Hard Boiled

Continuing its  sharp right turn, the VA GOP picked Walter Curt to head up the party's fundraising efforts. Curt, a Harrisonburg area businessman, is a well-known right wing activist who supports the most conservative of Republican candidates. Most recently, Curt made news when he gave $50,000 to Scott Sayre in an unsuccessful attempt to topple Emmett Hanger during the 2007 primary for the 24th Senate District.

According to Open Secrets, over the past decade Curt has given over $184,000 to various federal candidates, committees, and PACs. Curt has donated even more money in state and local elections - the Virginia Public Access Project reports that since 1997 he has donated $780,264 to Republican candidates and PACs.

The appointment of Curt as moneybags-in-chief follows the party's recent selection of Jeff Frederick as state chair. The right wing take over is just about complete. Senator Hanger, you'd better be watching over your shoulder (the right one).

Curt may find fundraising tough going in 2008. While the business community is the trough from which Republican candidates normally gorge themselves, it doesn't seem to be filled with corn this year. The problem is the rightward drift that Curt, Frederick, Gilmore, Ellmore, and friends represent. This crowd is too conservative, too rabidly anti-tax, and too abrasive to build coalitions with many in the business community who favor a more balanced approach and state spending on roads, schools, and other essential infrastructure. One reason Mark Warner is doing so well, while his opponent seems like a pit bull chained in the corner, is that Warner proved that responsible governing requires that balanced bipartisan approach.

So Mr. Curt, keep scratching in the cracked corn. Get out your own feed bags. Scratch. Peck. VA GOP running around like a chicken with his head chopped off. Cackle.