Posted on 04/18/2012 10:21:42 PM PDT by Perseverando
The former congressman could secure the Constitution Party's nomination Saturday.
By Saturday afternoon, former U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount may be the Constitution Party's nominee for president of the United States.
The party's convention begins in Nashville, Tenn., today, and with it could come the beginning of an unexpected third act in politics for Goode, who started his career with a run for the Virginia Senate nearly 40 years ago. After 24 years in the state Senate and 12 in the House of Representatives, Goode now looks well positioned to seize the nomination of the Constitution Party and make a run against incumbent President Barack Obama and likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
"There are significant differences between me and President Obama and likely Republican candidate Romney," Goode said. "If I'm nominated, I plan to have the distinction chart ready to go right after the nomination process [concludes]."
Before then, however, Goode has to secure the party's nomination. He faces a number of other candidates including syndicated radio talk show host Laurie Roth and former Savannah State University football coach Robby Wells.
"It's going to be a wide open affair," Goode said. "It could go to any of the candidates. No delegates are pledged. It's an old-fashioned convention that will be a lot of buttonholing, asking people their views. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out on Saturday."
The Constitution Party was initially founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party by budget hawk Howard Phillips in 1991. Goode began making speeches at the party's events in 2009, and last year its national executive committee urged him to run for president.
Mitch Turner, chairman of the Constitution Party of Virginia, said he believes Goode's experience as an elected official gives him an edge over the other candidates. But that's a double-edged sword, he said.
"Against the field, he's going to stack up well," Turner said. "He's going to have one huge factor that gives him a leg up, and that's the fact he's not just been an officeholder but a federal officeholder and congressman. That's the kind of experience that no one else is going to have. Some of the other candidates, it may be hard for them to be taken seriously. Some just don't have any political experience or reason they can get any media attention.
"But that same leg up is a little bit of a disadvantage because he has a record of voting on things. There will be some people who bring up his votes as a reason as to why he should not be a candidate, especially the Patriot Act vote. ... Also maybe some of his votes for the military interventions we have done," Turner said.
Goode served 24 years in the Virginia Senate — making headlines when he helped parlay a power-sharing agreement between Democrats and Republicans after the 1995 elections left it evenly split. He was then elected to Congress in 1996, succeeding Lewis Payne. Goode again drew attention when he left the Democratic Party to become an independent before the 2000 election and then joining the Republican Party ahead of the 2002 election.
Goode was unseated in 2008 by Democrat Tom Perriello, who served just one term before he was beaten by Republican Robert Hurt.
Goode said he's focused largely on familiar issues in his run for president. "My main issues are as they have been in the past," he said.
He said the country needs to take a more "constitutional approach" to the federal government that would in turn result in a smaller budget. Goode said Democrats and Republicans have both proven to be big spenders when given the reins of government. Goode criticized a GOP budget plan that aims to cut spending, arguing that it includes deficit spending while damaging entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
"Millions of Americans have paid into both those systems in anticipation of them being there when they get older," Goode said. "I'd say it's a moral obligation for those who paid in to have the obligation fulfilled."
Goode said he'll also be talking about securing the country's borders to eliminate illegal immigration and reduce the number of legal immigrants as well.
"When you have unemployment of 8 [percent] and 9percent, it's absurd to bring in more green-carders," Goode said.
He said he will make mandatory term limits an issue as well.
If nominated, Goode and the Constitution Party will face the logistical challenge of getting on the ballot. The Constitution Party was on the ballot in 37 states in the 2008 presidential race, and its candidate received 0.15 percent of the popular vote.
If he secures the third-party nomination, Goode, because he is not a Republican or Democratic candidate, will need to collect 10,000 signatures from registered voters — including 400 from each congressional district — to get on Virginia's ballot for the November general election.
If he can do that, Goode may well play an outsized role in Virginia, which is expected to be a battleground race. If the two major-party candidates find themselves in a tight race, Goode may well make a difference in the outcome — which could well influence what happens nationally as well.
"I think we'll take votes from both Democrats and Republicans," Goode said. "I know the gentleman that owns the service station up the street where I do a lot of business. He said, 'You just cost Obama a vote.'"
Online: www.goodeforpresident2012.com
I realize it's not like actually serving in the military, but don't sell George Romney's war contribution short:
In 1940, as World War II raged overseas, Romney helped start the Automotive Committee for Air Defense, which coordinated planning between the automobile and aircraft industries. Immediately following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into the war, Romney helped turn that committee into, and became managing director of, the Automotive Council for War Production. This organization established a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements, thus maximizing the industry's contribution to the war production effort.
He's 71 years old and retired from active politics. He's still around and attends CP functions and gives advice from time to time. He wasn't the CP nominee in 2004 or 2008 either, it was Michael Peroutka and then Chuck Baldwin.
>> Did he give Virgil a shot? <<
He doesn't choose the party nominee, the CP delegates to their convention choose the candidate. I believe they have five seeking the party's nod and Goode seems to be the heavy favorite as he's held elected federal office before. I'm sure Phillips would be pleased with Goode and give him his blessing if Goode gets the CP nominee.
You are more sanguine about a McCain presidency than I was (or ever will be). McCain and "reliable" don't belong in the same sentence.
And, while he has the knowledge and experience that should make a good C-i-C, he seems to be the first politician in Washington favoring every possible intervention -- from Bosnia to Libya to Syria. I would expect such military knowledge and experience to lead him to be more discerning in his selection of conflicts to involve us in.
Nonetheless, while I believed a McCain administration would be a disaster, I believed an Obama administration would be a catastrophe. So, I voted for McCain-Palin.
At the end of the 2008 campaign, I supported Romney over McCain. I still do. And I don't consider his being a Morman a problem, not at all.
BTTT
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