My colleague, Teddy Goodson, recently received a solicitation for money and volunteers from the Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council (NVDBC) PAC for Democratic candidate Mark Herring (pictured at left with Mark Warner). Herring is running for Bill Mims' vacated Senate seat in Loudoun County. Teddy reports that she met Herring at a business breakfast recently (jokes about pickled herring and lox spread come to mind...ah, forget it!). Teddy also notes that Herring:
...looks and sounds like a good Democrat, and he is Charlie Waddell's son-in-law. Charlie, you may recall, was a terrific Democrat and Senator. Herring is probably going to be running against [Dick] Black's son-in-law. Yes, THAT Black...God help us if Black's guy gets in.
As the letter from NVDBC explains, this seat is definitely winnable for Democrats. Why? According to the letter:
*"Tim Kaine carried this Senate seat by large margins."
*"This seat was held by a Democrat, Sen. Charles Waddell, for twenty-seven years."
*"The Democrats have a high quality candidate who has lived in the district since he was twelve years-old."
*"The Republicans are likely to nominate a right-wing ideologue (Dick?s Black?s son in-law)."
That's right, the Republicans want to nominate another version of Dick Black, one of the worst "homophobic bigots and right-wing zealots," who recently was defeated for re-election by Dave Poisson in the 32nd Virginia House district.
As Kenton Ngo points out, Black "sponsored a bill to require fetal anesthesia in an abortion," "believes contraceptives are 'baby pesticides'," "believes in the criminilization of oral sex," and "is against adoption by homosexuals, citing quack sociology."
Wonderful. So why would we want this guy's son-in-law, Mick Staton, a self-described "outspoken defender of the unborn, the Second Amendment, and a staunch opponent of higher taxes" who "will work to protect traditional marriage and traditional family values in Virginia?" In other words, another Dick Black! No thank you.
To conclude, please keep the following in mind from the NVDBC letter:
Special elections are our best opportunities to pick up seats. Winning this will help increase our Party?s representation and cut the Republican majority to 23-17, with Jean Marie Devolites-Davis, Jay O?Brien and Ken Cuccinelli in our sights for 2007. And remember that each seat we pick up in the coming years not only helps the Democratic Party in legislative battles, but it also helps set the stage for us to protect our Democratic ideals in upcoming redistricting battles in 2010.
Exactly right. Now let's help win this seat for the Democrats and keep it from the Dick Black, Part Deux.