"About eight hours before Bush and Kerry began their third and final debate, Virgil Goode Jr. and Al Weed had their own oratory tussle at the Northside Library on Route 29N. The debate on October 13 between Goode, a Republican who represents this district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Weed, the Democratic challenger, exposed many parallels to the Bush vs. Kerry main event.

Goode, like Bush, speaks with a common-man twang and inherited the political legacy of his father, with whom he shares his name. Weed shares Vietnam vet cred with Kerry. And, like the Democratic presidential candidate, Weed sometimes meanders in the weeds when trying to explain his positions.

But the two debates differed in that Goode and Weed each offered arguments that were aggressively straightforward. Goode and Weed came down more firmly than their national counterparts with their stances on gay marriage, abortion, guns, immigration and other issues. To borrow from Bush’s money line in that evening’s debate, the congressional candidates staked out platforms that are on the left and right banks of the “mainstream in American politics”—though defining what exactly is “mainstream” seems impossible in this polarized political season.

The Northside Library event was also snippier in tone than was the final presidential debate. After Weed took a shot at Goode’s success as a lawyer, Goode cited a harsh C-VILLE Weekly review of the wine Weed produces at his Nelson County winery. (Goode added that C-VILLE is otherwise “all for” Weed. If you missed the newspaper’s endorsement of Weed, that’s because we haven’t published one.)

Below are snippets from the Goode/Weed debate. Undecided voters, who have been bathed in cloying praise from the media during this election season, might want to just flip a coin if these debate comments don’t help them make up their minds." (Paul Fain, C-Ville Weekly, October 19, 2004)

The draft

The candidates were asked if they’d support a military draft if a re-elected President Bush called for one. Weed said he would back the draft in this scenario, but only if the volunteer-only force was “still stuck in Iraq with no way out” and required bulking up. Goode did not directly address the scenario, saying, “We don’t need to go to a draft…we need to maintain an all-volunteer force.”

Health care

Goode said, “Our health care system is still probably the best in the world.” But acknowledging the problem of growing health care costs, Goode supports tax credits for individual and families’ expenses on private health insurance. Goode also stressed the need for tort reform to help limit medical malpractice suits that increase healthcare costs and cause “doctors and hospitals to continually practice defensive medicine.”

Weed supports a single-payer health care system, which would expand Medicare coverage to all Americans for health care and prescription drugs. “Every other industrialized country has this, but Virgil, and his pals in the drug and health insurance industry, will try to persuade you that health care justice and efficiency is a socialized plot,” Weed said. “I believe you can think for yourselves.”

Gay marriage

Weed supports gay marriage and said Goode and other gay-marriage opponents are seeking to “deny rights to a certain group of Americans” with disingenuous arguments that are bolstered only by “alarmist claptrap.”

“If you want to legalize homosexual and gay unions, you ought to vote for Al Weed,” Goode said, before vigorously asserting his belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Gun control in D.C.

Congress recently voted to revoke Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns. Weed disagrees with this vote, stating that Washingtonians should be able to determine the city’s handgun policy without federal intrusion.

Goode voted for the bill, and said high murder and theft rates exist in D.C. because “all the crooks know that the law-abiding citizens in D.C. can’t protect themselves.”