In 9th, Griffith hopes to end Boucher's long run

By JIM NOLAN/Media General News Service
Rick Boucher is a Democratic congressman in a Republican-leaning district. And he's been there for a long time.
Boucher has represented Southwest Virginia's vast, rural 9th District since 1983. None of his opponents has topped 40 percent of the vote since 1994.
But now Boucher faces a fight in this bastion of populist politics known for decades as the "Fighting Ninth." Political observers say H. Morgan Griffith, a Salem lawyer and Majority Leader in the Virginia House of Delegates, poses Boucher's first credible challenge in years.
Seizing on the anti-Washington mood, a limping economy and fears over the impact of the federal health-care overhaul, the GOP hopes to pick up enough seats in the mid-term elections to win back a majority in Congress. And several seats in Virginia, including Boucher's, are on the GOP's wish list.
"Now more than ever, we need to do our part to get Congress turned around," said Sharon Brockman, 35, standing outside her front door on Main Street in downtown Christiansburg one recent evening. A 4x6 Griffith campaign sign was anchored prominently on her front lawn.
The home-schooling mother of three boys said she was concerned about the expansion of government under President Barack Obama's administration.
"They're not going to inherit the country we did," she said, referring to her children. "We need a change."
As Labor Day signals the homestretch of Virginia's congressional contests, Boucher leads Griffith by 10 percentage points, according to a SurveyUSA poll released Friday.
Boucher, who is seeking a 15th term, also boasts a healthy financial edge. As of June 30, he had $2 million in cash on hand, to $297,000 for Griffith.
"I am focused on the needs of this district, and I have the seniority and the effectiveness to address those needs in a thorough, comprehensive and efficient manner," said Boucher. "And that's what I've been doing for 28 years."
But in this graying, 93 percent white district of resilient small towns and picturesque mountains and valleys, demographics — and economic concerns — fuel optimism among Republicans.
"I think Washington needs to be changed, and I'm a fighter and I'm willing to take risks," said Griffith, a father of three who grew up in Salem. "If people decide they're fed up with Washington, then we win."
Griffith spent Friday afternoon strolling through the massive Hillsville Flea Market, speaking with prospective voters who were selling everything from firearms to lemonade.
"I hope you kick his [expletive]" said gun dealer Randy Winters, 58, from Atkins, as Griffith stopped by his counter to peruse his collection of handguns and firearms for sale.
Earlier Friday, during a volunteer breakfast at a Shoney's Restaurant in Wytheville, Boucher told about two dozen supporters to be wary of overconfidence.
"We are very confident in this campaign, but given the challenge of this year we are taking nothing for granted," he said. "So let's not rest on our laurels."
Boucher has prospered in a district that often votes Republican in other contests.
In 2008, Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, carried the district with 59 percent of the vote to Obama's 39 percent.
In last year's governor's race, Republican Bob McDonnell carried the district with 66 percent of the vote, despite the Southwest Virginia roots of Democratic nominee R. Creigh Deeds, a state senator from Bath County.
Counties in the western half of the sprawling district — which runs from just west of Roanoke to Virginia's borders with West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky — are also among the poorest in the commonwealth.
The 9th District's median household income of $36,453 is well below the national average of $52,175 and 17.8 percent of its residents live in poverty, compared with a national average of 13.2 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2006 to 2008.
The number of Medicare beneficiaries is more than 30 percent above the national average. Twenty percent of residents live in mobile homes; nearly a quarter never finished high school.
Double-digit unemployment in parts of the district surpasses the nation's 9.5 percent jobless rate.
Griffith says Boucher has failed "to do the job on jobs," which has led to the graying of the district because "we don't have jobs for younger people."
Voters in the district's western, coal-producing counties also worry that tougher restrictions on greenhouse gases — whether through Environmental Protection Agency regulations or through "cap-and-trade" legislation — will choke an industry that fuels the local economy.
Boucher, who voted for the cap-and-trade bill, said it was better for Congress to exercise control over greenhouse-gas regulation rather than cede the authority to the EPA. He said that would be worse for the coal industry and consumers.
"Everything I did was to protect coal and protect jobs," he said.
Griffith called Boucher's reasoning "poppycock," saying Boucher should have used his power to convince a handful of other congressmen to defeat the measure, rather than support it.
This year Boucher was one of 34 Democrats in the House who broke with Obama and voted against the health-care overhaul, citing the bill's cuts of $450 billion in Medicare funding over 10 years. He said two-thirds of his district opposed the measure.
But Boucher backed Obama on the federal stimulus bill.
"The Republicans think certainly there are some wedge issues that Morgan might play," said Robert Denton, a political analyst at Virginia Tech.
"Cap and trade, [Boucher's] voting support of Obama — those are opportunities, they think. But voters have had very strong support of Boucher over the years."
And Boucher, they say, has delivered, especially in the area of constituent service. During breakfast in Wytheville, he ticked off examples of federal dollars corralled for the district:
Upgrades of $5 million to the Rural Retreat Water Service. A veterans outpatient clinic, investments in broadband infrastructure, $7.5 million for a veterans cemetery.
"I think if you look at his record of service to the district, you see a general respect and care of the people that live here," said David Manley, 35, a fourth-generation farmer whose four-year-old winery, West Wind Farm, was launched through an economic development loan secured by the congressman.
"He's been an effective advocate for the needs of Southwest Virginia."
Denton says Boucher has a presence in the district and has become skilled at letting his voters know what he's done for them.
"This community center, this library, this road — he's very strategic in showing up at all types of things," says Denton. "He's good at making it local."
So far, Boucher has remained characteristically low-key, keeping a limited public schedule. Thus far, Boucher has agreed to only two televised debates, both of which will be held within 10 days of the election.
Griffith, meanwhile, has been a road warrior, crisscrossing the district to build credibility as a standard-bearer of anti-Washington sentiment. On Friday he spent several hours glad-handing at the Labor Day Hillsville Flea Market, before venturing back into Boucher's home turf to attend a football game at Abingdon High School.
Despite his name recognition in Richmond as majority leader and in his legislative district, Griffith faces the challenge of not actually living in the 9th District. The border district's border ends at his neighbor's yard in Salem.
"Why would you want to vote for somebody who can't vote for himself?" asked Wythe County Democratic Party chairman Robert Kegley.
Griffith jokes that the groundhog that has invaded his yard from his neighbor's property is from the 9th District.
He says voters of the district care "more about where you stand than where you sleep."
Next year lawmakers will redraw the 9th District. Dipping population means its boundaries must expand to include another 65,000 voters. That means Griffith's border trouble is likely to vanish next time around.
Even if he falls short this November, Griffith could be positioning himself for a rematch against Boucher in 2012.
But Boucher will not be easy to defeat this time or next, says Denton. He says the GOP might be a little too optimistic in its hopes for the 9th, especially given that the national party has yet to dump a chunk of money into Griffith's campaign coffers.
Griffith recently got a boost from Gov. Bob McDonnell, who attended a Bristol fundraiser for the candidate. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he will raise money for Griffith's bid.
Boucher, meanwhile, will entertain visits from Democrats like Sens. Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner. But he is unlikely to seek help from Obama, whose favorability rating in the 9th District is polling below 40 percent.
"I think Boucher simply needs to remind them that he's been a friend for them in Washington over the years," said Denton.
"There is the issue of trust — that's what Morgan is trying to build. Do we really know you? In places like Bristol and Dixon, they like to know people."
Jim Nolan writes for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.