"Al Weed believes he will ride a wave of national discontent and unseat 5th District Congressman Virgil Goode on Nov. 7.

It’s a much different situation than two years ago when he made his first bid for the congressional seat. Then, a majority of Americans supported the war in Iraq and President Bush’s leadership.

“Those trends are very different this year,” said Weed, 64, during a meeting Monday with the Danville Register & Bee’s editorial board.

Today, Weed says he runs into few people who support the war. They tell him the fighting has turned into a civil stalemate and they want U.S. troops home.

That sentiment is shared in growing numbers nationally and is the reason, in part, that control of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate could shift from the control of Republicans to Democrats.

But the Nelson County farmer points to other factors that he believes spell success for his candidacy this time.

Weed cites greater name recognition within the district, saying internal polls show he is known by 70 percent of the voters.

He maintains that Goode, as a result of having served multiple terms, has become part of the “Washington mess” by engaging in “pay-to-play politics” in which campaign contributors are rewarded with federal contracts and grants.

And despite 10 years in Congress and a seat on the power House Appropriations Committee, Weed questions Goode’s effectiveness, citing low rankings by Congress.org, a public service Web site.

Weed also points to the vast difference with Goode in their positions on issues.

Name recognition

Weed claims that he has 70 percent name recognition in the Fifth District, according to a poll commissioned by his campaign. On the other hand, Goode is known by 90 percent of those polled in the Fifth District.

This is not Weed’s first run for public office. He ran for the Democratic nomination for a seat in the Virginia Senate. He lost the nomination to Emily Couric in 1995 Weed lost in his first attempt to unseat Goode by a wide margin 36 percent to 64 percent in 2004.

Weed moved to Nelson County in the 1970s to farm. Weed was one of the early pioneers among Virginia wine growers. He is a graduate of Yale and Princeton and served in the Army for about 42 years.

Washington mess

Weed’s campaign has tried to paint a picture of impropriety in several instances in which campaign contributors received contracts or grants, saying, “it’s pay-to-play politics.”

The now defunct defense contractor MZM has by far received the bulk of attention. Goode has been under scrutiny for accepting about $90,000 in illegal contributions from MZM, which opened operations in Martinsville. He admitted to no wrongdoing, saying he did not know that the contributions were illegal. He donated the money to charities in the district.

Weed maintains Goode used his position in Congress to get projects for MZM that the Department of Defense didn’t want. In turn, Weed says MZM contributed to Goode’s coffers for helping the company out.

“He gave them what they wanted,” Weed said.

What became of MZM closed this earlier this year.

Effectiveness

Goode has used his Appropriations seat to dole out federal money for local projects. However, Weed is betting that Goode’s ability to deliver generous congressional subsidies will come to an end, maintaining that Congress will discontinue the practice due to criticisms of abuse.

“The earmarks are great, but it does nothing to move the area forward,” Weed said.

He added that the possibility that the House of Representatives will switch parties would make Goode a less effective legislator. Weed pointed to a Web site, www.congress.org, that rates the effectiveness of members of Congress.

Goode was ranked 198th out of 435 congressmen by Congress.org. He gets a boost from his seat on Appropriations, but he is not seen as an influential congressman or as someone who passes a lot of legislation, according to congress.org

The Web site ranks Goode as the least effective Republican in the Virginia congressional delegation. He is rated behind Randy Forbes, Jo Ann Davis, Thelma Drake and Eric Cantor. They are less senior than Goode.

Issues

The candidates’ positions on immigration and the war in Iraq are widely different.

Goode wants to build a security fence to keep illegal aliens out of the U.S. He favors putting U.S. troops near Mexico to defend American borders. Weed says that’s a bad idea. He said illegal immigrants come to the U.S. because they can earn 10 times their pay in Mexico. Illegal immigration would dry up if employers made sure these workers had proper documents.

Weed believes the U.S. presence in Iraq is fuel to recruit terrorists. He said the U.S. should move to get the U.S. out of Iraq but stage a force close by if troops are needed.

As the war continues in Iraq, Weed thinks the U.S. needs to consider reinstating a draft. He believes the military is forced to lower requirements in order to fill quotas, and he points to military members seeing enlisted dates extended.

“You already have a draft,” Weed said.

Weed says a draft will force the nation’s leaders to think seriously about the wars they get our children into in the future.

Bob Denton, a Virginia Tech political analyst, said Goode is going to be a tough man to defeat.

“Virgil could run as a communist and still win. It’s his as long as he wants it,” Denton said.

Denton said Goode has been more cautious this year. The MZM situation has put Goode in an uncomfortable position, but he is not seen as vulnerable.

“Virgil has taken that page out of George Allen’s book. You don’t want to answer the same question more than once,” Denton said. “He can’t commit a gaffe if he doesn’t talk you.”

He compared Goode to Ninth District Rep. Rick Boucher, who has carried the southwestern part of the state solidly since 1982. Boucher was held to just below 60 percent of the vote in 2004 after the Republicans ran a strong opponent.

“It would be interesting to see if he does fall below 60 percent,” Denton said about Goode." (Bernard Baker, Danville Register and Bee, October 22, 2006)