The Note: Virginia Is For Allies
Obama to stump for Democrat Tom Perriello in Virginia's 5th district.
Oct. 29, 2010— -- What does one race and one campaign stop say about the entire 2010 midterm election season? Quite a bit, as it turns out.
President Obama heads to Charlottesville, Virginia this evening to stump for embattled Democrat Tom Perriello in the state's 5th district.
Perriello is facing a tough challenge from state legislator Robert Hurt, and it's notable that this will be the first exclusive, public visit from the president on behalf of a House candidate.
Perriello is one of the few Congressional Democrats who might actually want Obama by his side in a year when so many others are running away from the president and his agenda.
And it's a symbolic pat on the back for Perriello who Obama has used as a poster child for "courageous" public service in his speeches on the campaign trail.
"There have been a surprising number of folks who have been willing to stand up," Obama said at an event earlier this month, giving a shout-out to Perriello, specifically. "There have just been some folks who really stood up knowing that they might be putting their congressional careers at risk.
And that's been a pleasant surprise." The latest polls show Hurt out in front of Perriello, but the freshman lawmaker is hoping that a presidential visit will help boost his prospects in the home stretch.
The Washington Post's Amy Gardner asks: "What is it about Tom Perriello that makes the president swoon?"
The answer, she writes, is clear: "It's that, in the thick of the fight last summer, when some Democrats hid from view, Perriello held more town hall meetings than any other congressman in the country. It's not just that Perriello is a tireless campaigner who has done such things as hold 20 events over 24 hours this week. It's that he's a young, charismatic Democrat in the mold of President Obama, the kind of guy whose appeal - and proximity to Washington - attracts national outlets like the New Yorker and 'The Colbert Report.' But most important, it's that he's doing it in a conservative central Virginia district with some of the state's highest unemployment rates and a general distaste for Obama."
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