Griffith: It's About Reach and Grasp

Morgan Griffith (right) is attractive to his mother.>

Reporter Michael Sluss of a Roanoke daily newspaper is reporting that Salem General Assembly Delegate Morgan Griffith is almost certain to challenge incumbent Rick Boucher for his Ninth District seat in the U.S. Congress, even though Griffith does not live in the district, and in spite of the fact that Griffith's mother is virtually unknown there.

Griffith lives in the Sixth Congressional District where Bob Goodlatte, a fellow Republican, is the representative, but Griffith obviously believes it is likely that with Republican gerrymandering looming in the near future, he will move himself into Boucher's district without having to move his residence in Salem.

Griffith, one of the most consistently awful politicians in my memory of Virginia politics (and Virginia politics is full of fools and rogues), has held his seat in the General Assembly since 1993 when he beat Howard Packett (a bald city councilman who handed out combs during the election) for the empty seat.

Boucher is a moderate Democrat who has held his seat since 1983. He has been a popular representative and has most often run for re-election without opposition. Boucher has held many views that have not been in line with the national party (pro-gun, pro-tobacco, for example), but he has also opposed the coal industry--a big industry in the far southwest corner of his Virginia district--on several issues. Opponents have consistently called Boucher "liberal," which is ludicrous. He is a classic Virginia Democrat, which has little in common with the national party on many issues.

Frankly, I think that what we'll see here is what Freddie "Boom-Boom" Cannon referred to as a "Kansas City Star" arrogantly overreaching beyond his mother's name recognition. Griffith's mother has been beloved by many in Salem as their long-time school teacher. She has not taught in Blacksburg, Pulaski or Abingdon, however, so he's on his own and he has to face the electorate with the mug you see above. Daunting, daunting task.