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President Barack Obama heads to Charlottesville tonight to campaign for his 2008 coattail-beneficiary Rep. Tom Perriello. The rally near the University of Virginia campus will draw students from the picturesque college town, which – along with surrounding Albemarle county – generally functions as a blue island amidst the more conservative counties of central Virginia.
The president’s decision to campaign four days before Election Day with Perriello – the only House candidate to have a solo appearance with the commander in chief this cycle -- may seem a little puzzling: NBC News and the Cook Political Report both rate the race at “Lean Republican.” There are at least two other more competitive House races in the state where Democrats’ chances are better.
Many observers, including Perriello’s opponent state Sen. Robert Hurt, have suggested that the president’s visit is merely a thank you and a last hurrah of sorts for the Democrat, who has staunchly defended his votes in favor of the health care overhaul and the stimulus bill – earning him a reputation as a hero to progressives.
That may be the case. But a look back at the district’s political history shows that the White House may be crunching numbers that indicate an Obama visit could substantially boost Democratic turnout in what’s shaping up to be a closer race than analysts expected just a few weeks ago -- in part because of a conservative third party candidate who could pull votes away from Hurt.
Perriello actually outperformed Obama in his home district in 2008 (McCain narrowly won it, while Perriello pulled out his victory by a mere 727 votes.)
But Obama’s presence on the ticket in 2008 still dramatically bumped up Democratic turnout in the Charlottesville area – which, along with the city of Danville further south, was responsible for almost 40 percent of Perriello’s votes two years ago.
In 2004 and 2006 respectively, Democratic House candidate Al Weed got just 36 and 40 percent of the total vote respectively against conservative GOP nominee Virgil Goode.
Weed barely won Albemarle County when he shared the ticket with Democrat John Kerry; he won the city of Charlottesville by about 6,000 votes.
In comparison, when he challenged Goode in 2008, Perriello nabbed 63 percent of Albemarle and won the city by over 12,000 votes.
Hurt, Perriello’s opponent, offered his hypothesis about the visit in a conference call with reporters Friday.
“The president recognizes that his favorite congressman is in trouble and so he’s coming down to lend a hand in an effort to energize a base that heretofore has not been energized,” Hurt said. “It is telling that he is coming here which to many might be the last place one would think the president would be wanted.”
Hurt noted that Obama is not campaigning for two other endangered Democrats in the state who have been less reliable votes for the White House’s policy proposals.
“He’s not going to the Ninth District, Rep. Rick Boucher, again a place where the Democrat congressman there stood with his people on one of the signature issues – the health care bill – and not the president’s agenda,” Hurt said.
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The "non lock-step liberals" pretenders talk about Obama being bipartisan?
The Narcissist in Chief won't even extend a hand to 2 fellow Democrats who have a better chance because they were "less reliable."
Was that stuff - "Audacity of Hope", or "Audacity of Arrogance"?
Did it occur to you that the other two did not ask? The audacity of the right wingers is what is arrogant. The word, also a favorite of NJNBNJ, better fits Bush 43 and Cheney.
Nice try Bob!
Do you run from thread to thread posting your nonsense in the hopes that no one will debunk it AGAIN?
GET OUT AND VOTE!
Perhaps the other two asked him not to come.
That would be a more likely Senaraio Spanky...............
Most Democrats are Distancing themselves from Obama . Because in the End they know this Elections is about him......But its too late for them too. because we know most of them Voted in lock step with him..
The right wing dreamers again share their fantasies; most dems are not separating themselves from Pres Obama. Lock step? That's the GOP, lock step NO while people suffer; why do something to help the people when they could sit on their hands and earn a paycheck while denying unemployment benefits to those whose jobs were lost because of the GOP. Who doubled the national debt? Who started two wars? Who passed every piece of UNFUNDED legislation that Bush wanted? And the republicans have the audacity to complain about the national debt! At least the democrats had the courage to do what was right for the people knowing it would cost them politically. What price have the repubs paid for doing nothing? Well, guess what -- if the republicans win Tuesday, they WILL HAVE TO DO something or find themselves incurring the wrath of voters in two years because the dems will be asking the currently popular right-winger question: where's the jobs, Boehner? where's the job McConnell?
"Where's teh jobs Boehner?" "Where's the jobs, McConnell"?
Really, Jody? They will be asking REAL, relevantl questions, instead of 'where's the birth certificate'? Why, those silly voters!
Alright!
I finally got a rise out of Feisty and Fiends. (should there be an r somewhere, oh well, spell check said it was correct)
Anyway, Debunk? I don't know. I was thinking maybe your husband, or old boy friends would know more about de-bunking.
Well, now that my persistent and desperate attempts to get Feisty's attention have handsomely paid off, I guess I can go brush my tooth and try to dig something out of my navel for next week.
Sorry I'll miss the weekly Walton nighty nites, but you guys have a good weekend.
I'm urging (begging) that those of you who read this comment, commit yourselves to bringing at least one or more like minded individuals, such as yourselves, who may not have voted or tend not to vote in an off year elections, to the polls no matter what state you reside on November 2nd. We must show that individuals with extremist right-wing views, such as Ms. O'Donnell and Ms. Palin, are not only politically unacceptable but also unelectable. Please join me in this effort to get out the vote. I will be posting to any and all blog sites to get this effort rolling! If we fail to get out and vote on November 2nd then we will surely get the likes of Ms. O'Donnell and Ms. Palin leading our country. We can make the difference but we must get off our butts and get to our election booths on November 2nd no matter how "inconvenient" it may be! Please, let's do it!”
Standing Ovation Glen!
If voters need further proof of what the tea baggers represent please check out this link of the TEA BAGGERS GREATEST HITS!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpoliticalhumor.about.com%2Flibrary%2Fbl-tea-party-signs.htm&h=9eee3
loyalty brings its own rewards on both sides of the aisle.
now were that dammed squirrel go.
Feisty, Glenn: Since this summer, I've averaged 1,000 telephone calls per week in my congressional district to bring out the Republican vote in a tightly contested race. Will be doing more than that number between tomorrow and Tuesday. Just wanted you to know that I'm certainly responding to your call to action. Under these circumstances, give me the "Party of No" any day! Just say NO on Tuesday!
There probably aren't very many places left where Obama would be welcome by a Democratic candidate.
Glenn Gross "I'm urging (begging) that those of you who read this comment, commit yourselves to bringing at least one or more like minded individuals, such as yourselves, who may not have voted or tend not to vote in an off year elections, to the polls no matter what state you reside on November 2nd."
I presume that was a message to the Tea Party, and I think they are bringing buses for their supporters to save on gas and 'save the planet'.
Feisty - Make sure you stock up on alcohol - Tuesday will be a real 'bummer'.
You liberals must be very disappointed. You had a huge majority in the House and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, and you got next to nothing done - Obama has doubled down on the wars, Gitmo is still open, no 'public option', Obama appealed the ruling in favor of gays in the military, invasive civilian 'spying' is still going on, no 'comprehensive immigration reform', no 'climate legislation', etc.
It must be a real bummer to realize that this 'once in a lifetime' control by liberals will soon be gone.
the research says that liberalism is a genetic decease i think this helps prove it
Glenn, I agree.
I have been calling, texting and e-mailing all my friends, relatives and business associates. I am going to be able to get a lot of people to the polls to vote republican.
Thanks for reminding everyone else how important this election is. Time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
MEG WHITMAN says laws must be enforced and her maid should be deported. Great let's enforce the laws and have WHITMAN be charged with criminal charges for knowingly hiring an undocumented immigrant since at least 2003 when she received a letter from the Social Security Department of a "no-match" of her maid and social security. In addition, WHITMAN's son should be prosecuted for raping an underprivilege college girl at Princeton. The laws are to be enforced equally Meg!
Angel are you saying that an employer should fire an employee if they get a no match letter? Do you have any idea what a no match letter says? I assume you have never employed anyone so won't get into the various labor law issues your post ignores.
But other than that you are totally spot on. Go Angel.
I thought you Dems wanted Americans to employ illegal aliens. What's is the
big deal? Is it only when Repubs employ them its a crime , or not, its
rascism, but when Dems employ them its politically correct right? Anything
other than that its the "poor immigrants" or "poor illegals, no right to call
them illegal, they're people" Dems are like flies around minority groups.
They want to keep them ignorant as a bloc, against them baaaaaaad
Repubs. Now. I wonder who is baaaaaaaaad, now that the GDP, Galloping
Disaster Polls are showing up for Oblaba.
Angel - If Whitman fired the maid on the match letter, she would have violated Federal Law. Attorneys would find you quite useful in a jury trial.
pull your head out
Meg Whitman's husband gave their maid the first letter, and asked her to resolve it, presumably assuming the letter was due to an error in reporting her SSN. They could have followed up on that letter, but certainly when the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth letters came, it became increasingly obvious each year that she could not fix her SSN because it was fake, plus they knew she could not leave the country. At any of these points they could have legally confronted her, demanded an explanation, and if none was forthcoming (or the truth was confessed) they certainly would certainly not have violated any law if they had reported her to the INS or ICE. But of course that was before she became a candidate and started to pretend to care about illegal immigration.
Obama must think UVA students really really really dim
Speaking of dim! lmao
You have gotta LOVE the irony...
Hey, did you hear about this? Saw in on DKos - which is unreliable because it's a progressive website (I guess). Lol.
"Happy B'Day Ahmadinejad wish sent by US Govt. Mind boggling foreign policy: kowtow & coddle enemies; snub allies. Obama Doctrine is nonsense" Sent by Sarah Palin.
__________
Madam Palin's tweet was in answer to this tweet from a State Dept. spokesman:
Happy birthday President Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be.... Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open Iran to a different relationship with the world.
___________
GOTV.
Hey Angel -- your so called innocent maid took another persons Social Security number and used it to fill out papers at a job interview and proceeded to lie that she was legal. The placement center put her with Meg and when they found out that she was illegal they fired her. She needs to be prosecuted because he stole someone's social security number and put in jail. What's wrong with you people. I don't feel sorry for her.
Notwithstanding all the Obama visit happy-talk, Perriello is a dead man walking. Hurt will win by a margin in the high single-digits or more. Mark it down.
Hurt is up currently 8%. With the fury of health care opposition in Va Obama's visit could put Hurt into double digits. Obama's healthcare legislation shows how clueless he is to the politics in play, Va. like most states suing cannot afford the legislation at state level. Simply put, the state funds are not there. The healthcare measure threw Perriello under a bus when he voted for it. With the current economy, for the Va legislature to raise taxes would be political suicide and this is what healtcare would cause. Obama's bus will roll over Perriello Tuesday. Goodby Perriello.
The President is desperate.
He lets Stewart pick him apart.
Then he wastes time coming into my back yard.
Tom lied to the people here. He said he would be a moderate.
Then he went lockstep on HCR, Cap & Tax, and the Stimulus with Nancy pulling his strings.
He is GONE on Tuesday. My fellow Virginians put the Hurt on him big time.
Fitting name for the guy he will lose to.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that Tom rolled up his sleeves and tried to solve problems for the middle class, after the GOP ruined our country.
The GOP on the other hand did nothing but sabotage our recovery like traitors to their own country.
I'll stick with the working mans Toms of the world.
You can keep your losers and traitors.
At uncle joe - Is illiteracy, poor spelling, and the inability to reason diseases as well or is it just specific to Tea Partiers and Know/No-Nothing GOPers?
Many have wondered why Bill Clinton would risk incurring the possible penalties for his alleged interference in the Florida Senatorial race. The answer is simple. Many States are in the process of considering legislation to make it mandatory for a candidate to submit "proof-of-citizenship" before their name can be entered onto a ballot. If the measure is adopted by a sufficient number of States, Obama is toast in 2012. With Obama's virtual destruction of the Democrat Party, even growing numbers of Democrats are supporting the measure. An eventuality which paves the way for the Clinton's coveted 2012 Presidential run by Hillary. However, a Senator Marco Rubio would in all probability be the Republican nominee for Vice-President on any competitive Republican ticket. A ticket that would be a powerful draw to the Hispanic community; and, potentially gut a segment of the electorate that Hillary sorely depends on to form a winning coalition. The Clintons are vicious political operatives; but, they do their homework, and seek any opportunity to neuter their opposition. Greg Neubeck
Bull @!$%#! Obama can prove citizenship as easily as you can...already has, in fact. You birthers and baggers are really unbelievable in your ignorance.
It never ceases to amaze me about the ignorance and selfishness of many of the people in this country. This is precisely why I chose to leave the GOP. They are too dumb to know how dumb they are. They don't even realize that the policies that have been enacted under the Democrats watch, actually benefit the vast majority of them. Ignorance begets more ignorance.
Baggers... Sheesh! Still waiting for retired baggers to burn those Medicare cards. Where are your principles?
Well we got two, somebody or Ahmadinejad sent two bombs instead of the two
students to us. Those damn pesky terrorists!