Below is a link to both the text and video of interviews with Anita Hartke and Eric Cantor done by a Charlottesville network affiliate.

http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/headlines/33413424.html

I believe you'll agree with me after viewing the clip that it highlights that when questioned on his record Cantor took the party line of side-stepping it, acting as though it doesn't matter, when as an incumbent he is responsible for his record. This is more of the same old song and dance that both McCain and Cantor have been doing- aligning themselves with Bush administration policies and ideology, then acting as though they were innocent of such actions when it suits them to do so. I think we're all a lot more savvy than to buy that act.
In comparison, Anita Hartke comes across as earnest and committed to serving the constituents of her district, solving the problems that are facing us all and reversing the unhealthy policies of the last eight years,

My apologies. The previous post did not contain the final draft of the press release concerning the proposed Hartke/Cantor debates. The final release is included below:

For Immediate Release
October 19, 2008

Contact:
Virginia Sowers • 804-239-9182 • vlsowers@verizon.net
Brenda Seward • 804-405-2250 • bseward59@comcast.net

Amissville, Va.--Anita Hartke, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 7th District, has issued two debate invitations to incumbent Eric Cantor (R-7th).

The invitations, which were delivered to Cantor's Washington, Richmond and Culpeper offices on Oct. 15, follow up an earlier debate challenge that Cantor declined.

Two prominent community groups have agreed to sponsor the planned Hartke-Cantor debates.

On Oct. 24 in Luray, the VFW post #621 will be hosting a debate at 12 noon. The VFW post is located at 218 Veterans Lane. For additional information, contact Commander Lee McWhorter, 540-860-2800.

On Oct. 28 in Ashland, the Hanover County NAACP will host a debate at 7 p.m. at the Pride of Hanover Masonic Lodge, 311 Berkley St. For additional information, contact Robert Barnette, 804-383-3501.

As with the event at Graves Mountain Lodge on Oct. 13 in Syria, Hartke is prepared to hold a town hall forum with voters in the 7th District should Rep. Cantor decline to engage in a debate.

"I am very much interested in how Rep. Cantor can defend his record of voting with Bush Administration policies 95% of the time during the past eight years," Hartke said. "We do not need more of Cantor's support for the privileged and ultra-wealthy in America. We need support for average citizens who have lost jobs, who lack access to affordable healthcare and who are deeply concerned about their retirement prospects. Many people in the 7th District are hurting, and they deserve better representation," she said.

"I care deeply for the people in my community," Hartke said. "That's why I've been constantly traveling the district to visit with voters at their local festivals, agricultural fairs and elder homes. I've met with small business owners and Chamber of Commerce members, veterans, church parishioners, teachers and school children, and I've learned so much about their daily concerns and their aspirations," she said.

"I am the candidate who walks the walk of the everyday citizen. I deal with the same concerns and worries--keeping a job and a paycheck for survival, paying the mortgage and buying groceries and gasoline. I understand what it's like to cut back on the first to afford the second, hoping the car can last longer and go further, juggling healthcare, life and auto insurance costs, paying those college tuition bills and wondering about the current economic situation in our country," Hartke said.

"That's why these debates with Rep. Cantor are so very important to voters in the 7th District," she said. "Our community needs to hear how its leaders in Congress will work for them--and if they have been working for them."

For additional information on the campaign, visit www.hartkeforcongress.com.

Virginia's 7th Congressional District includes the counties of Culpeper, Goochland, Hanover, Louisa, Madison, Orange, Page, and Rappahannock, and parts of Richmond City, Caroline County, Chesterfield County, Henrico County, and Spotsylvania County.

###

The following was just released by the Hartke Campaign. We should all be very interested to see what Cantor's response will be. I have noticed that his recent television ads focus on "accountability". On that note, he should be more than ready to be accountable to the voters of his district and meet with Anita Hartke in fair and open debate.

For Immediate Release
October 17, 2008

Contact:
Virginia Sowers • 804-239-9182 • vlsowers@verizon.net

Amissville, Va.--Anita Hartke, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 7th District, has issued two debate invitations to incumbent Eric Cantor (R-7th).

The invitations, which were delivered to Cantor's Washington, Richmond and Culpeper offices on Oct. 15, follow up an earlier debate challenge that Cantor declined.

Two prominent community groups have agreed to sponsor the planned Hartke-Cantor debates.

On Oct. 24 in Luray, the VFW post #621 will be hosting a debate at 12 noon. The VFW post is located at 218 Veterans Lane. For additional information, contact Commander Lee McWhorter, 540-860-2800.

On Oct. 28 in Ashland, the Hanover County NAACP will host a debate at 7 p.m. at the Pride of Hanover Masonic Lodge, 311 Berkley St. For additional information, contact Robert Barnette, 804-383-3501.

As with the debate held at Graves Mountain Lodge on Oct. 13 in Syria, Hartke is prepared to hold a town hall forum with voters in the 7th District should Rep. Cantor decline to appear.

"I am very much interested in how Rep. Cantor can defend his record of voting with Bush Administration policies 95% of the time during the past eight years," Hartke said. "We do not need more of Cantor's support for the privileged and ultra-wealthy in America. We need support for average citizens who have lost jobs, who lack access to affordable healthcare and who are deeply concerned about their retirement prospects. Many people in the 7th District are hurting, and they deserve better representation," she said.

"I care deeply for the people in my community," Hartke said. "That's why I've been constantly traveling the district to visit with voters at their local festivals, agricultural fairs and elder homes. I've met with small business owners and Chamber of Commerce members, veterans, church parishioners, teachers and school children, and I've learned so much about their daily concerns and their aspirations," she said.

"I am the candidate who walks the walk of the everyday citizen. I deal with the same concerns and worries--keeping a job and a paycheck for survival, paying the mortgage and buying groceries and gasoline. I understand what it's like to cut back on the first to afford the second, hoping the car can last longer and go further, juggling healthcare, life and auto insurance costs, paying those college tuition bills and wondering about the current economic situation in our country," Hartke said.

"That's why these debates with Rep. Cantor are so very important to voters in the 7th District," she said. "Our community needs to hear how its leaders in Congress will work for them--and if they have been working for them."

For additional information on the campaign, visit www.hartkeforcongress.com.

Virginia's 7th Congressional District includes the counties of Culpeper, Goochland, Hanover, Louisa, Madison, Orange, Page, and Rappahannock, and parts of Richmond City, Caroline County, Chesterfield County, Henrico County, and Spotsylvania County.

###

On Monday, October 13, 2008 Anita Hartke will be at Graves Moutntain Lodge in Syria Va. to give the voters of the 7th District an opportunity to learn why she wants to represent them in Congress. As most of you know, this was orginally planned as a debate event between Anita Hartke and Eric Cantor. Congressman Cantor declined the invitation. One can assume- evidenced by Congressman Cantor's actions, he does not feel he's required to answer to the constituents who put him in office.
Not one to be dissuaded by such a manuever, Anita will carry on alone, proving by words and actions that she is, and will be answerable to the needs of her constiuents when she is elected to Congress.
As I have said before, Eric Cantor owes the voters in the 7th District the obligation of meeting the person challenging his seat in an open and public debate. It is up to all of us to see that he lives up to that responsibility. I strongly urge all voters in the 7th Distrist to call and/or email Congressman Cantor and make sure he understands his constiuents are aware of his responsibilty and expect him to meet it or explain his reasons for not doing so.
Below you will find Congressman Cantor's contact information:
Contact Information for Congressman Cantor:
Richmond Office:

4201 Dominion Blvd, #110
Glen Allen, VA 23060
P: 804.747-4073
F: 804.747-5308
Culpeper Offfice

763 Madison Rd #207
Culpeper, VA 22701
P: 540.825-8960
F: 540.825-8964

Washington, DC

329 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
P: 202.225-2815
F: 202.225-0011
Or Email Congressman Cantor via his website @
http://cantor.house.gov/cs.htm

Below is a letter that I wrote that was sent to both the Richmond Times Dispatch and The Hanover Herald Progress. Here's hoping that Cantor responds to Anita's invitation with the respect her position on the ticket deserves.

To the Editor:
I'm writing to call attention to the Congressional race in Virginia's 7th district. This race is being run between Eric Cantor(R), the incumbent, and Anita Hartke (D) of Culpeper. While Eric Cantor is a well known face in Virginia politics, and has positioned himself nationally with leaders of the GOP -especially during the previous weeks of the financial bailout, it should be understood by voters that his seat is not going uncontested in this crucial election year.
Anita Hartke has built her grassroots congressional campaign by listening to constituents in the 7th District. These voters are deeply concerned about energy security, affordable healthcare, and the uncertain economy that they experience when they fill up their gas tanks, pay their mortgage and watch their family's weekly grocery bill rise.
Recently, Hartke challenged Cantor to a debate so that the voters of the 7th District can listen for themselves and learn the different approaches these candidates will bring to representing the interests of their constituents. As of this writing, Eric Cantor has not responded to the debate invitation. Ms. Hartke has secured a venue for the debate- Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, Va. for October 13th (Columbus Day). The only impediment to this important exchange is Eric Cantor's acceptance. That lack of response is puzzling to this voter. Anita Hartke has said that, "Serving the people of the 7th district is a sacred trust and responsibility that must be upheld in the halls of Congress."
In that spirit, I ask the constituents of the 7th District to write or call Rep. Cantor and urge him to give due respect to his position and his responsibility to the voters and meet with Anita Hartke for a public debate so that the voters of that district can make a well informed decision on Election Day.
Brenda Seward
Ashland, Va.

I wanted to send out a request to all Hanover County residents that would like to volunteer their time- in whatever way you can- to help Anita Hartke's campaign.
I've recently been asked to be the Hanover Volunteer Coordinator for Anita's Congressional campaign in the 7th district, so I'm hoping to be able help deliver a lot of support for her here!
If you are a Hanover resident and would like to help out, please contact me via email :
bseward59@comcast.net

If you would like to know more about Anita Hartke please visit her campaign site at:
http://www.hartkeforcongress.com

Turn Virginia Blue in 2008!

I've been noticing a lot of talk over the last fews days that now that both parties have focused on their candidate of choice that the real ugliness has just begun. The 'ugliness' I'm referring to is the smear campaigns that always focus on the nonsense issues. We've all seen this sort of thing before and it always seems to distract us all - at least partially- from the significant issues. It happens the same way a magician conceals his slight of hand with an artful distraction.
The media- from the sensational to the legitimate- is the worst instigator of this type of nonsense, and we the public, enable them. Their reasons are obvious- sensational stories grab viewers and tht equals ratings. Our reasons for allowing this to go on are less obvious.
From rumors to half truths to merely wild speculation, this sort of thing grows until it takes on a life of it's own then shockingly gets reported as "news". Senator Obama was commenting on this phenomenon just recently in relation to stories about virtually everything concerning him and his campaign. Not only is it unfair to the person involved, it's unfair to those who are basing their decisions on these so called "news" stories.
Since we don't have a lot of control over the press and their accuracy and fact checking skills, we all need to be a bit more discerning in what we choose to give weight to.
It's my hope in this critical time in history that we remain focused on what is important and not allow ourselves to be distracted by hype.

For those who would like to read the full text of the article by David Bauder the link is listed below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/tom-brokaw-slams-press-co_n_106003.html

I'm looking forward to the convention this weekend. This will be my first time at such an event and that I will be attending as a delegate for my district is an added thrill. I look forward to meeting other delegates from both my district as well as others and being part of the process- especially at such a thrilling and historic time. My most fervent wish is to see Virginia turn BLUE in the national election. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

The following is a June 9, 2008 excerpt from the Huffington Post with remarks by Tom Brokaw :

{"More time was spent talking about when Clinton might call it quits than about how the candidates might deal with the war in Iraq, the high price of gasoline, home foreclosures or the sputtering economy. Or about anything that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain said or did during April and May, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's analysis of political coverage in newspapers, on Internet sites and on television news."
The coverage embittered the Clinton campaign and, in the eyes of one veteran journalist, should provoke some soul-searching.

"It was inappropriate, for journalists especially, to try to cut the process short," NBC News' anchor emeritus, Tom Brokaw, told The Associated Press. "It was an appropriate issue for people to report on, in context, but there was an awful lot of commentary disguised as reporting that gave the impression that people were trying to shove her out of the race."

Brokaw's old-school attitude often put him at odds with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann when he joined them for primary night coverage on MSNBC this year. One example was last Tuesday. Brokaw was talking about the contrasts between McCain and Obama when Olbermann interjected about "a third one trying toshoehornn her way" into the coverage.

"Well, I think that's unfair, Keith," Brokaw replied. "I don't think she shoehornedd her way in. When you look at the states that she won and the popular vote that she piled up, and the number of delegates that she has on her side, she's got real bargaining power in all of this."

Brokaw called all the discussion about Clinton's exit a product of "too much time and too little imagination."}

* I want to applaud Tom Brokaw for saying something I have been saying for some time. The legitimate media needs to stop bending over backwards in an attempt to entertain their viewing audience while short-changing the real issues- especially when it comes to something as critical as a Presidential election.
I wish his remarks would have the desired effect and shame the media into taking their work more seriously. Sadly, I'm sure they fell on deaf ears.