When I heard that Virginia21, a non-profit organization focusing on education issues in the commonwealth, issued Report Cards in 2005 to members of the House of Delegates, I thought I'd see if my representative "made the grade" so to speak. Del. Mark Cole (R-88) was dead last with a 0.7 GPA (Albert Pollard, running for Chichester's now vacant Senate seat, scored a 3.6!). And keep in mind Virginia21 is bipartisan. In fact prominent Republicans Bill Howell and Terry Kilgore came away with respectable C+ averages. (Though in fairness to Cole, a 0.7 is pretty good compared to Bluto's 0.0 GPA from Animal House.)
Thank god, in Carlos Del Toro we have a candidate who can compete against Mark Cole and win.
Cmdr. Del Toro isn't one of these aspiring politicians that scouted around Virginia looking for a vulnerable incumbent in a swing district. The 88th is a reliably Republican district that Democrats have dismissed for years. In fact Carlos Del Toro raised $93,000 in the first quarter, more than Cole raised in either of his two most recent entire campaigns, and still no one notices.
Because after all, what chance does a Naval Academy graduate with no political experience have against a safe, incumbent Republican? Why don't you ask George Allen. (No, seriously. He's got a lot of free time on his hands nowadays.)
My advice to Mark Cole, the media, and everyone else that continues to ignore Carlos Del Toro is....Keep it up. Please! Ignore the enormous amount of cash the Del Toro campaign has raised. Ignore the thousands of doors that will be knocked on up until Election Day and the conversations that a charasmatic candidate is having with scores of dissatisfied Republican voters. In fact, pretend I didn't even write this. If anyone asks, this is a post about the traffic problems in NoVA.
We can do better for students and families of the 88th District! Support Carlos DelToro!