Raising Kaine kicked off an effort to raise money for candidates across the commonwealth Thursday and will match the first $1,000 donated. They will be distributing the match money to 8 candidates.
There’s not a single campaign out there that can use the cash but some need it more than others. From where I sit, there are two races in Hampton Roads that need our financial help the most: Steve Heretick and Joe Bouchard.
Very few people expected Heretick to be in a position to win this race so the money has been tough to come by. Nevertheless, Heretick has worked hard throughout the 13th district, knocking on thousands of doors, appearing at hundreds of events and in doing so, has pulled even with incumbent Fred Quayle. He just needs more money to put him over the top.
Bouchard entered this race when he expected his opponent to be Leo Wardrup. With that retirement, Bouchard found himself facing Chris Stolle, the little brother of Ken. To say that Ken’s shadow over this race has been huge would be an understatement. I sat at lunch a couple of weeks ago with a woman who donated to Bouchard’s campaign prior to the June Republican primary, said she was a big supporter, but couldn’t give any money to him once Chris won for fear of retribution by Ken. Even so, Bouchard has managed to make this a race and with our help, can win.
All the candidates deserve our support. But these two – well, I just think they deserve more. Help out as much as you can.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
If Heretick were actually even with Quayle don’t you think money would be coming in from the Governor or other D’s from across the state? From the last fundraising quarter that doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, some of his supporters seem to be losing interest or are trying to save face for the next four years. Suffolk Councilman Charles Parr’s name recently dropped off the Heretick endorsement page for reasons unknown (name used w/o permission or no longer endorses??) and I’ve heard Mayor Holley was in attendance at the Quayle Picnic in Portsmouth last weekend. Your donations would probably be better spent elsewhere.
PL – there are just too many races for the money that is available. Decisions were made early on regarding which races were winnable and which weren’t and that’s where the money went.
As for Holley – well, he was at Heretick’s event and endorsed him there. But he’s also known to support Republican candidates, as he did by endorsing George Allen last year. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he were at the Quayle picnic, especially if his friend, Benny Lambert, was there, too.