Here in Virginia’s fifth district, we have a tightening race that reflects the broader trend of what’s happening in American politics this year.

I am facing an entrenched opponent, Rep. Virgil Goode, who has been a politician in Southside Virginia for a long time. Even embroiled in such scandals as illegal contributions from the defense contractor MZM, he has survived thus far on a politics of fear and divisiveness. Many have gone up against him and failed. When I started my campaign a year ago, we were greeted with a whole lot of skepticism.

But a recent poll has Goode at 48% (the first time he’s dipped below 50%) and us at 40%, within single digits. The same poll in July had us at 25 points down. This is the closest any challenger has come and we still have three weeks to go. The polls are moving in our favor for three primary reasons.

1. People-powered politics. We have built the largest grassroots movement the district has ever seen, coupled with the Obama campaign’s extraordinary grassroots efforts in Virginia and the rise of influence of the netroots. The old politics of the wealthy and powerful has not found a way to cope with people-powered politics.
2. The economy, stupid. The credit crisis is staggering, but my district has been feeling the pain of the failing economy for many years before this. The district has been hit hard by jobs being shipped overseas, with over 10,000 jobs lost in Southside in the past decade.
3. Washington is broken. In the recent economic meltdown, we saw a grave failure of leadership from both parties in Washington, leading most people to say, “throw all the bums out!” We’re offering a different kind of politics not focused on right and left, but right and wrong.

We know we still have a ways to go, but things are trending in our favor in this district and for Democrats across the country because people are sick and tired of politics as usual. They don’t care if there’s a D or R after your name; they only care if you’re part of the problem or part of the solution. And it’s clear the current gang in Washington is part of the problem.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 9:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized .