Virgil Goode: Tea Party Candidate vs. Robert Hurt?

Is former Congressman Virgil Goode (R-5th) going to run this year as a "Tea Party" candidate against Tom Perriello and whoever the Republican nominee turns out to be (most likely Robert Hurt)? It looks like it's a possibility.

Tea Party activists in Virginia's 5th Congressional District have asked former congressman Virgil Goode to consider jumping into the race to block Republican Robert Hurt's nomination.

[...]

Mark Lloyd, who leads the Lynchburg Tea Party organization, said he has spoken to Goode about getting into the Republican primary, a scenario that Lloyd described as "one option" to ensure the nomination of a sufficiently conservative candidate. The first option, however, will be to try to persuade the six other Republicans vying against Hurt for the nomination to choose the strongest amongst them and rally behind him or her. If they can't do that by Feb. 9, the pressure on Goode will intensify, Lloyd and others said.

Of course, if Goode runs as a third-part candidate, along with the Republican nominee (most likely Hurt) and Tom Perriello, this will almost guarantee Perriello's reelection. Unless, that is, Goode himself wins the election, but I find that hard to believe in a three-person, two-Republican/one-Democrat race.

Meanwhile, Eric Cantor has weighed in for Hurt and was immediately attacked by "several of the Republican primary candidates" and conservative bloggers. For instance, Feda Morton said, "I am disappointed that Cantor decided to get in behind Hurt; I thought he was more conservtive and principled than that." Laurence Verga added, "We would like Cantor to stay out of the fifth district and let the people make the decision on his own."

In other news, Hurt sent out a fundraising letter on Friday raising money for Republican candidate Scott Brown in Massachusetts. The question is, how long until Hurt is attacked as "supporting a RINO" (Brown's first job was as a...wait for it...TAX ASSESSOR! Brown also said he "never heard of" the Tea Party movement), "doing the bidding of national Republicans," "supporting a RINO," and as "not being focused on/loyal to the people of the 5th district?" Boy, is this ever going to be fun! :)