Perriello, Hurt campaign styles couldn't be more different

BEDFORD — Democrat Tom Perriello and Republican Robert Hurt both reached out to 5th District voters here last week — in two unmistakably different styles.

Hurt runs on promises to fix what’s wrong in Washington.

Perriello, unlike at least three congressional Democrats in Virginia, refuses to break ranks with President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Both Hurt and Perriello enjoy top-tier support from the national level of their parties — Hurt from the National Republican Congressional Committee and Perriello from Obama and congressional Democrats.

Huge amounts of campaign money and countless TV ads are coming as well, from both sides. So, too, are attack ads from special-interest groups that criticize one candidate without directly endorsing the other.

The race also includes Jeffrey Clark, an independent from Danville.

Last week, the temperature of the campaigns rose.

As a freshman congressman seeking re-election, Perriello faced both friendly and unfriendly voters in a town-hall meeting Monday that couldn’t officially be called a campaign event.

He talked unflinchingly for an hour and a half about health care, cap-and-trade, and his votes for them, and other issues supported by Democratic leaders in Washington.

Hurt, a state senator from Chatham, spent Thursday visiting Bedford businesses, the county administration offices and the sheriff’s office.

With a grass-roots politician’s eye for spotting potential voters, Hurt often pivoted out of his path to introduce himself to people, hand them his campaign brochure and ask for their support in November.

To anyone who asked a question, Hurt told them he thinks the election will be about helping small businesses succeed.

“I hope they’ll spread the word to their friends,” he said.

Hurt did that same kind of street-level campaigning Tuesday in Farmville and Friday in Charlottesville.

Perriello avoided talking about his opponent during the town hall. Hurt didn’t talk about Perriello unless a voter brought up his name.

But while Hurt’s and Perriello’s face-to-face encounters with people emphasize a positive approach, both campaigns have used negative tactics in their news releases and TV commercials.

Perriello’s campaign reacted to an endorsement Hurt received Tuesday from the National Federation of Independent Businesses by issuing this broadside:

“In a stunning move of rank hypocrisy, Sen. Robert Hurt today announced his support for small businesses and then in the same breath, promised to raise taxes on 15,000 small businesses in the 5th District.”

Perriello’s allegation of tax-raising was based on a promise by Hurt to defund the health-care act, whose provisions include a tax credit that businesses can claim when they provide health insurance for employees.

Hurt’s campaign released a TV commercial last week that referred to “the national energy tax that we can’t afford” and “the Pelosi-Perriello health-care plan we didn’t want.”

Perriello voted in favor of both of those measures. The bill that Republicans call an energy tax, also known as cap-and-trade, is stalled in the Senate.

“Washington is spending away our future,” the Hurt ad says, closing with his pledge to “fight to fix Washington.”

When a woman asked Perriello at the Bedford town hall meeting whether his attack ads suggested he was abandoning his record and his base of support, the candidate didn’t back off.

Perriello promised that future TV ads would talk about positive aspects of the health care bill, which he said would preserve Medicare until 2030.

Perriello told a Nelson County audience two weeks ago, “Under Senator Hurt’s plan [to defund the bill], Medicare starts to go bankrupt in six years.”

National Democrats rallied behind Perriello last week.

On Wednesday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said, “Republican operatives want you to believe that Democratic congressional leaders have abandoned Tom Perriello. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I’m here to tell you that we support Tom now more than ever,” Van Hollen said after House Democrats held their weekly meeting on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Pelosi added her endorsement of Perriello during a ceremony in Washington that recognized the Lynchburg-based Edison2 team for designing a car that gets 100 miles per gallon.

“Thank you, Tom, for your courage, for your inspiration to members of the freshman class to support the climate-change legislation,” Pelosi said, referring to the cap-and-trade bill that passed the House by a 219-212 vote last year.

Hurt’s campaign replied that Pelosi’s support showed “how out of step Congressman Perriello is with the people of Central and Southside Virginia.”

Obama added his endorsement to Perriello’s campaign later in the week.

In an e-mail distributed by Organizing for America, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, Obama said:

“In just 20 months, this movement has accomplished a tremendous amount.

“But we couldn’t have done it without the Democrats in Congress who were willing to take a stand and fight for policies that would move America forward.

“And with so much still left to be done, and too many families struggling to get by, we need to keep America moving forward — which means I need you to support Tom Perriello for Congress.”

At least three Democratic congressional candidates in Virginia haven’t aligned themselves as closely with Obama and Pelosi as Perriello and parted with them over ending tax breaks for upper-income people.

Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Norfolk, avoided calling himself a Democrat during a debate with opponent Republican Scott Rigell last month, and recently said tax breaks for families with incomes above $250,000 should continue.

Obama wants the cuts to expire in January, and Perriello hasn’t changed his stand in favor of letting the upper-income tax breaks expire.

In Southwest Virginia, Rep. Rick Boucher also has called for the tax breaks to continue for people at all income levels, as did Rep. Gerry Connolly of Northern Virginia.

National-level support for Hurt has included a campaign fund-raiser held in Dallas Sept. 9 by Republican Reps. Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling.

Hurt also basked in some high-powered Virginia support Thursday night during a crowded fund-raising event at the home of Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford.

Putney, Virginia’s senior state legislator and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, caucuses with Republicans.

And on Wednesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell is scheduled to join Hurt in a fund-raising event for his campaign at a residence in Northern Virginia.

Perriello’s campaign reported having $1.7 million in cash on hand as of June 30. Hurt reported $215,954 on hand in June; however, the number of his TV ads increased after his return from the Texas fund-raiser.

Isaac Wood, house race editor for political analyst Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, said both campaigns are using their TV ads to define Hurt’s identity.

“As a result of Perriello’s extensive public meetings and appearances across the district for the past two or three years, many voters already have an idea of who he is and what he stands for,” Wood said.

“Hurt is more of a blank slate, since he has been doing this for a shorter amount of time and not holding the same amount of public events. That leaves a gap that both sides will compete to fill,” Wood said.

Most of Hurt’s public campaign appearances since he won the party’s nomination in a June primary have come before crowds that were reasonably friendly, such as local chambers of commerce.

Hurt also faced tea party audiences in Charlottesville and Lynchburg this summer, encountering some pointed questions about his votes for tax bills in the General Assembly. Those groups, apparently, came away somewhat satisfied with Hurt’s explanation that he’s now more anti-tax than he ever was.

While the Crystal Ball has rated the 5th District a “toss-up” race, Wood noted the challenge Perriello faces.

“Perriello’s peril is that voters who are angry over health care and other elements of the Democratic agenda will show up to the polls in force, while those who agree with him may be less fired up about voting, and may show up to the polls in lower numbers,” Wood said.

Dan Palazzolo, a political analyst at the University of Richmond, made a similar point.

Hurt “needs only to rally the base of Republicans to win; Republican voters are much more enthusiastic this year compared with Democrats,” Palazzolo said.

“Perriello needs to reach beyond Democratic voters. In order to win, he will need the support of independents,” Palazzolo said.

Hurt’s campaign obviously feels comfortable with the position it is in, Wood said, because several polls have favored him.

Hurt “is running more of a frontrunner’s campaign. They have been pleased with the public polling in this race, all of which has shown him with a lead,” Wood said.

Ray Reed reports for the (Lynchburg) News & Advance.