National Democrats backing Perriello

By Ray Reed

Published: April 1, 2008

The national Democratic Party added Republican Rep. Virgil Goode and his Fifth District to its target list Tuesday, based on challenger Tom Perriello’s raising $340,000 during the past three months in his campaign to capture another congressional seat for Democrats next fall.

“Rep. Goode will face a tough challenge from a strong Democratic candidate fighting for change,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said on its Web site.

Perriello’s campaign said its support was broad-based, with funds contributed by 1,200 donors, including residents of every locality in the Fifth District.

Goode’s campaign manager, Tucker Watkins, said the 12-year incumbent will list nearly 2,000 donors when his financial reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission later this month.

Perriello, of Charlottesville, is now unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the Fifth District, after two other candidates dropped out a few months ago.

Jessica Barba, spokeswoman for Perriello, said the target designation means “the national party considers this a race that can be won.”

Kyra Jennings, a spokeswoman for the Democrats’ national campaign committee, said, “We think Tom Perriello is putting together the kind of resources and support needed to run a strong campaign.”

The Perriello-Goode race will be in the Democrats’ “Red to Blue” program that provides what Barba called “staff support and strategy,” as well as advice in fundraising.

In previous elections, when polls showed races were close as Election Day neared, the Democratic Congressional

Campaign Committee has paid for broadcast commercials that “held incumbents accountable” for their voting records, a committee official said.

The Democratic committee also added Northern Virginia’s 10th district to its targeted list Tuesday, one day after campaigns around the country completed preliminary fundraising reports for the January-March period. In the 10th District, Democrat Judy Feder is renewing her 2006 challenge to incumbent Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Fairfax. She had raised more than $500,000 through December.

Perriello’s campaign has raised more than $600,000 since it started in September.

Perriello had more than $500,000 cash-on-hand, and donations came from “over 1,200 donors in the first quarter alone, including citizens of all 22 counties and municipalities of the Fifth District,” Barba said.

Perriello, 33, is an Albemarle County native who had worked in countries around the world before returning home a couple of years ago.

His news releases state he raised more campaign funds than Goode in 2007.

Watkins said Goode didn’t try to raise a lot of funds in 2007 because it was an off year for federal elections and

Goode didn’t want to compete with the fund-raising efforts of candidates for the Virginia General Assembly.

But, for his 2006 election against Democrat Al Weed, Goode raised almost $1 million, Watkins said. Goode won that race with about 60 percent of the vote.

“It’s nothing to brag about that he did better than Virgil in 2007,” Watkins said.

“Raising more money doesn’t equate to winning the race,” Watkins said. “All you have to do is look at the example of the Democratic Party in Southside Virginia elections last year. Spending more money didn’t elect new people.”