A Fight in the 5th: Virgil H. Goode Jr.

CLARKSVILLE

Most years, the Virginia Lake Festival draws scores of skiffs, speedboats and jet skis to Clarksville’s Buggs Island Lake.

Yet, this year, the lake was all but empty during the annual festival in the Southside waterfront hamlet of 1,400.

The reason? Exorbitant gas prices have made recreational boating a budget-busting endeavor.

U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., who was campaigning at the festival, told each passerby that he is eager to do anything and everything to bring down the cost of fuel.

“We need to solve this energy crisis,” said Goode, taking a break from campaigning at the recent Lake Festival. “We need someone like me with a consistent record.”

Goode, a Republican and six-term incumbent, has placed the nation’s energy policy — and gas prices, in particular — at the centerpiece of his re-election campaign against challenger Democrat Tom Perriello.

First of all, Goode wants Congress to lift a ban on off-shore drilling for oil and natural gas. Plus, he wants to authorize oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Such a move, Goode says, would lead to a decline in prices at the gas pumps. As evidence, he points to the recent lowering of gas prices that occurred after President Bush lifted a longstanding executive order banning off-shore drilling.

“A pro-drill policy would have a positive impact on the price of crude oil,” Goode, 61, said. “The president removed the ban and the price started to drop.”

Apart from drilling, Goode wants to boost the federal government’s support of alternative energy sources, including nuclear power. He advocates for tax credit incentives for wind and solar power producers. And he supports greater investment in hybrid technology, such as canola oil and switchgrass.

“You gotta drill,” he said. “But you also gotta focus on alternatives.”

Controlling immigration

With the price of gas is the issue du jour, Goode is also a passionate opponent of illegal immigration. Visitors to Goode’s campaign Web site are greeted by its top message: “Illegal immigrants take jobs from our citizens. I’m working to stop illegal immigration and secure America’s borders.” It goes on to say that America’s borders must be closed to keep out illegal immigrants, drug dealers and terrorists.

Goode supports building a fence along the nation’s border with Mexico. He also believes that the laws governing legal immigration need to be amended.

Specifically, he wants to end the U.S. Department of State’s Diver-sity Immigrant Visa program, which awards permanent residency to 50,000 immigrants chosen by a lottery each year. The immigrants must be Green Card holders and must come from a country with a low rate of immigration to the United States.

He also wants to end what he calls the “anchor baby situation.” Female illegal immigrants, he said, sneak into the United States to give birth because their babies will automatically become American citizens and qualify both the mother and the baby for Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits. Goode wants to end the nation’s policy of automatic citizenship for American-born children of illegal immigrants.

“We need someone like me who will say ‘No’ to illegal immigration,” Goode said.

Loyal supporters

At the Lake Festival, hundreds of Goode’s supporters cooled themselves with red-white-and-blue fans imprinted with Goode’s name. Mecklenburg County, which is home to Clarksville, gave Goode more than 64 percent of the vote in his 2006 race against Democrat Al Weed.

Many of Goode’s followers at the festival said they support him because they know him, trust him and like him.

“I’ve been knowing Virgil for years,” said Robert Ridgeway, a former tobacco farmer from Charlotte County. “He’s honest. He’s got good ideas. Very down to earth.”

Ridgeway said he sees the nation’s softening economy as the most important issue, with gas prices being a key reason why. He says he trusts Goode to focus on improving things.

“He’s good for the economy and he’s good for Virginia,” he said.

Tom Tharpe, a trucking company owner and resident of Clarksville and Farmville, said he likes Goode’s support of drilling for oil.

“We burn about 15,000 to 20,000 gallons of fuel per week, so I’m very much for drilling here in the U.S.,” he said. “Virgil’s a good man. He’s a man of integrity. A man of honor.”

Serious challenge?

On Nov. 4, Goode will likely have his toughest fight for re-election in years. His opponent, Ivy resident Tom Perriello, 33, had raised $930,725 as of June 30, compared with Goode’s fundraising total of $833,694. Perriello has blown past the campaign contribution records set by his Democratic challenger predecessors.

Goode criticizes Perriello for receiving campaign contributions from outside of Virginia. Perriello, for his part, criticizes Goode for receiving campaign contributions from the oil, gas and electricity industries.

Perriello’s was one of three Virginia candidacies named by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commission as part of its “red to blue” program. Such candidates are seen by their party to have a viable shot at unseating the GOP incumbent.

Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, has listed the race as “leans Republican.”

According to Sabato’s analysis of the race, only the liberal stronghold of Charlottesville would make the race competitive, as the mostly rural district has traditionally supported the GOP.

“How optimistic should Democrats be? That remains to be seen,” Sabato wrote. “But if history is any predictor: not very.”

It also remains to be seen how the presidential contest between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will affect the race between Goode and Perriello. Goode declined to speculate, saying that he was focused on the issues facing his district, not presidential politics.

Goode is one of fewer than a dozen Republican members of the House who has not endorsed McCain. At the Lake Festival, Goode said he has not endorsed McCain because he has not yet been officially named the GOP’s candidate.

Goode contributed money to the presidential campaigns of former Republican candidates Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

“Given the choice between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain, I’ll be voting for Sen. McCain,” he said.

Powerful, controversial

Goode’s campaign manager, Tucker Watkins, said Goode will win re-election because he has long leveraged his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to direct federal funds for transportation, agricultural and municipal projects throughout the 5th District.

“Virgil just doesn’t quit,” Watkins said. “If Perriello was elected tomorrow, there’s no way he’d get on Appropriations.”

Since his last re-election, however, Goode has had his share of controversies.

Following the 2006 election of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. House, Goode criticized Ellison’s decision to be sworn in on a copy of the Quran, rather than the Bible. Goode went on to suggest that America would have many more Muslims elected unless the nation stops illegal immigration. Ellison, who is not an immigrant, was sworn in on a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

More recently, Goode walked in a July 4 parade in Scottsville along with a not-exactly-fuel-efficient Hummer plastered with Goode’s campaign signs. Video of the Hummer was shown on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” prompting a satirical comparison between Republicans and rappers. Both love guns and money, for example, the show quipped. Goode says he has never watched “The Daily Show.” And he told the Danville Register & Bee, “I don’t know what a rapper is.”

Could such incidents impact Goode’s re-election bid? Not a chance, Watkins said.

“People in this district know Virgil and they trust him,” he said. “It’s all principles with him. It’s all, this is right or this is wrong. He’s got integrity and people know it.”