Jun 13 2009
Two Republican Challengers Lined Up for Price
Two candidates on the Republican side of the aisle have already stepped up to take on Congressman David Price (D-NC-04) in the 2010 general election. B.J. Lawson who ran a hell of a good campaign against Price last year has decided to make another go at it. Although Price won handily last year, defeating Lawson 63 – 37, it was no cakewalk for Price. He had to run ads on television against Lawson and even bring some staff down from D.C. to help out on his campaign. Unfortunately for Lawson, Price greatly benefited from Obama momentum and an electorate utterly disgusted with the Republican Party. I think the GOP is recovering from that stigma however. A recent Rasmussen poll shows that Americans now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of ten major issues, including the economy. That didn’t take long at all. If that trend continues Lawson might be able to pull off an upset victory next year. The Fourth did vote for Bush over Kerry in 2004, so Republicans can be competitive in this district. Additionally, Price was defeated once before by Republican Fred Heineman in the “Republican Revolution” of 1994. Price had a rematch with Heineman in ‘96 and reclaimed his seat. The Democrats have since gerrymandered Price’s district, after the 2000 Census, to make it more Democrat leaning.
The second candidate who has declared is a financial executive from Apex, Frank Roche. According to the News & Observer, Roche hopes “to win over support of more traditional conservatives, who may not be comfortable with some of Lawson’s more Libertarian leanings.” Yeah, whatever. It was Lawson’s more libertarian leanings that made him such a better candidate than other Republicans in the past. Lawson is a strong supporter of civil liberties and is opposed to the Iraq War and it was for those reasons that he was able to pick up the votes of some Democrats disgusted with Price who would have otherwise just sucked it up and voted for him had Lawson been another tired socially conservative neocon that the electorate has vehemently rejected in the last two election cycles.
I would vote for a monkey over Price at this point. Everytime I look at the gerrymandered boundries of district 4 I understand why Price believes he is entitled to his position, and why calling his office is a laughable experience.
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