Posted on 07/21/2004 2:42:56 PM PDT by Amish
Robinson, Foxx to compete in runoff for Burr's seat
By PAUL NOWELL Associated Press Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After months of vicious personal attacks and all-out politicking, Republican voters in the 5th Congressional District can expect four more weeks of the same, as Vernon Robinson and Virginia Foxx advanced to an Aug. 17 runoff from an eight-person field.
With all precincts reporting unofficial results early Wednesday, Foxx, a state senator, and Robinson, a conservative black activist led the crowded field.
Robinson had 13,466 votes, or 23 percent and Foxx with 13,055, or 22 percent. Ed Broyhill, scion of the Broyhill furniture family, had 12,548 votes, or 22 percent.
Robinson was jubilant.
"It's a stunning victory, and it really belongs to the people of the 5th District," he told supporters. "We always knew there was a silent majority out there who would vote for me just like they voted for Jesse Helms."
He renewed his attacks on Foxx, accusing her of supporting tax increases and racial quotas. "This runoff is going to be a stark contrast between the liberal Virginia Foxx and the conservative Vernon Robinson," he said.
Foxx said she believed Robinson's scorched-earth tactics during the primary would come back to haunt him, with the remainder of the field throwing their support to her. She said she had already heard from Jay Helvey, a Wake Forest University trustee who received 15 percent of the vote.
"I feel really confident that people from the other campaigns are going to unite behind me because I have a history of bringing people together, and three-quarters of the voters did not respond to the negative tactics that were used in the campaign," she said in a phone interview from Boone, where her supporters gathered.
The survivor in the heavily Republican district is expected to succeed U.S. Rep. Richard Burr, who vacated his seat to run for the U.S. Senate.
The 5th District covers all or part of 12 northwest North Carolina counties; the area regularly goes Republican by a wide margin in races that cover the whole district.
Also in the race were Nathan Tabor, a soy supplement executive; Joe Byrd, a state parole officer and former Wilkes County commission chairman; Ed Powell, a state representative, motor vehicles commissioner and transportation board member during the 1970s; and David Vanhoy, an air compressor distributor and volunteer firefighter.
On the Democratic side, Jim Harrell Jr. defeated Andrew Winfrey and Roger Kirkman to set up a November race against either Robinson or Foxx. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Harrell had 73 percent, or 16,564 votes, to 16 percent, or 3,664 votes, for Kirkman and 11 percent, or 2,458 votes, for Winfrey.
Digging into their own pockets and raising from supporters, the eight Republicans spent $6 million in one of the country's most expensive House primary races. They bought radio and television ads and sent reams of direct mailings in a free-for-all that went on for months.
One recent TV ad for Robinson said homosexuals mocked holy matrimony.
"You can burn the American flag and kill one million babies a year, but you can't post the Ten Commandments or say `God' in public," a voiceover said.
Robinson accused Helvey of allowing two lesbians to hold a commitment ceremony on the Wake Forest campus. Helvey fired back by accusing Robinson of bringing a lesbian playwright to Winston-Salem through a black theater festival.
Broyhill, the son of former Rep. Jim Broyhill and heir to the Broyhill Furniture fortune, loaned his campaign $1.43 million. Helvey, a former Wall Street banker, loaned $338,000 to his.
Tabor, whose family founded a soy company, loaned his campaign $462,000. Foxx, a state senator from Banner Elk, gave and loaned her congressional campaign $175,000. ___
Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this story.
Go Vernon!
Go Robinson!
Why Robinson?
I also met him at CPAC this year and he seems like the real deal to me.
He's also black, not that that matters to me, but to some minorities, it does.
He's everything the folks above said and more. He does come across as brash in his ads, and he's not afraid to call it like he sees it. He has had some of the most hard-hitting ads I have ever heard from a politician.
If the 5th district still ran through my town, I would vote for him. Alas, I only had two relatively unknowns that had no stance on guns or a lot of other issues near and dear to my heart. I picked the one I thought would be best and will see how it works out.
Oh yeah, and Virginia Foxx is a RINO. BIG TIME!
Sounds a little like a porn star's name...
I also live just outside his district, Winston Salem, and have heard his "hard hitting ads" for the past month.
Don't know much about Foxx, but Robinson produced some of the most putrid ads ever. I am not sold on him soley based on those ads - he seems quite childish in his venom towards other Republicans. He makes Helms look mild (I have always supported Helms).
My choice would have been Broyhill, based on his ideas of supporting small business and his maturity.
Nothing personal, but I sure am glad you don't live in the district.
lol
ROTFLOL ;-D
I supported Robinson in the primary, but am not sure he will fare as well in a 2-man race...er...one man and one woman race.
http://www.stateaction.org/alternatives/altbody2.cfm?volume=8.1&artnumber=2
http://www.stateaction.org/alternatives/altbody2.cfm?volume=9.2&artnumber=10
Interesting new info on Virginia Foxx's training and awards
Thanks for the bump. We need a guy like Vernon in there.
You're welcome!
A lot of the details regarding Ms. Foxx's involvement with the Center for Policy Alternatives did not really surface until yesterday, so they are unlikely to be reported in the mainstream media prior to the primary.
For example, there is the matter of the "Eleanor Roosevelt" award, and the apparant training trip to Chile with an organization whose policy perspective is exemplified by the following:
"Then, in 1978, anti-tax crusaders in California sponsored and passed Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes and ignited a nationwide tax revolt. The Reagan victory of 1980 allowed right-wing economic, corporate, and social organizations to launch a coordinated attack that continues today-using the ballot measure system to promote an extremist agenda: so-called "paycheck protection" initiatives used to silence the voices of working families; anti-affirmative action initiatives that turn back the clock on civil rights; anti-choice initiatives that place more restrictions on women's reproductive health rights; anti-environmental initiatives that give polluters free rein; anti-gay initiatives that sanction discrimination; and voucher initiatives that seek to move public funds away from public schools. After years of battling the flood of right-wing ballot measures, national progressive groups founded BISC in 1998 to help organizations, legislators and activists wage more effective ballot initiative campaigns.
"We're trying to help progressives realize that, if used strategically, initiative campaigns can engage disinterested voters, help support progressive candidates, build coalitions, frame a progressive message, and create proactive change," said Wilfore.
In recent years, progressives have used ballot initiatives to enact clean election laws, protect the environment, increase tobacco taxes to expand health care, and close the gun show loophole."
Nervous yet?!? Check out the links several posts above and see for yourself.
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