Democrat Running Hard Against A Republican Resigned to Losing

Del. Stephen C. Shannon (D-Fairfax) says he has been campaigning like a man in a tight race: fundraising aggressively and going door-to-door six days a week in a bid to continue representing Virginia's House District 35, a seat he won in 2003.

Funny, then, that his Republican opponent has raised little money, eschews door-knocking and says he has no hope of winning.

"Oh, yeah," said Arthur G. Purves when asked if he thinks he will lose. Purves, 58, is a self-described "anti-tax activist" and something of a perennial candidate who has racked up consistent losses: Since the mid-1990s, he has run twice for the Fairfax County School Board, twice to be the Republican nominee in the District 35 and once for county board chairman. He has lost every time and says he has no visions of victory now.

Purves said that, as before, he is running simply to publicize his opposition to rising taxes that he says fund "out-of-control spending." Shannon, 36, is not ignoring Purves. He said he views District 35, which includes Vienna, Oakton and precincts surrounding Fair Oaks Mall, as a swing district and is not taking chances.

Their campaign styles are only the beginning of the candidates' differences.

Shannon, a former Fairfax prosecutor who has focused much of his work in Richmond on public- and child-safety issues, boasts that he was a member of the General Assembly when it passed its biggest budget ever, with record spending on education, public safety and health care in 2004.

He pledges to "hammer away" at a failed bill that would require regular public audits of legislative spending and push for more transportation funding, including rail to Dulles and increased bus service.

"People move to this area because they want to have a strong public education system, they want to be in a safe community, they want a transportation system that allows them to move freely throughout the area," said Shannon, who lives in Dunn Loring with his wife and two children, ages 2 and 4. "So the issues that people talk to me about are the bread-and-butter issues of government."

Purves, a Vienna resident for 31 years and grandfather of three, favors road over rail, which he says is costly and poorly maintained. He said he would focus on easing the state's application process for charter schools, institutions he says would better educate low-income students and mold them into productive adults who do not need public assistance.

The state has vastly overspent on schools, health care and welfare, he said.

"Both parties have been taking what they felt was the easy way out of just raising taxes instead of controlling the spending," Purves said.