Perkins defended his position, saying he is against “the use of taxpayer funding for abortion, but at the end of the day I believe it’s the woman who’s ultimately accountable, not Congress, and it’s up to her.”
Vaughn — who generally considers himself a libertarian at the federal level and a conservative at the state level — also has a somewhat complicated take on abortion.
Vaughn told The Washington Post this year that “I don’t think the Constitution is clear enough to say what the law should be at the national level.” And his campaign Web site says Congress “should pass a law that explicitly states that personhood shall be deemed to begin based on the laws within the local state, with a default beginning point when no such law is provided.”
No debates
Perkins has refused to debate Vaughn, saying it would be “divisive” and won’t help either man in the long run. But Vaughn contends that debates would have given the congressional race some much-needed public attention.
“Neither of us has the name recognition to go in and beat Connolly, so it’s a bad strategy regardless,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn and Perkins lack name recognition and another key campaign ingredient: cash.
Perkins raised just $13,000 from April 1 through May 23, and he had $60,000 in the bank as of the latter date. Vaughn raised $29,000 over the same period and had $32,000 on hand. (Connolly has a $1 million war chest.)
Perkins has not run any radio or television ads. “Quite frankly, I couldn’t afford it,” he said.
And he said he “made a conscious decision” not to do much fundraising in the run-up to the primary and to focus on retail politics instead, on the advice of former congressman Tom Davis, who held the seat for 14 years and endorsed Perkins last month.
Vaughn also decided against advertising in the primary. He said the “personal touch” was the best way to win support.
In Oakton, that appeared that might be the case.
Dorsey Wittig, a semiretired IT consultant, said he would back Vaughn simply because “he came to my home and asked for my vote.”
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