When Tom Perriello replaced Virgil Goode as our representative in the Fifth District of Virginia, I was glad to see an outspoken bigot thrown out of office. Heck, I'm glad to see almost anyone thrown out of office. When one quarter of the races being in play makes for an extraordinary election year, something's wrong with the system.
This is the first in what will be a continuing series by the NRDC Action Fund on the environmental stances of candidates in key races around the country. Today, we examine Virginia’s 5th Congressional district, a district - stretching south from Charlottesville to the North Carolina border. Currently, the 5th CD is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Tom Perriello (D).
Where does Rep. Perriello stand on clean energy and environmental issues? In 2009, Perriello received a 71% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Perriello also voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) and has"touted development of a clean energy economy as a way of creating jobs; improving energy efficiency; increasing this country’s energy supplies and sources and reducing reliance on foreign energy, which also would benefit this country’s national security; and other benefits." With regard to his ACES vote, Perriello says that he "believes there are ‘huge upsides’ in manufacturing and agriculture in a clean energy economy." As the Union of Concerned Scientists points out, Perriello is exactly right about the agricultural sector, as "Wind, solar, and biomass energy can be harvested forever, providing farmers with a long-term source of income." And, as California’s experience has shown, Perriello is right about the manufacturing sector as well.
Perriello does, however, favor some things that many environmentalists disagree with. For instance, Perriello says he supports an "’everything and the kitchen sink’ national energy strategy that includes an expansion of oil drilling." On the other hand, it should be noted that Perriello’s support for oil drilling comes in the context of his overall support for "using market-based solutions to create a carbon-limited economy."
The Republican candidate, Virginia State Sen. Robert Hurt, has views on energy and the environment contrast sharply with Perriello’s. In this video, for instance, Hurt incorrectly claims that cap and trade legislation would "absolutely raise the cost of energy in this country and it will hurt individuals and it will hurt businesses." In fact, as studies like this one show, "the Waxman-Markey climate bill makes economic sense, offering benefits worth at least twice as much as it costs, if not more." And, as this study concludes, the climate legislation already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives "would produce an average net energy spending reduction of $354 per household and an increase of nearly 425,000 jobs" by 2030. Finally, a recent study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration finds that the comprehensive climate and clean energy "American Power Act" being considered in the U.S. Senate would produce increases in income "almost 60 times greater than the estimated $185 annual investment** cost, exceeding $11,000 per year on average" while reducing U.S. oil imports "1.9 to 2.4 million barrels per day by 2035."
For whatever reason, Robert Hurt has ignored or discounted these studies, not to mention the overwhelming scientific evidence regarding the urgent need to act on climate change. Thus, instead of advocating for a transformation from the dirty fuels of the past, to a prosperous economy based on energy efficiency and clean energy that will never run out, Hurt’s solution is essentially the same-old, same-old: "opening up drilling in off the coast of Virginia, something I have supported year after year." Hurt adds, "We have to include drilling all over this country in order to meet the demands for our society, the demands for our businesses."
In reality, of course, the United States contains only 3% of the world’s oil reserves and is considered by geologists to be a "mature oil province." In common language, the meaning is simple: our oil production has long since "peaked," which means we can’t "drill our way out of it." Fortunately, we can open up tremendous opportunities for our nation through policies and investments that encourage energy efficiency – also known as "Invisible Energy" – and clean, renewable energy. For whatever reason, Robert Hurt disagrees and instead is pushing to move us backwards in this area.
In general, Sen. Hurt’s environmental record is unimpressive, with a 20% Virginia League of Conservation Voters rating in 2009 and a 38% rating in 2010. During the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session, Hurt voted the "wrong" way - in the view of the LCV - on HB 787, which states that "it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to support oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production 50 miles or more off Virginia’s coast." Hurt also voted for HB 1300, which "[p]rohibits the Air Pollution Control Board from requiring that electric generating facilities located in a nonattainment area meet NOx and SO2 compliance obligations without the purchase of allowances from in-state or out-of-state facilities." Obviously, Robert Hurt is no friend of clean energy or the environment.
That concludes our environmental profile of the Democratic and Republican candidates running in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District this year. We believe that it is important for the public in general, and the voters of specific Congressional districts, be aware of this information as they weigh their choices for November.
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While some establishment pundits and think tanks don't think populism is a good idea, check out what some candidates out in the field are doing:
1. This Andrew Romanoff ad kicks ass. People tell me he wasn't exactly a raving populist as a legislator, but he sure is a candidate.
2. Senate candidates like Roxanne Conlin and Robin Carnahan are banging away at their corporate backed opponents on the TARP issue.
3. Alexi Giannoulias just came out with this great campaign document which echoes the Moveon campaign's themes and message.
4. Look at what Tom Perriello is doing in a conservative district in Virginia.
5. More and more candidates are signing up for Moveon's anti-Washington corruption campaign, including Chris Murphy, Donna Edwards, Romanoff, Conlin, Perriello, Gian..., Mac D'allesandro, Raul Grijalva, and many more.
I could actually go on and on, but you get the idea. Progressive populism is spreading like wild fire because candidates are figuring out that it is the only message that can save them.
Here in Virginia where we're addicted to the practice of killing people in order to teach them not to kill people, there are certain things that must not be said about the moron(s) who cut a gas line to a backyard grill at the home of the brother of a congressman who voted for a health insurance bill.
1. We must not mention that Congressman Tom Perriello sets a strong example for the use of violence. When he doesn't know how to resolve disputes, he bombs people. He drops bombs on them. Since the moment he got into Congress, Perriello has seized every available opportunity to vote for more funding for the military and wars. Later this month or next, he will vote another $33 billion for two illegal wars and assorted illegal drone strikes. This doesn't mean that the teabaggers got the idea of using violence from Perriello, but it does mean that he has set no example of nonviolence from which they might have learned.
In response to a third-hand report that he would vote against the Senate health reform bill because it lacked the Stupak language, Representative Tom Perriello just released this statement saying the report was not accurate. Here is a snippet:
"I have plenty of serious problems with the Senate bill and, until I see the final language, I cannot take a position on final passage. But the existing language on abortion in the current Senate bill meets the pledge I made to ensure no federal funding for abortion in this health care bill."
So, to everyone's surprise, a third-hand report from the National Review wasn't correct.
(Alright, the chat is over. Thanks to Representative Perriello! Some technical difficulties required me to post Tom's responses under my name. Check them out in the extended entry! -- promoted by Chris Bowers)
At 4 p.m. eastern on Sunday, Representative Tom Perriello will be taking your questions here at Open Left. He will be talking about the upcoming House vote to repeal the anti-trust exemption for the health insurance industry.
Ask him about health care, or about anything you like. Post a question in the comments, as I will be bumping this thread back up to the top of the blog at 4 p.m. Sunday for the liveblog!
Tomorrow a three judge panel in Virginia's fifth district will conclude the recount of the votes between Virgil Goode and Tom Perriello. We should have our final House Democrat in there. And he's a Better Democrat, who won in a rural district running against torture on religious grounds. There couldn't be a better capstone to the 2008 House races.
As you may have noticed, we busted through our goal of 600 donors on the Better Democrats page. We're amazed and shocked that people here were able and willing to raise this much money on our little ole blog for progressive Democrats in such a short amount of time. I think what it means is that there's a real hunger not just for change, but for progressive change. And that's the key. In 2009, we could be sitting with a Blue Dog swing block or we could be sitting with a progressive swing block. And the difference between the two is immense.
A couple of big donors have stepped up to match donations of up to $3000 apiece for the women on the page. I've moved them all up to the top. Alice Kryzan just got the Working Families party line, which should help her immensely. Darcy Burner, Debbie Cook, Annette Taddeo, and Sam Bennett are all facing tight races, but all of them are winnable. Chris and I have blogged about how the caucuses are divided not just by ideology but by gender, so having more women in Congress will be very important. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Blue Dogs and the Republicans are nearly all men. In 2006, most of the new Democrats were men. This cycle, we need to even out the freshman class.
Now, Chris and I are shocked that 600 of you have thrown some cash towards Better Democrats since we set up the page. But that's still about 1% of the daily readership of this blog. That means that a lot of you haven't given. Well now's a great time, since you can get your donation matched to a great progressive Democratic woman. Even if it's just $5, it matters. So give. And don't be shy about throwing some cash to some of the men, too, they're ok I guess.
Ok, so we made it through that $50K barrier for Better Democrats. I suppose it's time for a little update on how our candidates are doing.
Markos and Crisitunity blog the new Dailykos/Research 2000 poll (these polls are such an awesome concept), which shows the race all tied up at 46-46. It's a random digit dial, which makes this kind of poll more favorable to Reichert since cell phone only and VOIP users aren't sampled. The stats seem to bear that out; Obama's ahead by only 6 points in the poll, and most people think he's up more than that in WA-08. Trendwise, it's very good news that Darcy's gone up by 8 points since the last Kos poll, when she was behind 49-41. Reichert's dropped 3 points and Darcy's gone up 5.
The Mormons are pulling the plug on Prop 8 calls from Utah.
Progressive Democrat Senate candidate Jim Martin is about two points off of Chambliss in a composite of polls, which is far closer than anyone could have imagined a month ago. Al Franken is up by three, Begich leads by two, and Merkley's up by six.
We managed to convince Debbie Wasserman Schultz to back Annette Taddeo, which is not a small feat. Taddeo is in a tight race with Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in the district that encompasses South Beach. South Beach. That's the setting of the Bird Cage movie.
Massa's opponent is on the 'death list' of Republicans, Dennis Schulman and Tom Perriello are closing, and Grayson is up over 10 on his opponent.
When Blue Majority split up earlier this year, it took us some time to figure out the right way to add to the Democratic wave. In retrospect, the Better Democrats concept should have been obvious - with our work on Donna Edwards and Ed Fallon, it was pretty clear the direction this community was headed. I'm really proud of what all of us have been able to do with Better Democrats. In the waning days of a campaign, money becomes less important, because the electorate is basically settled. In this case, though, there are so many seats on the bubble, including many of our best Better Democrats (Merkley, Darcy, Perriello, Martin, etc), that a little more cash to bring them up to the level of Obama actually matters. So to those of you who have given till it hurts, thank you. And for those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for?
Check out the new Survey USA poll ( http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/st... ). Perriello is up 20 points from August as a result of hard and methodical work - and his ability to connect with people. It's Goode 55% to Perriello 42%.
Better Democrat Tom Perriello closed about 20 points of the gap between him and Virgil Goode, according to SurveyUSA.
A new poll shows that support is surging for Tom Perriello and waning for Rep. Virgil Goode one month away from the election. The poll by Survey USA, conducted for WDBJ7, shows that the race now stands at Goode 55% and Perriello at 42%, representing a net gain of more than 20 points for Perriello since this poll was last conducted in August. There was a 23% swing of independent voters in Perriello's favor.
There are 50,000 newly registered voters in the district, and African-American turnout assumptions in this poll were low, so there are good reasons to think it's actually closer. This one's winnable.
I've sent out some questions to Georgia Senate candidate Jim Martin, who is tied with Saxby Chambliss. I'm told he's extremely progressive on everything but drilling - wiretapping, the bailout, net neutrality, etc - and considering the ridiculously progressive turn in Georgia over the past month (probably due to the lack of gasoline all over the state), Chris and I are thinking of adding him to Better Democrats and doing a fundraising push.
What do you think? We want to see who this guy is before endorsing, obviously. But a progressive Democratic Senator from Georgia? Crazy. Hard to resist. Thoughts?
Better Democrat Tom Perriello, who has a big deal of his Catholic centered approach to 'the common good', is now under attack by the lovely Republican Virgil Goode. According to Goode, Tom's a New York lawyer, his skin is dark, he's bearded, and he's a liberal who loves amnesty for illegals and gay marriage.
I'm actually kind of impressed with the lack of subtlety here. Usually you don't get all the bells and whistles in one ad, with Tom being dogwhistled as a terrorist, an evil Jew, a sleazy gay, and a generally subversive character. Here's what he actually looks like (h/t Jason C.):
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