VA-09: Boucher Dodges Bullet

[ccharles000]

One of the big question marks left, as the House landscape is starting to solidify, is whether long-time Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher would have to face Republican state Del. Terry Kilgore in November. We have our answer today... no, he won't.

Terry Kilgore (R), a member of Virginia's House of Delegates, told The Washington Post Thursday that family considerations and his seniority in Richmond influenced his decision.

"I'm doing more for southwest Virginia in Richmond than I ever could in Congress," said Kilgore, who was first elected in 1993 to the Republican-controlled state House.

Kilgore (the brother of the former AG and gubernatorial candidate) was the one Republican who seemed to have the capacity to turn this otherwise-pretty-safe race into a precarious contest. Getting him to run would have been a major recruiting score for the NRCC, as the "Fighting Ninth," in coal country in southwestern Virginia, is a historically Democratic area that has moved sharply toward the Republicans at the presidential level, but one where the GOP hasn't had the talent available to translate that shift downballot. (In fact, no Republican at all has filed yet to run here in 2010.) Without Kilgore around, Boucher can breathe much easier, and the DCCC has one less hole in the dike to plug with money.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/6168/va09-boucher-dodges-bullet