact, he is a proud member of the Progressive Caucus. As the article notes, rather than oppose the president on many issues, he instead
supported the stimulus package, the cap-and-trade bill and health-care reform. Not only that, he proudly defends his votes and sees the administration as being not forceful enough in presenting its program as a coherent effort to deal with the nation's biggest problems.
"If you take the stimulus, health care and energy and you treat them as three discrete debates, you've already lost," he said in an interview over a late dinner Tuesday. "All three were about making us competitive in the world."
Tom still drives his battered white pickup truck all over the district, and I have to offer one line from Dionne about that truck: He used it long before Scott Brown made trucks the preferred form of political transportation.
Perriello supports more spending on infrastructure and is critical of the bailout of Wall Street. On the former it is worth noting that the Democratic leadership in Congress recognized early how tough his reelection race would be and as a freshman place Perriello on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He also serves on the Veterans' Committee.
Perriello has received several endorsements that might be surprising for a Democrat. He had already received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, important in this sprawling and largely rural district, which is shaped almost like a triangle with the apex at Charlottesville and spreading out to the broad base at the North Carolina border, covering an area the size of New Jersey.
And as Dionne notes,
On Wednesday morning, several generations of veterans gathered at the Dan Daniel Memorial Park to announce that Perriello had won the endorsement of the political arm of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A lot of outside money, including from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, possibly illegally funneling foreign contributions, is coming in against Perriello. Why? Let me offer his words, as quoted by Dionne:
"The Republican playbook this year has been to stand for nothing, learn nothing from their mistakes, and then use labels and scare tactics," he said after the VFW news conference. "When you've got a guy endorsed by the NRA and the VFW, their attempt to say I'm a rubber stamp for a leftist agenda becomes ridiculous. First and foremost, I'm a populist."
Dionne offers an accurate portrayal of Tom Perriello, and of the nature of this race. As Dionne writes Tom
focuses rebuilding American manufacturing and using clean-energy investments to jump-start new industries in his district makes the appeal to economic patriotism a natural extension of his campaign. He distinguishes between concentrated corporate power, which he's against, and innovation and entrepreneurship, which he's for.
If we as progressives want to win in more rural areas, we need the likes of Tom Perriello. If you have some extra time you might contact the campaign about helping. If you have some extra bucks, you might consider going to Perriello's campaign website and clicking on the Contribute button.
This is a man who does not get intimidated. After all, he helped get dictator Charles Taylor indicted. in 2009 when other congressmen shut down their August town halls because of Tea Party protests Tom kept going, holding more than any other Member. He has held 45 since taking office, while his Republican opponent, Robert Hurt, avoids such events - as he avoids debates, especially if the Tea Party candidate (who is drawing only 1% in the polls) is included. Hurt is afraid of debating Perriello, with good reason: Tom is bright, in command of the facts, and very quick on his feet without being glib.
Let me offer the final paragraph from Dionne to make clear what is at stake:
Thus has Virginia's 5th District become a laboratory test of many propositions. Do politicians who vote their convictions over their obvious political interests get rewarded or punished? Can a Democrat use populism to trump garden-variety conservatism? And will the massive intervention of corporate money turn this election to the Republicans, or instead turn off voters? A lot rides on this one-term underdog who turns 36 on Saturday.
Perhaps in honor of that 36th birthday you might consider a contribution on behalf of this outstanding young Congressman?
Thanks.
And peace.