Over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to speak with two Democrats seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1) in 2010. This is not an easy district, with Wittman winning reelection last year 57%-42% over Bill Day. It's also worth pointing out that Barack Obama won 48% of the vote in the 1st CD last November; not bad, but also no cigar. Still, Rob Wittman has been such an abysmal representative for the 1st CD, so undistinguished, such a party-line hack, that he's definitely worth challenging. And, of course, I'd point out that you can't win if you don't play...or in this case, field a Democratic candidate to take on a faux-"moderate" right wingnut (and traitor to the environment, which he claims to care about). So, with that, on to the Democratic candidates who hope to replace Wittman.First, on July 16, I met with Scott Robinson at Hard Times Chili in Arlington. Robinson is a recently retired Army
Colonel who - among other things - served as Senior Military Advisor, Homeland Defense, Office of the Secretary of Defense beginning in 2007. Robinson grew up in Northumberland County on the Northern Neck, received an MBA from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and is a 2008 graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. In describing why he's running, Robinson talks about the values of "honesty, hard work, and accountability," as well as "improving my community and serving my country." Based on my conversation with him, my feeling is that Robinson would focus heavily on military and foreign policy matters, but also on the economy and energy. Robinson and I had an interesting back-and-forth on how to break our "oil addiction" and tackle the climate crisis, with the end result being that Robinson read Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded" and reported back to me that a "solution can only be accomplished through incentives. Example: you want to get gas hogs off the road - offer 4,500 + cash to the next car purchase." Overall, Scott Robinson is an impressive, intelligent, and personable guy. I'll be very interested to see how he does in coming months in terms of fundraising and building his campaign. I'll also be interested to hear more about his policy positions and overall political philosophy as time goes by.
Last night, I had the chance to catch up with the other Democrat seeking the 1st CD nomination. Her name, Krystal Ball, is certainly an easy one to remember. :) More substantively, I found Ball to be a highly impressive person - smart, personable, enthusiastic, energetic, level-headed, creative, and broadly progressive. Ball's top three areas she plans to focus on are education (she describes this as her "core issue"), environment (she is against building a new coal-fired power plant in Surry County), and economic redevelopment. One of her heroes and role models is Tom Perriello, who she called a "huge inspiration" (that certainly works for me given my tremendous admiration for Tom!). Ball's political philosophy reminded me a bit of Jim Webb's, particularly her social libertarian streak which, like Webb, makes her simultaneously pro-2nd Amendment but also against the government intruding in people's private lives. Ball also is big on promoting small business (she's a small businessperson herself) and "economic empowerment." And Ball is a big promoter of attracting the best teachers into the classroom, including paying the best teachers over $100,000 a year. Ball notes that a great teacher can make the difference in a person's life, and that we need to invest in them given how crucially important they are.
As to the politics of the 1st CD, both Robinson and Ball believes that Rob Wittman is beatable. Ball points out that Wittman is new, that people don't really know him, and that he's not really the "moderate" he claims to be. Also, both Robinson and Ball plan to run aggressive campaigns against Wittman. I'm not sure about Robinson's position on this, but Ball prefers that the Democratic nominee be selected in a primary ("take it to the voters"), partly in order to engage as many people as possible in the process. In the second quarter of 2009, Ball raised $102,000 and has $92,000 "cash on hand." Robinson just retired from the military, so as far as I know he was not able to raise money until very recently.
Speaking of fundraising, Ball specifically asked me to refer people - particularly young people - to her "Help Change the Country and Get $50,000 to Pay Off Your Student Loans" program. Basically, "Whoever raises the most money for Krystal by September 30, 2009 will get their student loans paid off, up to $50,000." Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, and it's all legal and legit (see conditions here).
In sum, we've got two highly promising Democratic candidates in the 1st CD, either one of whom would be infinitely superior to the pathetic, lockstep Republican Rep. Rob Wittman. I like both of them and will be following this closely; may the best candidate win! :)
P.S. For a June 2009 "Young Turks" interview with Krystal Ball, please click here.
