Rasoul battling despite large Goodlatte lead

Perspiration stood on Sam Rasoul’s face as he hurriedly shook hands on an August morning with people at a nuclear-energy seminar at Central Virginia Community College.

The Democratic candidate for Congress in the 6th District had been knocking on doors in a nearby Lynchburg neighborhood before he dashed to the campus.

Rasoul, 27, is the youngest congressional candidate in the nation. He’s running a political marathon that started 21 months ago when his campaign signs popped up beside roads near his Roanoke-area base.

His Republican opponent, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, hasn’t broken a sweat.

Goodlatte, 56, didn’t start making campaign appearances until last week, after the House of Representatives recessed for the year.

“Goodlatte is fairly safe,” said Bob Roberts, a political science professor and analyst at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. “He has a huge lead, which I don’t think is going to change.”

Seeking his ninth term, Goodlatte hasn’t run any TV ads, although he can afford them.

Rasoul, who has owned several small businesses but never run for office until now, doesn’t have the money for television spots. Federal Election Commission records show he raised $190,000 as of June.

Goodlatte had $1.5 million on hand.

Nevertheless, Rasoul has appeared tireless in an uphill battle. His early start discouraged a well-funded Democrat from pursuing the party’s nomination last spring, leaving Rasoul as Goodlatte’s first major opponent in 10 years.

Goodlatte engaged Rasoul in small-scale debates last week in Vinton and in Harrisonburg.

Although the debates weren’t hard-hitting, they were issue-focused — on topics including the economy, health care and the Iraq war. Differences between their positions were minor.

Rasoul passed on the opportunity to confront Goodlatte on issues many Democrats bring up, such as his 1992 term-limits pledge to serve only 12 years in Congress and his frequent votes in favor of President Bush’s

proposals.

Goodlatte doesn’t hide from those critics. He held telephone news conferences with reporters to explain his vote against the financial bailout bill that Congress eventually passed.

“I think it’s important to tell people what we’re doing,” Goodlatte said, adding that he’d have held the news conference even if he were running against a well-funded and experienced opponent.

Local party leaders in the Lynchburg area like what they’ve seen of Rasoul’s work ethic.

“Sam has shown a lot of energy, a lot of determination, and he has worked really hard trying to get his name out there and meet as many people as he can,” said John Lawrence, Democratic Party chairman in Lynchburg.

Working the crowd enthusiastically at CVCC, Rasoul greeted each of the 60 people who had gathered with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., to hear educators and executives describe Lynchburg’s role in the nuclear industry’s

expansion.

Pollsters give Goodlatte margins of better than 20 percent in the race. Rasoul doesn’t appear to notice.

“He’s very positive about this thing,” Lawrence said, even to the extent of presenting a cordial, issues-based campaign and refusing to directly criticize his opponent.

Established Democratic politicians have seemed a little wary of Rasoul.

For his part, Rasoul has seemed wary of them. He said he has turned down offers of campaign funds from the party’s political action

committees.

When Rasoul criticizes something, it’s usually the impact of lobbyists and special-interest money in politics.

Rasoul wasn’t on the podium when presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke in Lynchburg in August, but instead was seated nearby among other local Democratic players.

Mark Warner, the Democrat who holds a commanding lead in the race for the retiring John Warner’s U.S. Senate seat, hasn’t seemed to position himself too closely to either Obama or Rasoul.

Still, the coattails of Obama and Warner, coupled with tens of thousands of new voters in this presidential year, may be Rasoul’s best hope for a strong showing.

Goodlatte, although he didn’t sound worried, said in a recent interview that a presidential election year “presents an entirely different set of circumstances” from 10 years ago when his race against David Bowers of Roanoke was the top item on that year’s election ballot.