Update: VA5thDistrict is blogging that the McPadden campaign provided straw poll participants with pre-marked ballots (not sample ballots) and a separate source tells me that some votes for other candidates were thrown in the trash. Still, 56% is a lot of votes…we’ll see what happens with the next poll to get a better feel for this race. According to a Schilling Show poll, McPadden leads Ken Boyd 30-27%
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Yes…you read that headline correctly. At least he did well amongst tea party activists.
Michael McPadden has completely separated himself from the pack when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of tea party members in the 5th Congressional District – at least if you believe a recent straw poll.
According to Virginia 5th Watchdog, which polled 149 debate attendees, McPadden received 56.2% approval from attendees. That’s a majority amongst six candidates who participated in the debate. The closest competitor was Jim McKelvey at just over 13%.
However, lots of red meat was available from the debate from all the candidates. According to the Daily Progress:
Ron Ferrin said, “I would propose the Liberty Recovery Act of 2011 that would repeal everything that Obama was going to induce in his first two years of office.”
Laurence Verga said he would slash a long list of taxes, including corporate and small business taxes, as well as the estate and capital gains taxes.
Jim McKelvey said he would reduce the size of the federal government by 20 percent and bring to the floor of Congress a bill that would implement the so-called FairTax that would eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a retail sales tax.
Feda Kidd Morton said she opposed the bank bailout and also would repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement (proposed by Pres. George H.W. Bush and codified by Pres. Bill Clinton).
Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd said, “We need someone willing to step up, cut spending and balance the budget. That’s something we’ve done here in Albemarle County” and “The federal Department of Education should be done away with” he stated that it is unconstitutional.
But it was McPadden with such comments as “I’d go back to the Carter administration, get rid of the Education Department first. Go back to the Clinton administration, AmeriCorps has got to go. Go back to the Bush administration, TARP funding has got to go. And no funding for ACORN ever” and “We’d just defund [the EPA]. Congress holds the purse strings. Congress holds the power. We can stop the EPA by just defunding them. That’s the simple solution right there. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant” that seemed to gain the support of the debate attendees.
Will this performance now translate into momentum for his campaign?
