Fightin’ Ninth Ready For A Fight
By Chris | Saturday, February 20th, 2010 | PoliticsOn Thursday, the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner dropped this piece looking at the tough road that 14-term Congressman Rick Boucher faces as he seeks re-election to yet another two years representing the people of Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District.
While Gardner looks at the race in the larger context of the politics of Appalachia, she only scratches the surface of what is really happening in the Ninth District. Are folks in the Ninth concerned about big government boondoggles like Democratic health care reform and Cap-and-Trade? Sure they are. Are folks in the Ninth skeptical of the Obama administration’s rhetoric on taxes, sending and the economy? Yes, and with good reason. But down here in the Ninth, there is much more to the frustration than just a generic greivance against our political system.
Folks in the Ninth are simply tired of the same old empty promises they continually get from Rick Boucher. They are frustrated by a Congressman who talks about jobs and then votes for legislation that will put thousands more on the unemployment line. They are disenchanted with a representative who is always first in line at the government trough while back home his District falls further and further behind the rest of the Commonwealth. And they are fed up with an elected official who votes more like he’s from Washington State than Washington County.
The Post clearly wishes that Boucher’s struggles have more to do with the President’s skin color or Boucher’s “professorial demeanor” than anything else. Unfortunately for them, the truth is that the voters of the Ninth District are starting to realize that, after 28 years, Rick Boucher is more interested in telling his constituents what Washington thinks is good for them rather than letting his constituents do the talking.
This fall, the voters of the Ninth will have a chance to tell Boucher exactly what they think of his job performance. Based upon what I’ve seen and heard down here, don’t be surprised if the evaluation comes back less than favorable.
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About the author
Chris Obenshain has been involved in Republican politics literally since the womb, when he attended Virginia's famous 1978 Convention in utero. 30 years later he still can't get politics out of his bloodstream. He currently works as a lawyer in southwest Virginia and serves as Chairman of the Roanoke Area Young Republicans chapter. As Old Zach, he helped found the blog Sic Semper Tyrannis in 2004 and has been blogging off and on ever since. He has also proudly served in the United States Army Reserve since 2002.
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9 Responses to "Fightin’ Ninth Ready For A Fight"
Chris, I thought equally amazing to McDonnell and Co. performance in Northern Virginia was the astounding margins they won by in Southwest against a rural Democrat, along with Bowling’s loss. I think the Democrats war on coal is the main reason for this . . . I mean these guys carried senate districts with 60% in the 9th. This could be a real shift in the electorate down there.
1st: whatever Amy Gardner knows about the fighting 9th, she learned from Boucher’s office.
2d: who have we got running against Boucher? my focus is on getting Robert Hurt elected here in the 5th, so i may have missed an announcement.
There are a couple folks rumored to be running in the ninth, including Morgan Griffith. However, no one has officially announced yet. They have until March 1 to file, from what I understand.
J.R. you are correct. March 1 is the date to file as a candidate for the Ninth District Republican Convention which is being held on May 22. A gentleman named Jessee Ring who lives in Pulaski has already declared and filed the necessary paperwork. I suspect we may hear from others in the coming week or so.
We have three people running right now but we are still waiting to see if a big name will get into the race. Mr. Ring is one of those running however I have not heard any good reviews of his performances at some of the county meetings. The best candidate so far seems to be Adam Light from Tazewell County
I have heard the same line trotted out year after year, and the guy always crushes the opposition. Fast, Muldoon, Barta, Grayson, Katzen, etc. were all supposed to give Boucher a run and he dominated them. What everyone fails to understand is how daunting a task it is to beat the guy.
I helped Barta out in 98, and I quickly learned just how difficult the task of defeating Boucher is. The media is very segmented in the district. I suppose WDBJ is the best place to advertise, but people get their news from WV, TN and even NC in parts of that district. Since it’s so large and rural, it’s impossible to campaign face to face at this late date. Perhaps if someone announced in June of 09, they’d have enough time to get out and make a go of it. Joe started in the winter of 98 with a great media tour (Bristol, Bluefield, Wytheville, Radford all in one day). He had a decent staff and had better financial resources than most GOPers have had since Boucher won in 1982. He even had the Clinton scandal at his back as Boucher had to take a strong position in favor of Clinton b/f the election. Even with all of this, Joe lost by over 20 points. Why? I think Joe Barta would tell you that he had very little time to actually make the connection with voters due to the size of the district. He would also tell you that there just isn’t a lot of money in the district to be raised. You’ve got to have the NRCC and all of the DC PACs pour in some money if you’re going to beat Boucher b/c it’s nearly impossible to raise the money from the district itself.
I’m no fan of Boucher, but if someone’s gonna start this late in the game, they better have a million lined up to start blasting away in TV ads on WDBJ b/c they do NOT have the time to really make a case by door-to-door campaigning in such a large and sparsely populated district. I wish the GOP the best of luck.
Not Ted Dalton,
Those of us that live in the ninth can tell you that much has changed in the last year. It is amazing how much anger there is at Obama and Bouchers attack on coal jobs. Boucher has always been able to expect huge numbers from the counties in the deep sw, that has changed. Look at the numbers from the last election. The counties east of I81 have always been much harder for Boucher to run up the numbers in. I can’t believe he was so arrogant that he thought he could go against his hard core base but that is exactly what he did. Griffith can bring the money, as House Majority Leader he has been raising money statewide. The republican party here in the ninth is excited about this race. I have never seen this level of excitement over a race. Everyone can see a chance at removing Boucher and everyone is ready to do the hard work necessary to get the job done. This is going to be a good year in the Fighting Ninth!
I went to the Montgomery Co. and later the Pulaski Co. mass meetings and heard most of the candidates. Griffith must feel anointed as he has not show up at the meetings I attended. My conclusion is that Dave Moore is by far the best candidate. He has the best thought out positions and best chance of beating Boucher. Griffith being a lawyer, and not being a resident of the district, is enough to disqualify him in these troubled times. Let him stay in the House and help us there.
Dave MOORE is a true patriot, constitutionalist, and military officer. He is a great public speaker who speaks from the heart. He is not a lawyer or career politician. He would not be corrupted by Washington, and best represent the people of the 9th. Boucher sold us out years ago.
Just read the article and wanted to make a few comments. First, I love how people rail against earmarks when they obviously do not understand them. Earmarks are your tax dollars (and hopfully the tax dollars of others) coming back to your district for road repairs, school funding, or even prison construction – this kinda means jobs and economic prosperity for the citizens in the district. The reason Rick is “always first in line at the governemtn trough” is because that is what we elect him to do – make sure our money stays in our communities. Secondly, I find the jobs comment stunning because Rick is always about jobs, and always promoting the 9th District as a place for companies to set up shop. If not for Rick, and his position as Chairman of an important Subcommittee do you really think XM would have opened a call center in Galax, DirectTV would have announced the creation of virtual call centers across the region and countless other initiatives would have taken place in Southwestern Virginia? Of course not. Radio station WHHV stands for “Where the Hell is Hillville Virginia” for a reason. As for the cap-and-trade vote, Rick inserted himself into the debate to save the jobs of hundreds, if not thousands of coal miners. Now he voted “YES” for the bill, but only after he secured several concessions from the leadership for his constituents – for this he gave his word to vote for the bill. So, “Based on what I’ve seen and heard down here…” he did the job we elected him to do, actively represented his constituents, negotiated the best possible outcome for his District and kept his word as a gentleman – that is exactly what I want in a Congressman, Democrat or Republican
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