Cantor, Hartke enter final stretch in 7th

MADISON — With one week to go before Election Day, U.S. Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-Henrico, and his Democratic challenger Anita Hartke are making a final push for votes in the 7th District.

Cantor, a four-term incumbent and chief deputy whip, told a gathering of supporters Monday at a park in Madison that he wants to keep taxes low, expand the nation’s production of oil and other energy sources, increase accountability in Washington and Wall Street, and curtail government spending “across the board.”

“I believe very strongly that we should be loud and clear: No more taxes,” Cantor said. “Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

At the heart of Cantor’s re-election bid, he said, is “economic security” amid the country’s financial crisis. Cantor said he wants to slash corporate taxes and exempt workers’ overtime pay from federal taxes.

“How can we expect our economy to grow if we don’t let our small businesses grow?” he said.

Hartke, a Culpeper County resident and real estate broker for National Realty, says she is a Mark R. Warner-style Democrat who would bring much-needed change to the 7th District, which includes Madison, Louisa and Orange counties.

“People are tired of politics as usual in D.C.,” said Hartke, who is daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana. “They want a new direction and new leadership.”

If she is elected, Hartke said, she would work with Warner — who is widely favored to win a U.S. Senate seat on Nov. 4 — to improve the economy, vastly expand the government’s support of alternative energy sources, emphasize diplomacy in America’s foreign policy, bring down the cost of college and make health care more affordable.

“Eric Cantor spent 95 to 98 percent of the time in lockstep with the Bush administration,” Hartke said. “Want to know who I’m in lockstep with? It’s Mark Warner.”

Hartke has criticized Cantor for not agreeing to any debates with her during the campaign. Tonight, Hartke will appear at a forum sponsored by the Hanover County NAACP. The event was originally going to be a debate, but Cantor declined, Hartke said. Cantor also declined Hartke’s invitation to participate in a debate sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Luray.

“He turned down veterans and the NAACP. Those were his constituents,” Hartke said. “Constituents have the right to hear the views of both candidates in an election. It’s rude.”

Cantor said he declined to attend the debates because the invitations came from Hartke’s campaign, not from an independent organization in the district.

“There’s been no third-party offers,” he said. “What she’s been doing is holding a campaign rally and then asking me to attend.”

Cantor has advantages over Hartke heading into Election Day, including his incumbency and a sizable fundraising edge, according to the candidates’ most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission. As of Oct. 15, Cantor had raised $3.65 million and had $607,813 in the bank. As of Sept 30, Hartke had raised $64,496 and had $9,964 in cash on hand.

Despite polls suggesting that a rough time might be ahead for the GOP, Cantor said his support is rock solid. He reflects, he said, the “common-sense conservative” viewpoint of his district.

At Cantor’s campaign stop Monday in Madison, John D. Tucker, chairman of the Madison County Republican Committee, said Cantor has spent the last eight years in Washington tackling the important issues and representing the district.

“We need to send him back to finish the job,” Tucker said. “This man has integrity, he has character and he has a lot of will in Congress.”

Hartke said she believes she has a good chance of unseating Cantor, as she will benefit from the coattails of her fellow Democrats appearing atop the ballot.

“I’m riding along with Mark Warner and Barack Obama,” she said.