11th District Race. Why Get Off the Couch?

Goodlatte Leads Octavia Johnson’s Campaign

According to the Roanoke Times (shaky authority I know) Octavia Johnson has apparently left her election hopes in the capable campaigning hands of Congressman Bob Goodlatte. This might explain Johnson’s complete lack of any substantive position on an issue.

I’ll say this much for Sam Rasoul, while most of his campaign positions are gleaned from Democrat Party talking points 101, at least you know where he stands. He is an Obama wannabe.

But as for Johnson, Lord knows what she believes in. She apparently is being guided by our Republican Congressman Goodlatte, who has made an art form out of saying one thing and doing nothing. If you are looking for a mentor to guide you down a path of working the system for your own benefit; while trying to maintain a façade of GOP conservatism, Octavia couldn’t have picked a better mentor.

But the Roanoke Democrat Newsletter, otherwise known as the Roanoke Times , is actively working to discredit Johnson. They have painted her as an empty vessel being lead around by the nose by Bob Goodlatte. This may or may not be true, but you can be sure the few Roanoke voters that actually vote on January 7 will likely believe that narrative. And Johnson certainly is certainly validating the view of the Roanoke Times.

And that doesn’t bode well for Octavia Johnson’s chances in the upcoming election.

If Johnson wants to win, she has a relatively simple path to victory. She has got to excite GOP voters in Roanoke City. Only a fraction of voters will show up to decide this election. There are more than enough GOP voters in Roanoke City to win the election. But that would require:

• The GOP to have a grassroots campaign set up to activate local Republicans
• Octavia to have a compelling message to excite the base
• Financial backing to get voters out.

She may have the money, but the lack of the first two will likely doom her candidacy. If they advertise, it will likely be to paint Octavia as a moderate competent candidate. And most Roanoke City voters who bother to vote will just look for the candidate with the D behind their name and Johnson will lose. The only pathway to victory is to be counter intuitive here, go hard core conservative…and drag every Republican voter to the polls you can based on this opportunity.

But that is NOT going to happen with Goodlatte running the show.

But don’t fret, if Rasoul wins (which is very likely) he likely won’t be that much worse than Johnson. If I lived in Roanoke, I wouldn’t even take the time to get off the couch to  vote in this one.