The Democratic Wave: Could It Carry Anita Hartke ?

People may say that 7th Congressional District Democratic challenger Anita Hartke of Amissville doesn't stand a chance against four-term Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), that the odds are so long that even calling this a David versus Goliath contest would be an overstatement.

Cantor has more money, more recognition and represents a district which has voted Republican since 1971. Cantor won the last election with 64 percent of the vote. Despite all this, Hartke – a first time candidate and 48-year-old working mother – thinks she can win.

“I care about people and what’s important to them,” said Hartke. “Congressman Cantor has lost sight of this. He’s not listening to the people.”

Hartke said that her father taught her that politics was a “sacred trust” and that above all, the people want and need to have transparency in government. Hartke is the daughter of the late Sen. Vance Hartke (D-Ind.)., who served in the Senate for 18 years.

Hartke spoke to a reporter from the Rappahannock News on Monday at her home which is in Culpeper County, “a stone's throw” from the Rappahannock line. Her home is a modest neo-colonial tucked away on several wooded acres just off a leafy gravel lane. It is guarded by a relentless Pomeranian, two other small dogs of indistinct breed and a cat.

Hartke was preparing for a debate she had arranged to have with Congressman Cantor later that day at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria. Congressman Cantor declined to attend. However, Hartke went ahead with the event anyway choosing to debate with an empty chair.

Ray Allen, spokesman for the Cantor campaign, said that his office was never contacted and that the congressman's Washington and district offices only received a fax from Hartke four days before the event.

"It was a political stunt," said Allen, "She selected the place, the moderator and the crowd...it was her rally. Of course, we're not going to attend her rally."

Hartke is an attractive, unassuming and pleasant divorced mother of three and a real estate agent who balances taking care of her seven-year- old son Wyatt (she has two older children in college), her 88-year-old mother, Martha, and running her campaign. Sitting on a rose floral patterned couch between her mother – who told stories about her time in Washington with her late husband – and her son Wyatt (who was out of school for the Columbus Day holiday), Hartke talked about her determination that ordinary people not very different from her be heard in Washington.

Hartke talked at length about her campaign, at times sounding like a concerned mother and frustrated citizen, at others like a candidate with ideas and solutions in her living room where there was yet another dog, a chihuahua, various political signs, campaign inserts and a nice collection of artificial flower arrangements.

Hartke is not without some political experience. Her father, the late Sen. Hartke, also ran as a Democrat in a solidly Republican state and won by campaigning for jobs and civil rights in a backlash election cycle – the major difference being that the nation was not yet involved in an unpopular war. Hartke – who, like her father before her, supports bringing the troops home immediately – is obviously hoping for a repeat of family history, and she is also counting on an anti-war backlash.

The Rappahannock News spoke with Stuart Rothenberg (editor of the Rothenberg Political Report) who has called this election a "perfect storm" for Democrats to win a filibuster-proof Senate of 60 seats, keep the House and win the White House.

"This is an environment in which you don't want to be a Republican running for election," he said. "Voter mood is worse than in 2006," when the Democrats retook control of the House he added. There is less satisfaction with government, more pessimism about the future, an unpopular president, an unpopular war and a growing economic and financial crisis that is being brought to bear on these Congressional elections.

In a sense, all bets are off. Hartke could very well ride in on a wave of popular support for Mark Warner and Barack Obama.

Despite having raised very little money – most challengers have to raise close to a million even to be remotely competitive – and with a small campaign organization that basically leaves her to do much of the administrative footwork, Hartke does have some big advantages over previous Democratic challengers.

For instance, much of the distribution of materials and precinct organization have been rolled into both the Warner and Obama campaigns both of which are well organized and well funded. There are 69 Obama/Warner coordinated campaign offices across the state canvassing and distributing materials for all the Democratic campaigns (including for Hartke) said Jared Leopold, the coordinated campaign manager for Mark Warner. Her name appears on “Warner/Hartke” signs and these have given her a huge boost in name association with a very popular former Virginia governor. None of her Democratic predecessors had this advantage.

Then there is the “Democratic wave” as she calls it, and she’s not shy about admitting that winning this election would come in a large part by hanging on the coattails of Warner and Obama. That notwithstanding, she has a message for Congressman Cantor: “He thinks he has a safe seat and granted he has a lot of money,” and whether she wins the election this time or has to wait another two years, she said she, “will eventually hold Eric Cantor accountable.” To Hartke, that, in a nutshell, is what this election is all about.

“Eric,” she said, “is representing the lobbyists, the people who pat him on the back.” She is tired herself, she said, “of constantly being treated like you don’t matter, like ‘I gotta go, I don’t have time to talk to you.’”

Cantor is already disregarding people’s views because he won’t debate, she said. “I challenged him to debate, I gave him proper notice. I faxed his offices in Culpeper, Richmond and Washington. I even drove a letter over to his office in Culpeper and handed it over personally.” And yet, he still refuses to debate, she said.

Hartke believes Cantor has lost sight of how ordinary people are struggling to cope, no more clearly brought home than by the current financial crisis gripping the nation. Hartke calls the housing and mortgage crisis an “atrocity” and is certain that mortgage and investment banking need to have much more oversight than they have had in the past.

Hartke said she has a plan for which she has already discussed with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to require a six month moratorium on mortgage payments while the banks restructure lending – including predatory lending practices – and homeowners have the opportunity to catch up on payments. Hartke who, before becoming a real estate agent worked at Freddie Mac, has first hand knowledge about both the housing market collapse and the sub-prime mortgages it brought down with it.

In her plan, the federal government would essentially guarantee the payments in the interim so banks could continue to operate. This is not a giveaway, she said, as the missed payments would be added to the end of the current mortgage, but this would give everyone time to recover before more banks go out of business because people stop paying and more people lose their homes to foreclosure.

“If they can report loans current, banks remain strong and people can remain in their homes. But without oversight, this, like the savings and loan crisis, will be repeated. We need to quit repeating these things and we need to have oversight,” she said.

But the crisis is not limited to the day to day finances of homeowners and banks. She sees this as a serious security issue as well. “When banks are struggling,” she said, “this creates a security threat. There has never been a time in history when a country is strong militarily but struggling economically.”

Another issue that Hartke is passionate about – and that she picks up from where her father, who helped draft the original provisions for Medicare, left off – is health care. She supports H.R. 676, a bill to provide for comprehensive health insurance for all U.S. residents. In essence, the plan calls for the conversion of for-profit health providers into non-profit providers if they choose. Private plans and providers could still exist and opt out, but in essence, the federal government would become a public health insurance provider leaving the administration of health services in private, but non-profit, hands.

Next week: An interview with Republican incumbent Eric Cantor.

Copyright 2008 Rappahannock News. All rights reserved.