Tight GOP Primary Centers on Tax Stand Of Fairfax Delegate

"He's just trying to paint me into a corner that I'm not in," Craddock said Saturday as he knocked on doors not far from Route 28 in Fairfax County.

Craddock has criticized Reese for failing to sign a "No New Tax" pledge and for voting to allow people applying for marriage licenses to get information on family planning and birth defects. He dubbed Reese a "liberal" for such stands.

"He's talking the right talk," Janice Rector said of Craddock.

She said she and her husband had just moved to the area from New Jersey and plan to vote tomorrow. "Seems like a good chance to get more conservatives" in state government, Rector said.

At Craddock's makeshift campaign headquarters -- his Fairfax townhouse -- teen volunteers piled into the living room, ready to make phone calls and paper the district with circulars.

"Pizza for everyone as soon as I get back!" Craddock promised the volunteers just before he began yet another round of door knocking in the afternoon. No one responded. Several were on the phone, and a few were looking over voter lists.

Several voters on a recent walk with Reese were aware of his support for the Northern Virginia transportation tax proposal in 2002 and his general support for more money for schools.

"We're with you, Gary," said Mark Steiner, who lives in the Westwood Hills neighborhood. "We'll be out there for you."

Since the campaign began in earnest several months ago, Reese has sought to convince voters that he is a social conservative. For example, he supports a ban on same-sex marriage. But he also has tried to rally organizations in the district that take centrist stands on taxes and services.

"We want to make sure that people know Gary took a principled stand last year," Richard Baumgartner, president of the Fairfax Education Association, said recently while walking with Reese around a district neighborhood. He was referring to Reese's initial support for the tax package that has sparked the challenge from Craddock, though Reese wound up voting against the final plan.

Craddock, who also is a soccer coach, gained early attention when he raised more money than Reese in the first part of the year, leading some to believe that his effort had picked up momentum against an incumbent who is receiving the public support of House Republican leaders. Reese out-raised Craddock in April and May.

As of June 1, Craddock had raised $71,872, with $19,500 coming from the Virginia Conservative Action PAC, a group supporting five of the challengers to the GOP incumbents. Reese had raised $157,525, with $50,000 coming from Leadership for Virginia, a political action committee organized to protect the maverick lawmakers.

Many of the challengers and incumbents in the Republican House primaries have received last-minute money from state and national organizations. Craddock, for instance, has received $5,000 from both the Virginia Club for Growth, an anti-tax group, and All Children Matter, a group that supports school vouchers. In May, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association gave Reese $10,000.