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The sadly ironic touch to Democrat Congressman Jim Moran calling his 8th district Republican opponent Patrick Murray a ”strawman” is that it has been documented that liberals have, in fact, set up “independent TEA Party backed” candidates to draw away votes from Republicans. There are documented cases in Florida and elsewhere, including, apparently in Virginia — particularly in the Southwest’s 9th Congressional district and in the Southside-Central 5th Congressional district.

While Jeff Clark polls around 1 percent, incumbent Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello has run television ads promoting Clark as the true conservative in the race to blunt Republican Robert Hurt’s appeal to independent voters. (Unfortunately, most media have played along the last three months, prefacing his name with “TEA Party backed.”) 

While Mr. Perriello has acknowledged paying for those ads per the law, direct mail pieces promoting Clark without a disclaimer have flooded the district (see Danville Register & Bee). But a little detective work has uncovered some telling clues as from where they originated — namely, that the bulk mail permit is the same as that of the Maryland company that handles Mr. Perriello’s constituent newsletter.

The pieces also have a union label and the company in question is a union shop. Don’t think too many Virginia TEA Party candidates are using Maryland union shops for their direct mail campaigns (read the evidence here).

Any mailer or advertising without a disclaimer is afoul of election law. We thought liberals were all for campaign finance and disclosure reform? Surely, it’s a last ditch desperation roll of the dice for Mr. Perriello. Win or lose, his campaign should be investigated for his double standard if not for potential illegalities.

While many Virginians are worried about the economy, their jobs, the country’s third-world-like debt, and the mountainous problems facing the country, Barack Obama is going on Comedy Central’s Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Now, he’s bringing his routine to the stage . . . in Charlottesville today to tell the good people of the fifth Congressional district  to re-elect one of his biggest enablers, Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello. (It’s not the first time he’s brought his brand of humor to Virginia in recent weeks, either.)

But if you are in the area or want to break for an early weekend, you can go to Mr. Jefferson’s hometown for another reason: At 4:00 at Charlottesville’s Lee Park, located downtown at the intersection of 2nd Street NE and Market Street, there will be a counter rally sponsored by Americans For Prosperity’s Virginia chapter. AFP national President Tim Phillips and other noteworthies will speak.

Mr. Obama repeatedly has disparaged political opponents since taking office, recently asking Hispanic voters to “punish enemies.” He has accused organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce of illegal activities, with no evidence, and said others, such as AFP, are bought and paid for by foreign campaign contributions (see Jake Tapper’s ABC News Political Punch blog) .

Desperation, indeed. Here’s an opportunity for Virginians to show the president and Mr. Periello that Virginians have an honest and profound difference with them on their massive government intrusion into private enterprise, and their incomprehensible government spending, taxing and debt. We hope, but are not expecting, an honest discussion from the president and the congressman.

An e-mail I read today from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about the Tom Perriello-Robert Hurt race in Virginia’s 5th Congressional district, said that “Tom never met a red light he didn’t like.” I figured it was a reference to his illegal lane change last week in which he sideswiped another vehicle sending one woman to the hospital with minor injuries. But the e-mail included an article from Roll Call’s John McArdle which began:

Besides nearly hitting a deer on the road outside Rocky Mount, running a red light in Martinsville and Republican trackers tailing him in Danville and South Boston. …

The chamber even made a game of it, including Mr. Perriello on its Where Is Nancy? locater/blog. Here is, in part, what Chamber senior vice president for Political Affairs Bill Miller wrote:

Have you seen Nancy? She may be riding around with Congressman Perriello. After standing with Nancy on trillions of dollars in government spending, you’d think she’d show up for her tax and spend pal, Tom Perriello. He’s been spotted driving all over Virginia trying to reinvent himself and run away from his near lockstep voting record with Nancy Pelosi.

Tom never met a red light he didn’t fly through in Congress, voting with Nancy Pelosi on government run health care, cap and trade and the reckless budget. So if you see Tom, tell him to stop. Virginia cannot afford his reckless policies.

So, apparently, Rep. Perriello ran a red light in Martinsville, but that’s the extent of what we could find. The Roll Call article mentioned nothing more of it and no other media seems to have picked up on it. The question is, how did Roll Call learn of it? Did Mr. McArdle witness it? Was it leaked to him? Did the police stop Mr. Perriello? Some might say Mr. Perriello stopped himself with his left wing voting record the last two years.

Although Family Foundation Action released a voter guide only for the 11th Congressional District campaign, we thought we’d bring your attention to some information about the candidates running in the 5th and 9th Congressional districts. Voters in those districts can get information about the Democrat incumbents, Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher, by referencing their scores on the FRC Action Scorecard, which we wrote about recently (click here). Then, you can compare where they stand on the issues with their respective Republican challengers, Virginia Senator Robert Hurt and House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith on TFF Action’s General Assembly Report Card (click here).

In sum, here’s how it adds up:

FRC Action rates 5th District Congressmen Perriello at 12 percent for the last two years in the House of Representatives while TFF Action scored Senator Hurt at 91 percent for the last two sessions of the General Assembly.

FRC Action rates 9th District Congressman Rick Boucher at 25 percent, while TFF Action rates Delegate Griffith at 100 percent.

We report. You decide. Messrs. Perriello and Connolly received low marks on economic issues, as well, from The Club For Growth: 11 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

For direct, side-by-side comparisons of the candidates’ positions on the issues, the Faith & Freedom Coalition is issuing voter guides in the 5th and 9th districts. They will be made available online next week, although copies are available now. For more information, click here.

Virginia 5th District Congressman Tom Perriello, a Democrat, spoke to the media yesterday regarding the car wreck Friday night, that was first reported yesterday, in which he was charged with an improper lane change, calling it, “one of those things that can happen anywhere.” The Congressman, driving a pickup, sideswiped a Ford Explorer carrying four people, it into a grassy median. A 23-year-old “banged her knee a little bit, and they insisted on taking her in” to the hospital he said.

The accident occurred near Burkeville on U.S. 460 where it splits with U.S. 360. He made the remarks to the Lynchburg News & Advance editorial board and tried to downplay the incident, although he acknowledged the difficulty in that considering his position and, especially, in the stretch run of a hotly contested election.

He said he signaled, visually checked and was not distracted in any way, and no alcohol was involved according to police. He blamed the accident on a blind spot.

“It didn’t feel like that big of a deal at the time. I guess, given who I am, it should always be” treated as a news-making event, but “we exchanged insurance as you do when you hit someone else’s car.”

Mr. Perriello is running against Republican Robert Hurt, a member of the Virginia Senate. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has more, here.

This news is making the rounds fast and furious this afternoon: Virginia 5th District U.S. Representative Tom Perriello, a freshman Democrat seeking re-election against Republican Robert Hurt, a member of the Virginia Senate, was charged with making an unsafe lane change after he caused a traffic crash Friday night in Nottoway County that injured one person.

Here’s the story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: 

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, was charged with making an unsafe lane change after a traffic crash Friday night in Nottoway County that injured one person.

Perriello was not hurt in the crash, and neither speed nor alcohol was considered a factor, according to Virginia State Police.

The incident happened after 8 p.m. near U.S. 460 eastbound at state Route 723, Lewiston Plank Road.

A 2005 Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by Perriello was traveling eastbound in the right lane when Perriello attempted to change lanes and struck a 1996 Ford Explorer. The Explorer ran off the roadway and into the median.

The driver of the Explorer, Sh’Vonta S. Montgomery, 26, of Crewe was not injured in the crash and was wearing her safety belt, according to police.

Montgomery had three passengers. State police said Ashley Robertson, 23, was seated behind Montgomery and was transported by ambulance to Farmville Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries.

Additional information on Robertson’s injuries was not available today.

The front-seat passenger and another backseat passenger, who is under the age of 8, were not injured and both were wearing their safety belts, state police said.

Our friend Jim Hoeft, at Bearing Drift, has recreated the scene with state of the art modern technology. Worth a peak.

UPDATE: Be sure to read the comments at the T-D. Best ones so far: “I just read the police report — He blamed it all on BUSH!” and “Perriello, un-Hurt.”

FRC Action yesterday released its Congressional Scorecard for the 111th Congress. It was excellent for some Virginia lawmakers, a disaster for most. More about that below. First, here’s FRC Action President Tony Perkins’ explanation of the scorecard’s methodology:

From January 2009 through August of this year, Congress voted on an increasingly bold liberal agenda that covered everything from international abortion funding and “hate crimes” to a record ten votes on ObamaCare and the confirmation of two controversial Supreme Court justices. FRC Action has compiled those votes in its annual scorecard for the 111th Congress.

Taking into account 16 votes in the House and 24 in the Senate, we honor 110 Congressmen {5 from Virginia} and 17 Senators as “True Blue” — men and women who voted consistently with FRC Action’s position on a cross-section of issues affecting the family.

To download a PDF copy of the scorecard, click here. The scorecard details the specific votes and issues scored and provides an informative background on the 111th Congress itself, as well as other worthwhile information. We hope you take some time to look it over, especially during this crucial election season, to inform yourself on how your Congressman voted on issues important to the family, traditional values and economic and religious liberty. (Not ironically, see how similarly Virginia’s Congressional delegation fared from the Club For Growth, which monitors taxes, spending and economic matters.)

Quick thoughts: I never thought I’d see the day when a congressman who voted against Christmas (Bobby Scott) could receive a better score from a family values organization than other members from a Virginia delegation, but both Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran got goose eggs. As for our two senators, Jim Webb followed the Connolly and Moran lead, while that self-proclaimed “raging centrist” Mark Warner had the second lowest score of the 13 Virginians in Congress: A ”whopping” 4%! I guess it’s true. This really is what he thinks of us.

House (see page 7)

1st District: Robert Wittman (R): 100%

2nd District: Glenn Nye (D): 37%

3rd District: Bobby Scott (D): 6%

4th District: Randy Forbes (R): 100%

5th District: Tom Perriello (D): 12%

6th District: Bob Goodlatte (R): 100%

7th District: Eric Cantor (R): 100%

8th District: Jim Moran (D): 0%

9th District: Rick Boucher (D): 25%

10th District: Frank Wolf (R): 100%

11th District: Gerry Connolly (D): 0% 

Senate (see page 11)

Jim Webb (D): 0%

Mark Warner (D): 4%

In 1994, a year after George Allen led a historic landslide Republican victory in the Old Dominion, Virginia was, for the most part, left out of the national limelight in the even more historic national Republican wave that won the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for the first time in more than 40years. Oliver North lost a hotly contested Senate race to Chuck Robb and the GOP picked up only one House seat (the 11th, Tom Davis) while Republicans were winning in all corners of America. Was reason given by pundits at the time was that Virginians had gotten the protest out of their system in 1993.

This year, following last year’s more-impressive-than-1993 Bob McDonnell-led-landslide, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins has been fond of saying that to take back the House, the GOP needs to gain 40 seats; 10 percent of that is here in Virginia. Now, as Jim Geraghty of National Review’s Campaign Spot blog writes today, polling information shows those victories may be within reach: Three Republican challengers in those four targeted districts are leading their Democrat incumbent rivals, with a fourth closing fast. Here’s the breakdown:

» In the 2nd Congressional District, Republican Scott Rigell leads Democrat Glenn Nye, 48.6 to 34.5 percent.

» In the 5th District, Republican Robert Hurt leads Democrat Tom Perriello, 51.1 to 34.7 percent.

» In the 11th District, Republican Keith Fimian leads Democrat Gerry Connolly, 42.2 percent to 36.7 percent.

» In the 9th District, Republican challenger Morgan Griffith is down to Democrat Rick Boucher only 42.6 to 39.7 percent. However, one poll had Boucher up by 20 points about a month back, then by only 8 points a couple of weeks ago. The recent fallout over Mr. Boucher buying a brand new Ford with campaign funds while Virginians in the Southwest part of the state are suffering particularly hard during this recession could easily factor into a quickly narrowing gap.

The rest of the respondents in each poll were undecided. Tellingly, though, the poll, conducted by ccAdvdertising, does not include independents or third parties. Although not a top tier polling outfit, the snapshot does provide a glimpse of what directions the campaigns are going and who has momentum.

Not all landslides are the same and electorates can swing back from whence they came in a very short time. But this year, Virginia Democrats have much going against them, much more so than in 1994. Many of the circumstances that drove people to the polls and to the GOP in Virginia and in blue New Jersey (and deep blue Massachusetts in January) last year are still around: Primarily, as in the case of Congressman Boucher, this:

This love is going to last, but that might not be a good thing.

And this:

He’s doing fine, representing liberal special interests rather then his constituents.

There’s been a lot of change in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District the last two years. Representative Tom Perriello was a change, not only from Republican to Democrat, but in actual policy and in votes cast. But the Republican Party of Virginia wanted to highlight his change of mind . . . on several issues. But the Web ad it produced last week encountered a sudden change itself when liberal activist/singer Sheryl Crow demanded the sound track of her hit “Change” be taken off the ad (see Charlottesville Daily Progress).

Leaving alone the fact that the Congressman seems to need a woman to go to bat for him (the ad must have struck a nerve), this now may be a case of being careful for which you ask — the new version may better focus on substance over style. Which may not be a bad thing in getting the word out.

Here’s the ad sans Ms. Crow’s crooning. We report you decide. Without the catchy jingle, does the ad get its point across better?

Change all around: Tom Perriello “changed” and Sheryl Crow made sure this ad’s tune changed.

Republicans need to gain 40 seats in November’s midterm elections to win control of the House of Representatives. Ten percent of that goal is in Virginia, where targeted incumbent Democrats Rick Boucher (VA-9), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Glenn Nye (VA-2) and Tom Perriello (VA-5) are being challenged by House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, Keith Fimian, Scott Rigell and Virginia Senator Robert Hurt, respectively. Connolly, Nye and Perriello all are freshmen and Perriello may be the number one GOP target in the entire country given his razor thin victory in 2008 and the 5th’s generally conservative leanings (Charlottesville Daily Progress). Perhaps no House win pleased liberals more.

Now, according to a poll released yesterday by SurveyUSA for Roanoke television station WDBJ, Representative Perriello may be toast (see American Prospect’s Tapped Blog and the Washington Post’s Virginia Politics Blog). It shows the 5th to be a blowout already: Hurt up by a 58-35 margin (see National Review Online’s Campaign Spot Blog).

While many GOP House candidates are polling well, few have the numbers that elicited a “WOW” from NRO’s Jim Geraghty. Of course, polls this early can mean anything and the pros will say SurveyUSA is not a top tier pollster on the lines of Mason-Dixon or Rasmussen Reports. But, SurveyUSA was the first to poll Virginia last summer (51 weeks ago, to be exact) and it had all three statewide races right from the beginning to the very end, including double digit leads when all the more “reputable” polls showed it closer. In fact, one political pro told me the SurveyUSA results were “embarrassing,” but the only people embarrassed last November were the doubters and the Democrats.

The numbers are even more astounding considering a hard fought Republican primary, a Libertarian candidate and some TEA Party dissatisfaction with Senator Hurt. (SurveyUSA breaks down its research here.) It admits it has factored Republican turnout to be much greater than Democrat turnout (not surprising since when comparing the U.Va. student drop-of from 2008, where Perriello benefited from a large Barack Obama student turnout, to 2009). However, SurveyUSA says even if it factors in a 50-50 Republican-Democrat turnout, Hurt still wins by 11 points. At this point. (Which would allow the GOP to focus on the other three seats.) But, if the trend holds, it’s a remarkable sign for House Republicans — and one down and 39 to go.