Virginia’s ‘Fighting Ninth’ Goes Mano a Mano (Rick Boucher-D vs. Morgan Griffith-R)

The race for Virginia’s sprawling 9th congressional district is so heated that both candidates are trolling for votes not just in Virginia–but also across the border, in Tennessee.

Caught in the race of his career, 14-term Democrat Rick Boucher plans to duck into Kingsport, Tenn., to press the flesh of the 2,000 or so potential Virginia voters who work at the Eastman Chemical Co. plant there. His challenger, Virginia state House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, is heading to the same plant on Friday. Both are responding to an invitation from the company.

Republicans are planning an all-out push to try to knock Boucher off–a potential prize that look out of reach until recently, when some polls showed the race tightening. Later this month, all of the state’s top Republican officials–including Gov. Bob McDonnell, who won the district last year by a wide margin–plan to campaign in the district on Griffith’s behalf.

He is a frigging institution down there, despite all of the liberal policies he supports by simply voting for Pelosi on the first day of the Congress

Boucher has lasted as long as he has for four reasons:

1) Up until Cap & Tax last year, he's always had the support of the big coal companies.

2) He has brought millions of dollars of pork into Southwest Virginia

3) His constituent services are very good--if a 9th District citizen has a gripe with Uncle Sam, he can usually fix it.

4) He's a very good retail politician and works his district hard--unlike most other Rats he does not hide from his voters and holds regular meetings in the various SWVA population centers, even those which are relatively isolated from the rest of civilization (like my home community).

Before now, Boucher's constituents have not given a hoot about his big liberal votes as long as he has looked after them. He messed up on Cap & Tax though, actually writing the legislation, and then claiming that he had no choice or otherwise the EPA would shove him out of the picture. Nobody bought that, and so it has left him vulnerable this time around.

Based on a recent trip home to visit my folks, my geuss is that it will be close on election day. Boucher seems to have the I-81 corridor from Roanoke to Bristol locked up, but his name is mud in the big coal counties (Buchanan, Tazewell, Russell, Dickenson, Wise, and Lee), with Griffith signs everywhere in people's yards.

Virginia 9th District - Griffith vs. Boucher

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