Fifth District Congress race getting hotter

By Ray Reed

Published: August 6, 2008

National Democratic Party officials last week moved the Fifth District race between Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, and Tom Perriello into their top list of House races they see as competitive.

The Fifth District includes Nelson County.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee advanced Perriello up one notch in its Red-to-Blue program, meaning the political newcomer from Albemarle County can expect more help from the national party’s cash coffers and street-level workers.

Goode said he’s been a target of the DCCC in earlier races, as well as this one.

“I was already a top target of the Democrats,” Goode said.

“They like liberal Democrats like Perriello with his liberal views. They will continue to work hard for him because they want conservatives like me out of Congress,” Goode said.

He added that the DCCC statement confirms “how important the Obama factor is to the Perriello campaign,” referring to presumed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and large amounts of cash that Obama and the party have raised.

The national party’s help can include staffers going door to door to talk about Perriello’s program, as well as live phone calls to discuss issues, said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the DCCC.

There will be other contributions “to help Tom get the message out,” Van Hollen said.

The early voter contact can be followed by a get-out-the-vote effort closer to Election Day, Hollen said.

The DCCC is a fundraising political action committee to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives. It already paid for radio ads during the week of July 4 that criticized Goode’s vote on an energy-related bill.

At the time, the Perriello-Goode race was in the second tier of races the DCCC was watching.

Van Hollen said the PAC moved the 5th District race into its most competitive group because Perriello has raised more than $900,000 and his economic message seems to be catching on with voters.

Democrats “see opportunity in Virginia,” and it’s not just because of Obama’s presidential campaign and Mark Warner’s Senate campaign against Republican Jim Gilmore, Van Hollen said.