Howell's "Operation Loudoun"

According the DCPost, Speaker Bill Howell has his sights set on Loudoun County where there are some strong potential pickups in the House of Delegates in 2009.  This is doable with Bob McDonnell heading the ticket, who did quite well in Northern Virginia in 2005. 

"I know this sounds self-serving, the presidential stuff is important, but next year we've got House of Delegates seats, and there's a couple that are representing Loudoun and parts of Loudoun County that I know we can win back," Howell told a meeting of the Loudoun County Republican Committee.

This, of course, means Dels. Chuck Caputo and David Poisson.  This is great news, because both of these guys are vunerable.  Caputo, after winning by 18 points in 2005 saw that margin cut down to 5 against a rookie candidate.  Poisson also got a much closer-than-expected race against Lynn Chapman.  If I could throw my two cents in, I would heartily endorse Marc Cadin to give Caputo another run in 2009.  He was a  good candidate in '07, got his name out there, ran tough, and almost won.  He didn't lose because he messed up or committed some horrible gaffe, he cut deeply into Caputo's previous margin of victory.  As for Poisson, I'm not as familiar with the terrain but I believe Supervisor Lori Waters is in his district and she would make an real formidable challenger if she wanted to leave the BOS. 

I'm glad the Speaker is trying to go on the offense, its good to start now because we are going to have a very strong and very effective statewide triad running and I think close loses in 2007 could turn into big wins in 2009 - especially if Tim Kaine is successful in raising the gas tax.