"Fifth District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount, climbed to a platform in a horse pasture on a perfect fall Saturday and warmed up a supportive Albemarle County crowd with a little Republican red meat.

His opponent, Nelson County Democrat Al Weed, opposes President Bush’s tax cuts, the congressman said.

Goode pledged that he, like Bush, doesn’t have to take polls and have “a finger in the air” to see how the wind blows on every issue. They stick to their guns and their tax cuts.

“My positions on issues are the same” in Danville and Rocky Mount and South Boston and Charlotte County and in Charlottesville, he said.

Then Goode launched into a litany of social issues and declared that his contest with Weed on Nov. 2 offers “a very clear choice.”

Borrowing a page from the Bush playbook, Goode labeled Weed “a Northeastern liberal” who would not vote to outlaw certain late-term abortions, who does not support capital punishment and opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Looking out over the 85 Republicans enjoying a fish fry and beautiful Blue Ridge mountain views in Peter Easter’s Free Union fields, Goode suggested that Weed, who grew up in New York City and graduated from Yale and Princeton, is even more liberal than Sen. John F. Kerry, his fellow Democrat running for president.

Four days later, Weed fired back at a joint appearance with Goode and responded to the congressman’s constant use of the liberal label.

The Democrat, who has owned and run Mountain Cove Vineyards in Nelson since 1973, said the label “used to be the kiss of death in a conservative district” but sought to redefine the term as it applies to himself and to Goode this year.

“It must be ‘liberal’ to be concerned with fiscal responsibility,” Weed said. “I, an alleged ‘liberal,’ won’t insult your intelligence by saying we can increase non-defense spending more than any other administration and still give massive tax cuts to the wealthy.”

Once it was considered conservative to say that if the nation was to engage “in a war of choice, we ought to have the tax revenues to pay for it,” Weed said. “Nation building by any name you give it has always been anathema to conservatives. Seems that only ‘liberals’ are saying that these days.”

Weed said he reveres the Constitution, while Goode has sponsored at least seven amendments to the nation’s founding document, including one to outlaw gay marriage.

The core of the difference between them, Weed said, “is [Goode’s] belief that it is acceptable to use public stigmatizing to exclude a whole class of Americans from enjoying full rights.”

As for the issue of abortion, “I oppose governmental interference with a woman’s right to make her own decision in this very personal matter,” Weed said. “Seems that only ‘liberals’ are saying that these days.”

Democrats and even some top Republicans say they expect Weed to make a closer race of this year’s election than in past challenges to Goode, who has never received less than a landslide-margin 60 percent of the votes cast.

“I would think it will be closer than that,” Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, said of the Goode-Weed contest. At least it is likely to be closer than two years ago when Democratic challenger Meredith Richards captured just more than 36 percent of the vote.

“I think the presidential race will have a big impact,” Bell suggested.

Bell said he doubts that gay marriage will be a huge issue for most people. “You have a relatively modest number of voters who think it’s the only issue,” he said. Others will look at it along with many social issues.

“I don’t think it’s as big an issue as taxes, or even the health care issue,” he said.

As on many issues, the candidates have divergent views on health care. Goode favors tort reform and refundable tax credits of $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families to assist with the cost of their private health insurance. He wants $250,000 caps on pain and suffering awards and punitive damages in medical malpractice cases.

Weed favors a single-payer enhanced Medicare system to cover all Americans for health care and prescription drugs. As in Medicare, patients could choose their own doctors and hospitals, he said. Medical benefits would not be tied to employment, so employers could be freed from the crippling burden of providing medical coverage, Weed said.

Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville, said Weed is a very intelligent candidate who “has working experience in dealing with people. His experience in the Army, having to lead people in the Army and in difficult circumstances, is very good. He gets his hands dirty in the vineyard, and I count that as a plus.”

Weed, 62, is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Command sergeant major who served in Vietnam in the 1960s and in Bosnia in the 1990s.

“I think Al is going to make a very good showing” and has built on the advances made by Richards two years ago in parts of the 5th District where there was no real Democratic Party presence, Van Yahres said. “He’s raising more money, too.”

Goode, said the former Charlottesville mayor and 23-year delegate, “is almost a household name down in the Southside” portions of a conservative rural district that is roughly the size of New Jersey.

Van Yahres said the Bush administration’s record on lost jobs and climbing deficits “should reflect on Virgil. How it will reflect on Virgil is the question.”

Bell said Bush can help Goode, not that he needs the help.

“I think he is one of the most honest and hard-working politicians I have ever met,” Bell said. “The constituent service he gives is as if he is a town councilman. It’s that level of personal contact and yet he represents 700,000 people.”

Peter Easter, the Free Union lobbyist who raised “a fair amount over $20,000” for Goode at last weekend’s fish fry on his Springhaven Farm pastures, called the congressman he has known for 28 years “very down to earth, solid and honest. I just think he’s got his head screwed on properly.”

Goode, whose 58th birthday is today, took offense at Weed’s repeated description of him as having a congressional “record of non-accomplishment.” He said he has worked to bring millions of dollars to the district, its military installations, community health centers and police departments.

The tobacco settlement agreement approved last week should bring $465 million for Southside Virginia farmers and businesses in the district, Goode said.

When Weed questioned how much money Goode used to make as a small-town lawyer and called him a professional politician, the congressman sniffed at the quality of Weed’s wine.

Goode ended the exchange by adding: “You bring out how much you made at your little winery down there in Nelson County and I’ll bring out how much I made in my law office.”

Weed and Goode have found they can differ on everything from war to wine and then show up and debate each other again the next day. They have a handful of remaining joint appearances before the Nov. 2 election." (Bob Gibson, The Daily Progress, October 17, 2004)

Contact Bob Gibson at (434) 978-7243 or bgibson@dailyprogress.com.