Griffith hits Boucher over Ad by Independent Group

Virginia's 9th Congressional District is one of those districts that feature two candidates with very good voting records on the Second Amendment. So the race is going to decided on other issues and guns . In the 9th, that issue would be Cap and Trade, a bill that Congressman Rick Boucher voted for and Republican House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith says would kill jobs in the hard hit 9th District.

Enter the Natural Resources Defense Council's Action Fund and the Blue Green Alliance which ran a full page ad in the Roanoke Times August 30 charging that Griffith's opposition to Cap and Trade would result in jobs being sent to China. But the Roanoke Times is wondering if the independent expenditure might not back fire and hurt the candidate NRDC and BGA supports?

The issue of cap-and-trade has been one of Griffith's biggest talking points, and the ad may help bring it back to the forefront after it appeared to have all but died in Congress.

Griffith for his part, in a tactic that is standard fare for campaigns has called on Boucher to not only disclaim the ad, but the groups that purchased it. By law, candidates cannot coordinate with outside groups.

The groups have said they ran the same ad, which does not mention Boucher by name, in 19 districts where the issue is being used against supporters of Cap and Trade.

It does make one ask the question however, given that Boucher is sitting on a large campaign chest, what does NRDC and BGA know about this race that the rest of us don't that makes them feel they need to use some of their funds to attack Griffith?