President Barack Obama will headline a campaign rally Friday for Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello in his battleground 5th district, according to a Democratic source.
The event will take place in the Virginia Democrat’s hometown of Charlottesville, which is one of the few liberal bastions in what is otherwise a conservative rural district.
Obama took 48 percent of the vote in the 5th district in 2008, but Perriello has voted for all of the president’s signature issues. In an interview with Roll Call earlier this year, Perriello said he is “proud to have stood with” Obama on legislation he agreed with and would welcome a joint appearance with the president in his district, even though some of his constituents may not be Obama’s biggest fans.
“It might upset some people — probably the same people who weren’t real crazy about me either,” he said.
Republicans were quick to blast the move by Perriello, who is in a tough re-election fight with state Sen. Robert Hurt. Hurt’s spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, said Tuesday that the move will not sit well among the district’s conservative voters.
“We gladly welcome President Obama to the 5th district as he campaigns on behalf of his favorite Congressman, Tom Perriello,” Henneberg said. “His visit will further solidify the idea in the minds of voters that Congressman Perriello has been nothing more than a lap dog for the job-killing Obama-Pelosi agenda, representing their interests, not the interests of Central and Southside Virginians.”
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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