Schmookler calls a news conference to call for more news coverage of his campaign
6th District Democrat Andy Schmookler, a Shenandoah County writer who is challenging longtime incumbent Congressman Bob Goodlatte, said today that the modern Republican Party is steering the country toward a crisis on par with the Civil War. And so he argued that the message of his campaign is serious and therefore deserves more attention from the Roanoke Valley’s media outlets.
Schmookler called Goodlatte “a willing servant of a force which is more destructive than anything we’ve ever seen at this stage of American politics.” Later he added, “We have as serious a crisis in America right now as we’ve ever had, perhaps with the possible exception of the crisis over slavery. The future of this country is at stake.”
He accused Republicans of caring more about gathering money and power than doing what’s best for their constituents.
Schmookler told local television and newspaper reporters that they need to uphold their responsibility to their readers, viewers and even to America’s founding fathers by “putting me through my paces” to see if his message has merit.
Earlier this month the Roanoke Times published my story suggesting that congressional challengers like Schmookler face difficulties in getting their voices heard above the high-profile — and expensive — races for president and U.S. Senate.
Schmookler said he’s mostly relying on the media to get his message out, but is also holding town halls and attending events like the Labor Day parade in Buena Vista.
I asked Schmookler if he was really calling the modern-day GOP a threat to the country on par with slavery in the 19th century, and he clarified saying he’d said that Republicans are driving the U.S. toward “the most profound crisis in American history in terms of determining the nature and destiny of the country with the possible exception of the time leading up from the 1850s through the Civil War.”
But Schmookler added, the modern-day “crisis is more across the board. I don’t think we’re going to have a civil war because the divisions that have been created are not regional.”
The 6th District includes all or part of Shenandoah, Rockingham, Highland, Augusta, Alleghany, Bath, Bedford, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Roanoke and Amherst Counties. Amherst County, Augusta County, Bath County, Bedford County, Botetourt County, Highland County, Page County, Roanoke County, Rockbridge County, Rockingham County, Shenandoah County, Warren County and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Staunton and Waynesboro..
– Mason Adams
September 12, 2012 - 11:28 AM
Bad PR. Telling the media they aren’t doing their job.
Being that he doesn’t have near the amount of money Goodlatte does to promote himself it seems a good move on his part to get more attention.
I just wanted to let you know that the cities and counties listed in your article for the 6th district are incorrect due to the most recent redistricting. The district includes all or part of the following localities: Warren County, Shenandoah County, Page County, Rockingham County, the City of Harrisonburg, Highland County, Augusta County, the city of Staunton, the city of Waynesboro, Bath County, Rockbridge County, the city of Lexington, the city of Buena Vista, Botetourt County, Bedford County, Amherst County, the city of Lynchburg, Roanoke County, and the city of Roanoke.
Thanks, Joshua. I pulled that from OpenCongress assuming it would have the updated list. Yet another lesson learned here about assumptions.
– Mason Adams
Glad to be of assistance. Even Representative Bob Goodlatte’s congressional website lists the old district and not the new updated one.
Just FYI, the Congressional websites won’t be updated until the new Congress sits in January. Even though the district lines have been changed, the Congressmen are still considered to represent the old districts because those are the districts from which they were elected.
Rep. Goodlatte cannot update the district on his website until after he is elected to represent those district lines this November. Under franking rules in Congress, he is not allowed to use official resources to reach out to folks in Warren and Page counties until next January. It’s a means of prevent incumbents from using official resources to gain an upper hand.