Message Tailored For Bluejean Set

To win back those voters, the campaign has produced ads with Ferguson -- who received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and supports capital punishment -- talking over an old rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and using frequent NASCAR references. He takes on the values issue head on: "No one is going to out-gun, out-pray or out-country-value me," he says in one ad.

Ferguson has also taken a tough stand on illegal immigration, saying it is an important issue to his district. He said he would support bills barring illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition, an effort that many Democrats oppose.

"And I'm certain 'Give 'em hell Harry' would say, 'Why the hell is our government giving away our country to illegal aliens?' " Ferguson says in one ad. "I pledge to do everything I can to send them home."

Several Democratic politicians have said privately that they were taken aback by Ferguson's ads on illegal immigrants, which they see as a wedge issue. But Del. Brian J. Moran (Alexandria), the party caucus leader, said the leadership gives its individual candidates "wide latitude" so they may tailor their races for their individual districts.

"We trust our candidates to make the right decisions about their races," said Moran, who was on hand at the Floyd event eating hot dogs and talking with locals. He presented Ferguson with a $1,000 check from his own campaign fund.

State Republican leaders acknowledged that strategies such as Ferguson's can be effective.

"The concept is a good one. . . . They have to nominate candidates that are more conservative," said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (Salem), who represents a nearby district. "The problem is . . . I don't see, outside a few pocket areas, the state Democratic Party going in that direction at all."

Indeed, Dudley has tried to associate him not with "old-timey" Democrats but with the modern state party. The delegate has run radio spots saying Ferguson is a liberal who would have backed Warner's tax increases in last year's General Assembly.

"He keeps trying to bring up FDR and Harry Truman," Dudley said. "But there's never any mention that he's running on the same ticket as Tim Kaine and Leslie Byrne," the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

To Saunders, who understands the difficulty of ousting a longtime incumbent, the strategy is not only to win, but also to show rural voters that Democrats such as Ferguson can be trusted.

"This cultural stuff is powerful, and we as Democrats need to figure out how to use it real fast," Saunders said. "Culture opens the door to policy. That's the connection."