Virginia's 5th District was supposed to be a safe Republican seat. So it was a definite upset when Democrat Tom Perriello, a former national-security consultant and religious activist, squeaked out an apparent win by a margin of around 700 votes.
Even in a rough year for Republicans, most political observers still didn't give do-gooder Tom Perriello much of a chance against Virginia's Republican congressman Virgil Goode. Virginia's 5th Congressional District, situated in the middle of the state, is a deep pool of red in a state trending blue due to the steady influx of minorities and young professionals.
So it was a definite upset when Perriello, a former national-security consultant and religious activist, squeaked out an apparent win by a margin of around 700 votes. "What's happened is a lot of these members of Congress feel entitled to their seats," Perriello says. "And they have to earn them from the voters. ... The voters [said] you know what, you're not getting it done for us." I joined Perriello briefly on the trail in mid-October, where he was trying to sell his particular brand of faith-based liberalism to a largely rural, mostly conservative district. The question was whether Perriello's pitch -- an Obamaesque approach to liberalism that speaks to bread-and-butter issues but doesn't exactly speak its name ("We need to explode the existing spectrum of right to left that has been paralyzing us for years") could work against a strong incumbent in a seemingly safe Republican district.
The American Prospect