ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
A longtime Giles County resident became the first Republican to prepare a challenge against Rep. Rick Boucher.
Patrick Muldoon, a 30-year-old first-year law student at the William and Mary, told about 30 people who gathered for his announcement Saturday that he would be a better voice for Southwest Virginia's 9th District than the Abingdon Democrat.
In a fact sheet released Saturday, Muldoon said he supports term limits, welfare reform, the right to bear arms, middle-class tax relief and a balanced budget. He opposes "wholesale abortions" and affirmative action.
"Today we have a government that wants to remove God from our lives," Muldoon said. "It allows millions of unborn children to be needlessly killed, most for the mere convenience of the parents. We have a government that drives God and prayer from the classrooms. High school graduations and football games dare not have invocations for fear of being sued. And we all see the results: More and more violent crimes perpetrated by younger and younger teen-agers, rampant drug and alcohol abuse and ever-increasing teen-age pregnancies."
Muldoon, who was a project engineer for the Department of Defense before turning to law school, attacked the judicial system as being more concerned with the rights of criminals than the rights of victims. He also called for tort reform and a Supreme Court that interprets the law rather than champions liberal legislation.
"Our government is out of step with Southwest Virginia, but we have a choice," Muldoon said. "We can accept the status quo and let our country continue down the path of moral decay, or we can send people to Washington who have turned the soil as opposed to stomping on it."
Muldoon may not be alone in seeking the Republican nod to challenge Boucher. Two other candidates said last month that they also were considering a bid: Davey Stanley of Wythe County, who organized the Veterans for North group in the 1994 Senate campaign; and former Del. Barnes Lee Kidd of Tazewell County.
Boucher, in his 14th year in Congress, usually does not go public with his campaign until the spring Democratic convention. This year, that's set for May 11 in Abingdon.
That's the same day Republicans in the 9th District will meet in Wytheville to decide whether to nominate an opponent to run against Boucher.
Gary Waddell, the 9th District GOP chairman, admits Boucher - an entrenched incumbent with more than $350,000 already in his campaign treasury - is a formidable opponent, but says he is not unbeatable.
While a Republican candidate likely won't be able to match Boucher in spending, dollar for dollar, the nominee must be able to raise substantial money to pay for advertising campaigns across the huge district, which runs from Big Stone Gap to western Roanoke County.
"I don't think money is always the answer. It's the message and the messenger," Waddell said.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Muldoon. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB