Return to story

Who will savor victory in Neck?

February 17, 2008 12:16 am

BY FRANK DELANO

The campaign for this week's special election for the 99th District seat in the House of Delegates sometimes seems more about food and family than about issues and money.

For the past month, the two candidates--Democrat Albert Pollard and Republican Lee Anne Washington--have munched at breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffee-and-desserts from Reedville to Bowling Green.

Last week, Washington got up at 5 a.m. to drive 80 miles from her hometown of White Stone to breakfast with defense contractors in Dahlgren. On days before and after, it was coffee, doughnuts and desserts at Northern Neck GOP functions and a pancake supper at a church.

"This campaign is not about health food," she said.

This week, her opponent, Pollard, hosted a party for 300 supporters at the only factory in Lively, another little Lancaster County community. The crowd gobbled cakes, cookies, brownies, shrimp, salmon, ham biscuits, sliced pork, Moroccan bean dip and hummus.

"I'm so glad to be here. I'm so glad to be anywhere," said Tommie Moeser of Colonial Beach. She and her friend Edna Edmondson cuddled up to former Gov. Mark Warner for a photograph.

"I'm a part-time resident of the Northern Neck," Warner, now a U.S. Senate candidate, bragged to the crowd in his praise of Pollard.

In a way, Warner epitomizes the changes that have occurred in the district that consists of the counties of King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland and the Bowling Green and Port Royal precincts in Caroline County.

A rich resident of Alexandria, Warner turned his King George County weekend place surrounded by gravel pits and pumpkin patches into a 15-acre vineyard beside the Rappahannock.

SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES

Pollard, 40, and Washington, 44, are both graduates of Lancaster High School. He's a great-grandson of a Virginia governor. She's a lawyer, White Stone Town Council member and latter-day descendant of the Ball and Washington families that produced the first U.S. president centuries ago.

Pollard also has a family tie to W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., whom Pollard followed in 2000-06 as the region's delegate. Pollard's wife is Murphy's wife's niece.

However, the changing environment of the rapidly changing region now matters more than family to both candidates.

Oysters, once roasted by the bushel at political gatherings, have largely disappeared. Waterfront condos have replaced shucking houses, creekside farms now sprout mansions, and a White Stone grocery store sells vintage port for $129 a bottle.

Washington, a waterman's daughter, and Pollard, a former Sierra Club lobbyist, both vow to help restore the Chesapeake Bay. Both are also struggling to overcome voter fatigue among their supporters and get them to the polls in what will be the district's fourth election since November.

But the similarities end there. Washington is quick to criticize Pollard's voting record on bills pertaining to illegal immigration, homeschooling, abortion, prayer in public places and displays of the Ten Commandments at schools.

Pollard says Washington's attacks are "much ado about nothing from someone who has nothing to say about the future of Virginia. If you want a partisan warrior, I'm not your candidate."

He says he can "put aside party differences and work across the aisle" in the legislature to improve education, transportation and infrastructure.

SPEEDING THE PROCESS

Tuesday's election will pick the successor to former Del. Robert J. Wittman, R-Montross. Wittman resigned the seat in November after winning yet another special election, to replace the late Jo Ann Davis in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Most observers favor Pollard to beat Washington. In November, Pollard lost a race for the Virginia Senate to Richard H. Stuart, R-Montross. Pollard, however, carried four of the five Northern Neck counties that will vote Tuesday.

Pollard and Stuart spent a total of $2.4 million on their Senate campaigns. By comparison, Pollard's and Washington's campaigns are low-budget affairs.

In campaign finance reports filed this week, Washington reported contributions of $78,073, with $9,546 left to spend. Pollard has raised $147,352, with $71,701 in the bank for the campaign's final four days.

With less than three weeks remaining in the General Assembly session in Richmond, state election officials plan to certify Tuesday's winner on Wednesday. Pollard or Washington must then file a final campaign finance report before taking the district's seat in the legislature.

Frank Delano: 804/333-3834
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com