Perhaps it’s only natural for a congressional district that hosts not one, but two annual comic conventions to produce a candidate who fancies himself to be the next Luke Skywalker.
Dr. Andrew Schmookler, a 64 year-old Shenandoah County resident has announced his intentions to challenge Rep. Bob Goodlatte for the 6th Congressional District seat in the 2012 General Election. A self-described intellectual, originally from Bellingham, Washington, Dr. Schmookler earned degrees from Harvard College and the University of California at Berkeley, is the author of seven books, is an infrequent commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and in 1999 was named one of the “Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century” by the International Biographical Society.
He also knows how to make friends and influence people.
In his first presentation to local Democratic committees, congressional hopeful Andy Schmookler called Republicans deceitful and evil and compared his 6th District campaign to the rebel Jedi mission to destroy the Death Star.He said talking plainly about Republican maneuvers would be akin to finding the blueprint to the famous Death Star from “Star Wars.”
“The shaft that leads to the Death Star’s core power here is the moral truth,” he said, repeating: “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.”
Dr. Schmookler’s presentation to Augusta County Democrats included references to the Republicans’ “pattern of lies” and “pervasive deceit.” While he eventually had everyone in the room agree that they were outraged by positions taken by the Republican Party, it became apparent that not everyone was buying his “Death Star” rhetoric when one attendee brought Dr. Schmookler back to reality:
“Your theories are great, but … you gotta beat [Goodlatte],” he said.
That’s an excellent point. The Cook Political Report rates Virginia’s 6th Congressional District (as it’s currently configured) as R+12. Any Democrat that hopes to win the seat must hope for 1.) widespread Republican apathy, 2.) significant crossover support or 3.) a three-way race with a strong Democratic candidate. By calling Republicans evil and liars, Dr. Schmookler can likely forget option two, and quite possibly option one, as well. Finally, it goes without saying that Dr. Schmookler–with a quiver full of esoteric theories so divorced from reality that a Democratic activist had to remind him of why he is running in the first place–would not be the strong candidate Democrats need if they hope to make a strong challenge to Bob Goodlatte. Besides, a leftist candidate was on the 6th District ballot in 2010, but district voters rejected him by a mere 105,838 votes. Why should Dr. Schmookler fare any better?
That having been said, Dr. Schmookler might have an ace up his sleeve: the great Silent Majority.
Schmookler said his message comes from a deep place that will be a wild card in the 6th District political climate. He implored Democrats to help him by stirring up talk at water coolers and at church, by writing letters to newspapers and politicians, and by organizing groups to hear his message.
If in the euphoria of Hope and Change that was the 2008 General Election, 42 percent was the best President Obama could muster in the 6th District when college students and other first-time voters were coming out of the woodwork to vote for him, Dr. Schmookler is going to need more than a few outraged letters to the editor of The [Waynesboro] News Virginian to find enough votes to topple a popular incumbent like Rep. Goodlatte and, in the process, destroy the Death Star. (I guess there’s always “The Force,” right?)
There is one additional, unresolved question about Dr. Schmookler: if he is Luke Skywalker, does that make “Darth Cheney“…his father?
