Not Larry Sabato has been running a series of analysis about the Virginia Senate Districts in preparation for the 2007 elections. NLS has already covered the 2 districts that Smyth County is part of.
The 38th District (Saltville & Rich Valley Precincts in Smyth) analysis can be found here.
The 40th District (all other Smyth Precincts) analysis can be found here.
Not Larry Sabato has been running a series of analysis about the Virginia Senate Districts in preparation for the 2007 elections. NLS has already covered the 2 districts that Smyth County is part of.
The 38th District (Saltville & Rich Valley Precincts in Smyth) analysis can be found here.
The 40th District (all other Smyth Precincts) analysis can be found here.
Not Larry Sabato has been running a series of analysis about the Virginia Senate Districts in preparation for the 2007 elections. NLS has already covered the 2 districts that Smyth County is part of.
The 38th District (Saltville & Rich Valley Precincts in Smyth) analysis can be found here.
The 40th District (all other Smyth Precincts) analysis can be found here.
Chad has posted announcing that he is closing up Commonwealth Conservative. Chad’s insight and commentary will be greatly missed. It was Chad’s blog that got me interested in starting up this blog back in the Summer of 2005.
I wish Chad the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Go over to CC and thank Chad for all of his hard work for blogging and the Virginia blogosphere.
Here are my personal predictions for tomorrow. Anybody else care to offer their predictions?
U.S. Senate
Allen: 53%
Webb 44%
Other: 3%
U.S. House (9th District)
Boucher: 56%
Carrico: 43%
Other: 1%
I think Carrico will keep Boucher below the 60% mark.
The marriage amendment will turn out an unusually higher amount of voters this time I think. This will go well for Republicans.
One of the biggest issues facing American companies today are the so-called “antitrust” policies being implemented by the European Commission (EC). Many American companies are being fined and their business practices inhibited on the disguise of consumer protection.
Microsoft has been the largest target for the EC. Microsoft has been ordered to hand over proprietary code to competitors and to pay around a half a billion dollars in fines for refusing to do so. Other large companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, Verizon, etc. have faced similar sanctions and treatment.
The reason for the EC acting this way is very simple. American companies are bigger, better, and more profitable producers than European companies. It is simple micromanagement of America on the EC’s part. The EC’s attempt to tear down American companies not only hurts our economy but it hurts our workers, too. It’s time that someone pushes back and puts an end to the EC’s style of anti-American economic warfare.
Our Virginia congressional delegation needs to be made aware of this issue - specifically, Congressman Rick Boucher. He serves on the influential House Committee on Energy and Commerce and issues such as this falls within their purview. Congress needs to act – and we can get the ball rolling by contacting Rick Boucher!
Brian Patton has an interesting post up discussing Bill Carrico’s run next year for re-election to the House of Delegates. Apparently the Dems are looking for someone big (or have someone) that they are going to try and run against him.
My prediction is Carrico wins easily again—-provided he is not in Congress then 
I suspect the Dems will try and run Tom Graham again who Carrico defeated back in 2003. Graham is now the 9th District Democrat Chair from what I hear.
Brian Patton has an interesting post up discussing Bill Carrico’s run next year for re-election to the House of Delegates. Apparently the Dems are looking for someone big (or have someone) that they are going to try and run against him.
My prediction is Carrico wins easily again—-provided he is not in Congress then
I suspect the Dems will try and run Tom Graham again who Carrico defeated back in 2003. Graham is now the 9th District Democrat Chair from what I hear.
It’s about 46 days until Election Day. So far things I think have been fairly quiet (except for a few major news items).
Boucher v. Carrico
Unfortunately, I have little hope now that Bill Carrico can defeat Rick Boucher. I’ve seen very little effort from the campaign on a large scale so far. I don’t know if I have seen more than 4 Carrico signs everywhere I’ve been. I cover a lot of ground in SWVA each week and have seen tons of Boucher signs. I still wish Carrico the best and will be voting for him. Carrico is a great candidate and I think that he will be successful in any future endeavors he may have. Had Carrico made a huge push before June, things may have been different.
Allen v. Webb
I do not believe the comment scandal will hurt Allen too much. It may take away a percentage of votes, but I don’t think he is tarnished. I haven’t seen that much effort by the Webb folks in SWVA. Allen remains to be a hugely popular political figure in Virginia (SWVA included). Allen may be the most popular Virginia politician. People also realize he has a great chance of capturing the GOP nomination for President in 2008. I think all the polls so far are misleading and Allen will pull this one out comfortably.
It’s about 46 days until Election Day. So far things I think have been fairly quiet (except for a few major news items).
Boucher v. Carrico
Unfortunately, I have little hope now that Bill Carrico can defeat Rick Boucher. I’ve seen very little effort from the campaign on a large scale so far. I don’t know if I have seen more than 4 Carrico signs everywhere I’ve been. I cover a lot of ground in SWVA each week and have seen tons of Boucher signs. I still wish Carrico the best and will be voting for him. Carrico is a great candidate and I think that he will be successful in any future endeavors he may have. Had Carrico made a huge push before June, things may have been different.
Allen v. Webb
I do not believe the comment scandal will hurt Allen too much. It may take away a percentage of votes, but I don’t think he is tarnished. I haven’t seen that much effort by the Webb folks in SWVA. Allen remains to be a hugely popular political figure in Virginia (SWVA included). Allen may be the most popular Virginia politician. People also realize he has a great chance of capturing the GOP nomination for President in 2008. I think all the polls so far are misleading and Allen will pull this one out comfortably.
The Carrico for Congress campaign has a new web site design. Check it out, it is very good looking and informative.
The other day I noticed Rick Boucher has a new design for his official Congressional web site. It is better than the other one, which he had for probably 10 years. I thought it was ironic for a self described technology leader in Congress to have one of the worst looking web sites. The new site looks alright.
The Carrico folks launched their campaign web site today. I was told earlier they were waiting on him getting the nomination prior to making it “live.”
I just got back in from attending the 9th Congressional District GOP Convention in Wytheville. It was a great convention with all the usual convention stuff. Senator George Allen and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell made appearances. Both Allen and McDonnell gave great speeches that stirred the crowd.
Now, for the basics. A candidate to be the Republican nominee for Congress, a member for the RPV State Central Committee, and a District Chairman were selected.
The results are:
Congress: Bill Carrico (since he was unopposed for the nomination and was nominated unanimously by acclamation)
State Central Committee Member: Jerry Lester of Buchanan County defeated Tom DeBusk of Blacksburg by about 25 votes.
District Chairman: Shea Cook of Tazewell defeated Patrick Muldoon of Giles County by about 35 votes.
At the end, the vote counting took a very long time. I’m sure most of the people in the audience had the results already figured out before they were officially announced by the vote counters. Later on, if I have time, I will post my notes I took down of the votes by county/city for each candidate. It is interesting to analyze those numbers. For example, Wise County managed to split their vote (14.5%) exactly down the middle for both chairman and state central committee member. As I heard Chad say, they couldn’t agree on anything.
Bill Carrico gave an excellent and grand acceptance speech. Near the conclusion, he presented a video slideshow of his children and family over the years. He highlighted it as one of the reasons he decided to run—family values. He concluded the speech by having a singer perform a special song to him. It was remarkable watching Bill Carrico give the speech. During and after the photo slideshow he actually teared up from emotions. If a lot of the people who vote for Boucher for no reason saw this speech today, I can almost guarantee a lot would change their minds. That is why I hope Bill continues to spread his positive message to all in the 9th. It is time to give the 9th its voice back in Congress with a person who represents our values. The “Fightin’ Ninth” needs to fight to change its Congressman.
While there, I met Chad Dotson for the first time in person. The Wise County delegation sat directly behind us Smyth County folks near the rear of the auditorium. He did have his camera and I’m sure he will have some excellent photos posted later. I took my camera too, but it is not good at zooming in from far away. I’m sure Chad’s camera was able to do better.
The 9th District GOP Convention will be held tomorrow, Saturday, May 12th. It will be at the George Wythe High School in Wytheville. Registration starts at 9am and the convention starts at 10.
I will be there tomorrow morning. Any other bloggers going?
Blogging has been light the past several days. I’ve been busy with final exams and graduation is next Saturday. Hopefully, I will get back on track soon.
Another note: Today I became a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) by passing the Microsoft Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System test. I plan on taking another Microsoft test next week that will make me a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) if I pass it.
UPDATE: 5/12/2006 10:55PM
I see from Kilo that Senator Allen will indeed be giving a speech tomorrow at the convention. Chad also noted he will be attending.
The Republicans of the 9th District will meet in Wytheville at George Wythe High School on Saturday, May 13th to nominate a congressional candidate to face Rick Boucher in November. Registration begins at 9am and the event will last a few hours. So far, Delegate Bill Carrico is the only person announcing his intention to seek the nomination.
Also, Republicans will nominate a new district chairman. I have heard from several sources that current chairwoman Angie Hall of Radford will not be seeking re-election. Patrick Muldoon, who ran against Rick Boucher for Congress in 1996, has announced his intentions to seek the chair. He visited our Smyth County GOP Mass Meeting several weeks ago. Another source has recently informed me that Shea Cook, from Tazewell is also seeking the chairmanship. Cook you may remember was the Republican nominee in the special election held back in January to replace Jackie Stump in the 3rd House of Delegates district. Cook lost to Democrat Dan Bowling.
I will be attending as a delegate from Smyth County. Anybody else out there going or have heard more on the chair situation?
Here the Richlands paper has a story on Bill Carrico who spent time this week with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling touring SWVA. A very smart move on Carrico’s part I think. Carrico is the presumptive Republican nominee to take on Rick Boucher for Congress in the 9th District.
It is a pretty good article. Carrico touts his legislative and family values.
“I think the people of the Ninth District are ready for a change, and I want to lead that change,” said Carrico, who’s seeking the Republican nomination in June to run against Boucher next November. “I’m no different from anyone out here in the Ninth. I think the big change people want is someone in Washington who shares their values.”
Kilo has made note of Lt. Governor Bolling’s SWVA tour. He will be stopping today in Wise at UVA-Wise and at Mosby’s Restaurant.
Regretfully, I will not be back in Wise until Wednesday due to it being Town Election day tomorrow. I am helping out a good friend of mine who is seeking a seat on the Saltville Town Council. If I was, I would probably join Kilo at the events.
Lt. Governor Bolling will be making other stops in SWVA. Here is the press release from his office.
This morning I found myself in a strange place—a Rick Boucher Town Hall Meeting. Boucher held the meeting Saturday morning at the Chilhowie Public Library/Community Center here in Smyth County. There were around 25 people there counting him and his 3 staff members. I expected a much larger turnout, but it was a Saturday morning.
I actually had never seen Boucher speak before in person. I must admit he is an excellent public speaker and is very charismatic. He showed up a little past the listed start time, but jumped right into giving his report. The report listed several things he worked to accomplish here in Smyth County. Boucher listed the completion of the re-build of Route 600, funding for the renovation and re-opening of the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, and money for the library’s computer lab in the same building we were at today. His staff distributed a 30 page booklet to all in attendance listing all the things he considered his accomplishments in the 9th District for 2005 grouped by category.
Two themes were present throughout his presentation—tourism and technology. I didn’t mind the technology part at all since I am pretty tech savvy. However, I was tired of hearing the same old tourism stuff paraded out. Tourism definitely is not going to save SWVA. We need many good quality jobs and employers who will make long term investments. Technology jobs are good, but there is so much of our population who did not grow up with technology. I did like Boucher’s goals to expand broadband and wireless Internet access. Having broadband is a vital asset and resource for rural areas and does help to lure in technology and non-tech businesses.
Boucher did take questions for the audience which ranged from immigration issues, to gas prices, health care, and broadband availability. In his responses he did take a couple swipes at President Bush on Medicare funding reduction and gas prices. He also expressed optimism that the Democrats may regain control of the House in the November elections.
I had to leave before the end of the meeting to head to another event. I spent about and hour and a half watching it and have to give him high marks at least for his presentation.
Kilo has a couple posts (and pictures) on his trip to the Jim Webb for Senate rally in Gate City today. Go check them out as Kilo is pretty much the source for reports on that event. The Webb people apparently did a bad job at informing the press of the event. However, Kilo does a just as good (or better I think) job of reporting.