Landslide Ralph Looking for a Place To Play

Looks like Landslide Ralph Smith's (right) going to have to move again if he is to remain a part of our government. The bumbling Republican who needs a script to answer the telephone appears to have been drawn out of his State Senate District with the new General Assembly plan--set to be signed by the governor--and he's on the prowl for a new home again.

Smith, who moved from Roanoke, where he was a one-term mayor (possibly the worst in Roanoke history), to Botetourt, where he has been a laughable Senator, is wealthy and owns property all over the place. A move is not out of the question and these days carpetbagging Republicans seem to be a trend. Look at Morgan Griffith, who didn't even have to move to claim a U.S. Congressional district he didn't live in (and still doesn't) during the most recent cycle.

There is speculation from my pal Val Garner (here) that Smith will either go to the 19th District or the 21st where he will challenge either Repub Bill Stanley in a primary or Democrat John Edwards in a general election. Landslide has the bug and it's hard to shake.

But he has to understand that special favorable circumstances are going to run out for him soon. He became the mayor of Roanoke with 34 percent of the vote (thus "Landslide") when two Democrats split 66 percent down the middle and he beat Brandon Bell, who barely campaigned in the primary because he thought people would understand just how thoroughly unqualified Smith is for any office. But these are the people who put George Bush in office, so he miscalculated.