Archives - Virgil Goode and John Boyd Make "The Economist"
February 2000
5th District Virginia Congressional Race: Virgil Goode and John Boyd Make "The Economist"
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"It was just a matter of time before Virgil Goode and the Democratic Party went their separate ways. This congressman from Virginia's tiny moonshine-and-tobacco town of Rocky Mount was one of only five Democrats who voted to impeach President Clinton. He also opposes the president on legislation about 75% of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly. Mr. Goode has not gone pachyderm Republican. He has declared himself an independent, albeit one who will work with the House Republican caucus. But that is good enough for a Republican Party anxious to pad its numbers before the November election, when a change of about six seats could return the House to the Democrats after six years in opposition" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

<"Mr Goode's departure is another sign of the Democrats declining fortunes in the South, where the civil-rights era and the growth of a surburban middle class have pulled many voters into the Republican Party over the past generation. Mr. Goode was elected to Congress in 1996. With the White House trampling on cigarettes and firearms, this country lawyer with a banjo-like voice who collects campaign buttons and comic books soon decided that he was, in effect, a man without a party" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

"Even while still formally a Democrat, he briskly opposed some favourite pieces of Democratic policy. For his friends at the National Rifle Association, Mr. Goode tried to do away with the ban on hand-guns in Washington, DC. This was vintage Goode. While he was still a member of the Virginia General Assembly, he had almost single-handedly pushed through a law making it easier to carry concealed weapons (this just a year after Virginia had boldly restricted hand-gun purchases to one a month)" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

"Not surprisingly, the Democrats are bent on revenge. John Boyd, who successfully led a national battle by black farmers against the Department of Agriculture over claims of loan discrimination, may take on Mr. Goode. Among the people Mr. Boyd says are encouraging him to run is the House Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt, who has been unsparing in his criticism of Mr. Goode" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

"Mr. Goode's manoeuvre is not unprecedented. Congressman Bernard Sanders of Vermont is a socialist-minded man who uses the independent label but tags along with the House Democrats for committee assignments and perks; he has considered officially becoming a Democrat in order to run for the Senate. Mr. Goode's own state of Virginia produced a Democrat-turned-independent senator, Harry Byrd junior, who resigned from the Democrats because the national party had veered too far to the left for his taste. Mr. Byrd, who went on sitting with the Democratic caucus in order to preserve his seniority, was twice elected as an independent. By the end his views were farther to the right even than many Republicans" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

"The Republicans offered Mr. Goode another inducement to leave the Democrats: a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee. This will allow Mr. Goode, despite his limited seniority, to deliver political pork to his district in the red-clay region above the border with North Carolina. But Democrats growl that Mr. Goode should not feel too comfortable. If they take back the House, they say, the first person they will take off the Appropriations Committee is Mr. Goode" (The Economist, February 12, 2000).

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