Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Goodlatte cruises to win in contested House bid
Democrat Sam Rasoul said he had no regrets about the way his campaign was run.
Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, celebrates with supporters at the Hotel Roanoke after winning the race against Sam Rasoul and Janice Lee Allen.
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From today's paper
Multimedia
Voters
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- Throughout Election Day, voters streamed to the polls
- First-time voters revel in democratic process
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- Voters report sporadic problems
Individual races
- Presidential race: Jim Crow to Obama in one lifetime
- 5th District, U.S. House: 5th District race remains too close to call
- 6th District, U.S. House: Goodlatte cruises to win in contested House bid
- U.S. Senate: Warner enjoys overwhelming win
U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte handily won re-election to a ninth term in Congress on Tuesday, fending off challenges from Democrat Sam Rasoul and independent Janice Lee Allen.
Political observers called the race for Republican incumbent Goodlatte minutes after the polls closed. The win was somewhat anticlimactic for Goodlatte even though he was facing his first major-party challenger in a decade, during a year when Democrats across the country expected substantial gains in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
"Isn't this a great evening for the 6th District of Virginia?" Goodlatte asked a cheering crowd of about 120 supporters at the Hotel Roanoke shortly after he emerged at 8:35 p.m. He went on to call the win a "great victory for the Republican Party" and "a great victory for fiscal responsibility."
"I want to commend my two opponents -- Sam Rasoul and Janice Lee Allen -- for a long and good campaign," Goodlatte said. "I am pleased that we were able to run a very positive campaign reaching out to the voters of this district with a message for what we want to accomplish."
Rasoul, a Botetourt County businessman, has been campaigning for nearly two years. But aside from a last-minute endorsement by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he received little substantial support from national Democrats. That was due in large part to his pledge not to accept party or political action committee money.
Rasoul's self-imposed limitations hurt him when it came to raising funds for his campaign. Through Oct. 15, he took in about $286,000 -- barely more than a fifth of Goodlatte's $1.3 million.
"You just can't win elections without raising funds necessary to put all those ads on television, and send mail to voters and be on the radio and pay all these good folks for the hard work they have done," Goodlatte said, referring to his campaign staff.
Rasoul was greeted by a crowd of about 100 at 202 Market shortly after 9 p.m. He had not yet conceded the race, saying that vote totals from Lynchburg and Roanoke had yet to be reported. But he appeared downbeat.
"For me it's all about running a campaign with no regrets," Rasoul said. "Yeah, you learn a lot along the way, and next time I run there's things I'll do better. But I can't look back and say I've got any serious regrets. I've tried to be honest, run a positive campaign and make sure we stick to our principles."
Allen confined her campaigning largely to the Shenandoah Valley. Although she participated in a pair of debates with Rasoul and one with Goodlatte, she appears to have had little influence on the election.
Goodlatte focused his campaign largely on his experience and energy issues, running television ads in the final weeks before the election that portrayed him as level-headed, even-handed and hardworking.
He said he'd continue to try to work with Democrats and Republicans on a bipartisan basis.
During his speech he said he would represent "the values of limited government -- not growing our government larger and larger; of freedom; of individual responsibility; of national security ... of strong families; and making sure that we keep our country headed in the right direction and not in the direction of big government and higher taxes and moving away from our free enterprise system."
Asked about his highest priority, Goodlatte said "the top priority should be fiscal responsibility" -- particularly his proposed Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget.
