Patrick McHenry Must Lose

One year from now Americans will go to the polls. Normally this blog takes no positions on an election and that will remain true...except in the case of  North Carolina's 10th District. There, I can't help but root for  someone other than Patrick McHenry. As you may recall he's the one who mocked the Bicycle Commuter provision of the Energy bill.

"A major component of the Democrats' energy legislation and the Democrats' answer to our energy crisis is, hold on, wait one minute, wait one minute, it is promoting the use of the bicycle. Oh, I cannot make this stuff up. Yes, the American people have heard this. Their answer to our fuel crisis, the crisis at the pumps, is: Ride a bike. Democrats believe that using taxpayer funds in this bill to the tune of $1 million a year should be devoted to the principle of: "Save energy, ride a bike. Some might argue that depending on bicycles to solve our energy crisis is naive, perhaps ridiculous. Some might even say Congress should use this energy legislation to create new energy, bring new nuclear power plants on line, use clean coal technology, energy exploration, but no, no. They want to tell the American people, stop driving, ride a bike. This is absolutely amazing.

So how is his race shaping up? Conveniently, Rep.McHenry has paid for a poll of Republican voters.

Nearly 80 percent of Republicans approve of Patrick McHenry’s job performance - at least according to the congressman’s poll.

And if the party’s primary matched him against two well-known GOP candidates, he would easily win.

These are the findings of a poll conducted by Tel Opinion Research and commissioned by McHenry’s campaign last month. McHenry’s re-election campaign announced the results Tuesday.

McHenry would defeat Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman in a hypothetical rematch of their 2004 primary by a resounding 67 percent to 12 percent, according to the poll.

McHenry defeated the sheriff by less than 2 percent in 2004.

Huffman was not pleased about the poll.

Huffman, who says he has no intention of running for Congress again, added the poll was “gutter politics.”

“I don’t understand why he would mention my name,” Huffman said. “It sounds to me like he’s paranoid. It’s very unprofessional. I hate to see politics stoop to this level.”

It looks like defeating McHenry will not be easy, though there is an anti-McHenry group or two. And recently someone else entered the race.

Daniel Johnson, 31, will seek the office held by U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry.

From 1998 to 2000, Johnson served in the U.S. Navy. He received the Navy Marine Corps Medal, the Navy’s highest peacetime award for heroism following a 1999 accident on the USS Blue Ridge during which Johnson saved a fellow crewmate. In the process, a cable severed both of Johnson’s legs below the knees. He now wears prosthetic legs.

Here's more about McHenry.

He recently injured his back by the way - maybe more exercise is needed. I have a bike he can borrow.

I'll keep you posted.

Comments

[Drama Queen]

That poll was a joke, btw. By a firm that does push-polling. McHenry wanted to scare away primary opponents and it worked, at least with one potential candidate.

But, more importantly, I recently moved to the DC area (from Pat's pathetic NC district). I gotta bike question. Is there a safe(ish) way to get from the northern end of the Paint Branch trail to come back to my home (in Hyattsville near Hamilton Park) via Northwest Branch trail?

[Washcycle]

I suspect your best option is to use Metzerott Road to Adlephi Road, turn right on Adlephi and take that to Oakview. Turn right on Oakview and take it to the end where you can connect to the northern end of the NW branch trail.

There's a Hyattsville bike group BTW, here's there wiki

http://rpwiki.wetpaint.com/page/Bike+Trail+Advisory+Group?t=anon

[Contrarian]

He's just looking out for his constituents, which is his job after all. If you've lived in a city all your lift, it's hard to appreciate how much people in rural areas depend on automobiles. In urban areas a car is a convenience, but it is possible to live without one. In rural areas, people have to travel great distances for the necessities of life, and there is no other way of doing so without an automobile. Living without a car is as inconceivable as living without electricity or heat. In fact, I bet there are more people in rural America living without electricity than without automobiles. Rural areas tend to be poor, and transportation is a huge expense for many people who live there. I recently read that in residents of the most rural counties in America spend an average of 10% of their income just on fuel for their cars, with many spending 20% or more.

Another factor is that for at least 60 years our government has been subsidizing rural living in a variety of ways. While there is the popular stereotype of the ruggedly self-reliant country life, it's just a myth. The reality is that much of rural life would not be possible except for the subsidies that are paid for by taxes on urban dwellers. Many rural communities are inhabitable only because of programs like rural electification, telephone "universal service," aid for education, massive spending on highways, and cheap oil -- with the last two being the most important. So gas taxes are set artificially low, so they only cover about half the cost of highway spending, with the remainder coming from general funds -- which are disproportionately paid by city dwellers.

Bike facilities benefit almost exclusively people who live in urban areas, and are funded almost exclusively by "transporation enhancement" money from the federal government. They are put into transportation bills to get support from congressmen who represent urban areas, who otherwise would object that their constituents generally pay the most taxes and benefit the least from transportation spending.

The gentleman from North Carolina is just posturing, I don't think we realistically have much to worry about.