D.C. DELEGATE'S RACE
Norton's Campaign Adage: 'Run Scared'
18-Year Incumbent Keeps Refrain Despite Poorly Funded Opponent
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Thursday, October 30, 2008
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is still running scared.
It's a way of political life for the 18-year incumbent, who is seeking reelection Tuesday.
Always run scared, she told hundreds of District volunteers for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama last weekend before they boarded buses to canvass in the battleground state of Virginia.
"I run scared every two years," she told the crowd, which included D.C. Council members and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
Being worried is a hard thing to imagine for the civil rights activist-turned-politician, who has been winning votes for so long that she's built up the kind of political capital that convinces some potential challengers not to bother.
She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary last month. And her opponent in the general is Statehood Green Party candidate Maude Louise Hills, who has said her campaign budget so far has been $150.
But Norton, 71, presses on with a sense of urgency.
On Monday, she visited District women incarcerated in West Virginia.
On Tuesday, she sponsored a forum on the nation's economic crisis and the District.
And earlier this month she spoke at two Dunbar High School reunions, for the Class of 1968 and the Class of 1963. The reunions were held at Washington Navy Yard so Norton could attend both events simultaneously.
"I think that any public servant who assumes his or her election should be put out of office, because they don't have enough incentive to improve each day," she said.
D.C. voting rights and economic development are top priorities.
