Iraq Veteran Tries to Shake Up Democratic Race

Doug Denneny, retired Navy aviator and former Republican, walked from Fairfax to the Capitol to deliver a plan for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
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Some Democrats say Denneny has at times overreached in his zeal to get attention. This month, his campaign announced that he had accepted an invitation to an April 14 debate at George Mason University to be sponsored by the Fairfax County Young Democrats.

Rafael A. Arancibia Jr., co-president of the group, said that no invitation had been extended and no other campaigns consulted and that Denneny's staff popped out a news release barely a day after a Denneny organizer approached Arancibia with the idea. Arancibia also said he was led to believe that other campus groups were prepared to co-sponsor the event. But the Young Democrats was the only group mentioned in the announcement.

Denneny acknowledged that his campaign reached out to the group in an attempt to "inspire a debate," but he said there had been no intent to deceive.

The episode dismayed Arancibia, who called it a needless distraction at a time when the traumas of war have touched families all over Northern Virginia. He mentioned Army Spec. Patrick Hanley, the son of Commonwealth Secretary Katherine K. Hanley (D), who was seriously wounded shortly before the end of his 15-month tour.

"I don't like seeing things like this taking away from the real concentration we need to be having," he said.

The campus debate collapsed. But this week, the 11th District Democratic Committee announced plans to sponsor four candidate debates before the primary.

Denneny, who is president of the Mantua Citizens Association, is a relative newcomer to the 11th District. The son of an engineer and a schoolteacher, he was born in San Diego and grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984 and spent 15 years as a naval flight officer, flying in the back seat of F-14s. After returning from Iraq in 2004, he served as an aide to two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace.

As a military officer, Denneny said, he kept his politics to himself. But after spending most of his career as a Republican, he became disenchanted with the party's lack of commitment to the disadvantaged. He cites his viewing of the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," about two Chicago youths and their aspirations to play professional basketball, as a transforming moment.

"There are people in this world who need social safety nets," he said.