Can Feder Beat Wolf?
I ran across this article in today's addition of the Leesburg Today. It's a good read for anyone that lives in the 10th District.
It poses an interesting question; can Democratic candidate Judy Feder oust incumbent Frank Wolf for the 10th District Congressional seat?
Feder believes she has some momentum on her side. "Feder said from her small campaign office in Sterling, the 10th District’s decades-long support for Republican candidates is waning. Not only did Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) win in the district, something his uber-popular predecessor Mark Warner couldn’t do, but also a moderate challenger ousted longtime Republican Del. Dick Black (R-32). Del. Dave Poisson (D-32) and Del. Chuck Caputo (D-67) and have joined Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) in Richmond to give at least portions of the 10th District a bluer shade of representation."
Wolf's response, “Every time I’ve won, I’ve run based on what I have done and how I have done it,” Wolf said. “Transportation, I got the rail system authorized. Who started the gang task force? Who did Gov. Warner thank with regard to the gang effort?”
An interesting little tidbit from the article mentions that Wolf has raised 79 percent of his funds in Virginia, while Feder has raised 86 percent of her funds out of state.
Anything is possible, but it would be nothing short of a miracle for Feder to win this race. Sure, she might do well in the eastern part of the district, but she has a long way to go in the western part of the 10th District.
I personally have not seen a single thing from the Feder campaign. No signs, no stickers, no mailers, no e-mails, nothing.
It’s still early but if your going to beat a 25-year incumbent you need to bring whatever it is you have hard, heavy and often.
posted by RBV @ 1:58 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Good observation, ed skywalker.
But, having loyalty to a party can be a double-edged sword. Take a look at Sen. Joe Liberman in Connecticut. He broke ranks with the Dem’s and supported the Iraq war. He’s now faced with a serious primary challenger who has a good chance of beating him. Liberman is so worried he has taken steps to file as an Independent in case he loses the primary race.
So, as is usually the case in politics, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t…..walk the party line.
Skywalker, I'm not sure what you means by the national party that funded her election. The attacks on where her funds come from is not that they come from the DNC, but that they come from groups and people outside the state, being non-DNC groups, such as the former head of health and human services. She's spent a lot of her life in health care and many of those groups (for example, groups who are fighting to provide health care to all americans) are funding her. It should be noted that many of the people in the state give under 100 bucks (so they aren't shown on the filings). Once these people give again, and that takes them over 100 bucks, then you will start seeing names show up.
It should also be noted that the numbers are misleading. Frank Wolf may be looking at his all time numbers, but he's not looking at his last filing.
Feder, like all new challengers, has to overcome the name-recognition problem. But if the worst thing Frank Wolf can do is say people outside the state shouldn't be giving to a campaign, there's a lot of oil/gas and telecom money he should be putting back.
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