New Blood in the Old Dominion

With both men set to turn 35 this year, freshman Democratic Reps. Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello may be the “young guns” of the Virginia delegation when it comes to the 111th Congress, but both are also carrying the weight of large political bull’s-eyes on their backs.

Nye’s Virginia Beach-based 2nd district and Perriello’s south-central Virginia 5th district are among the top targets for national Republicans in 2010. Both men won surprising victories against well-funded incumbents in districts that had been considered relatively safe GOP territory as recently as a year ago. Now Republicans are determined to regain their lost ground.

“Both Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye benefited from a combination of President Obama’s coattails and a little bit of luck,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said Monday. “There is a solid bench of potential candidates in each respective district, and we are hopeful that we can tap into both of them.”

In the coming cycle, both Nye and Perriello can be sure that Republicans will attempt to paint them as out of touch with their conservative-leaning districts and too closely tied to the liberal wings of the Democratic Party…

As the political landscape sets up now, Perriello probably has the tougher hill to climb to make it to a second term in 2010…

The 5th is covered by multiple media markets, including the very expensive Richmond market. Perriello hadn’t expected to run ads in the Richmond market in 2008 until the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came in late and bought airtime there…

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