Some political movers and shakers in Hampton are throwing a fish fry right now for Poquoson Mayor Gordon Helsel's independent bid to knock of Del. Tom Gear, R-Hampton.
Helsel, traditionally a member of the GOP, opted to get out of the partisan process in the House of Delegates race and run under his own banner after he said he had trouble getting election details from local Republican officials.
So Gear is now facing Helsel, and a Democratic challenger - Sam Eure of York County. Three way races are unpredictable affairs because instead of playing chess, candidates are forced to play a three dimensional game where a single move can topple three different boards. Consider the example of this spring's Democratic gubernatorial primary where Sen. Creigh Deeds' proved prognosticators wrong and smashed Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran at the ballot box.
For months Deeds was the odd man out - but with two week left in the race he simply ran away with what was supposed to be a tight race.
Helsel is an intriguing case for the House because he is tremendously popular with the conservative base in Poquoson and is known through Hampton Roads for a conservative bent coupled with a no-nonsense attitude. Gear is the consumate populist with a solid base on the Peninsula - and a serious core of staunch supporters especially in Fox Hill.
But Gear is also a lightening rod in some political circles because of his opposition to increased funding for transportation and the consistent local fights over judicial nominees - which seem to almost always involve Gear.
So Helsel is ramping up his fundraising efforts in the run up to the July 1 filing deadline for financial reports - which will be an importnat litmus test of the hustle of each of the candidates and also a barometer of their public support.
It is interesting to take a look at some of the folks who are behind tonight's fish fry in downtown Hampton.
Take Hampton City Councilman Randy Gilliland, who ran his own bid for the 91st district against Gear in 2005. Gilliland, a Democrat, was never really able to get traction in his race against Gear and Gilliland ended up losing to Gear with less than 40 percent of the vote.
Gilliland circulated a email encouraging folks to come out to fish fry and get to know Gordon, which is interesting considering that there is a Democrat in the race. Gilliland and Gear have no love lost for each other, so expect Gear to sound off on Gilliland getting into the race. Here's a snippet from Gilliand's note.
"Please take the time to get to know Gordon. If you do, I believe you’ll agree that we need him in the House of Delegates!"
The event also includes the Amory family - obviously because it's a fish fry - Vince Behm, Ruff and Bonnie Jones, Chandler Hogge, Junior Dixon and Don Wiggins.
What do our local democratic legislators, like John Miller and Mamie Locke, think of Gordon Helsel?
Posted by: Brannon | Friday, June 26, 2009 at 05:38 PM