Virginia's 2nd CD is something of an enigma in terms of press coverage. Cook's Political Report rates the race between Republican incumbent Thelma Drake and Democratic challenger Phil Kellam as a toss-up, CQ Politics puts it barely leaning Republican, and Larry Sabato has bounced all over on it, from considering it safe to a potential Democratic pickup. On a contest this competitive in a year where every seat is critical to control of the House, I would expect a lot more reporting than I found.
Thanks to Hampton Roads Politics , I found yesterday's Virginian-Pilot editorial on the race:
The greatest threat to American resolve, she said, will be an unwillingness to stomach the civilian toll, or the military costs measured in injury and death.
Drake's clarity on Iraq stands in measured contrast to her opponent, Democrat Phil Kellam, whose message on Iraq is as muddled as the conflict has become.He talks about defining clear objectives, about finding public unity on the subject. He talks about the mess that the war has become. He says the military should decide when the time has come to leave.
Read the rest at the link above.
Well, it seems Kellam has said a lot of things. His strategy appears to be to try and stay extremely close to Drake on the issues, and count on the President's poor approval numbers and a general dissatisfaction with incumbents to pull him through. In fact, one summary of an early debate I read while trying to find up-to-date info on this race {sorry, I can't remember the source} quoted Kellam as joking, "We agree on 98% of the issues, maybe one of us doesn't need to be up here."
He is trying to be a stealth candidate, perhaps?
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