For Republican Tom O’Donoghue’s campaign to seize Virginia’s 8th District seat in the house, doorbells are going to have to replace TV airwaves.
The congressional candidate has seen a tough road in funding the long-shot bid to unseat Rep. Jim Moran, a Democratic mainstay in the left-leaning district.
As of the end of September, the challenger had raised about $22,000, according to his campaign, to match Moran’s $1.2 million.
“We know damn sure we’re not going to buy this, so we’re going to get out there and get the message to people,” campaign manager Bill Lockhart told The Examiner on Monday.
The money gap illustrates the underdog status of three Northern Virginia congressional challengers. Only Democrat Judy Feder, who is running in the sprawling 10th District against Rep. Frank Wolf, has come closeto her opponent in fundraising. Feder has raised about $1.1 million.
And with less than a month to go until the Nov. 7 election, challengers are working to amplify their message of a need for change in Congress, though political observers have largely written off the region as a safe bet for sitting representatives. Following a national trend sparked by poor approval ratings of the Bush administration and a series of scandals within the GOP, Democratic candidates have sought to link the Republican incumbents to national failures.
“We get free advertising in the evening news,” said Andrew Hurst, a Democrat taking on entrenched 11th District Rep. Tom Davis. “Our message is: All the things you don’t like, Tom Davis is responsible for.”
It’s unclear how much this tactic will resonate with voters, however. Davis is aided by a strong record of bringing federal dollars to his constituency, widespread recognition and a substantial funding lead.
And Wolf, also an inveterate incumbent, may float above the changing political tide nationally.
He received an endorsement Saturday from the Washington Post, which identified him as part of a small group of legislators “whose independent-mindedness and pragmatic problem-solving outweigh their partisanship.”
