Democrat and Republican parties will be represented in 10th District race

By Garren Shipley -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — Voters in the 10th Congressional District will find a rare thing when they go to the polls in June — a Republican primary and a Democratic primary.

For the first time in more than a decade, both major political parties have more than one 10th District candidate on the ballot seeking their party's nod to go forward into the general election in November.

One of the Democrats, Judy Feder of McLean, is a professor and former dean of Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. She ran against incumbent Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th, in 2006 but lost 57 percent to 41 percent.

To date, Feder has aimed her campaign mainly at Wolf, focusing on issues like universal health care and ending the war in Iraq.

Feder, who worked in the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, was a key player in Clinton's effort to reform the country's health care system.

But Feder is not unopposed in her run for the Democratic nomination. Mike Turner, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel from Waterford, is also seeking his party's nomination.

The Loudoun County resident says he's the only Democrat who can defeat Wolf in November, citing Feder's loss in 2006 and his own very specific list of policies, which include universal, single-payer health care funded by tax increases.

But as of March 31 Turner was far and away the financial underdog in the Democratic tilt. While Feder had raised almost $1 million, and had a $700,000 war chest remaining, Turner had yet to break the $100,000 mark and had less than $10,000 on hand at the end of the last reporting period.

On the Republican side, Wolf is aiming for his 15th consecutive term in the lower house.

Wolf, of Vienna, has campaigned in the past on a record of getting things done for the people he represents. He also has a reputation as a campaigner for human rights.

That's something Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte can attest to.

Wolf unloaded on Negroponte during a congressional hearing in early March, warning the Bush administration that the president's attendance at the Olympics in Beijing would be like "FDR going to the Olympics with Adolph Hitler in that stadium in 1936."

But Wolf has "gone native" during his time in Washington, according to Vern McKinley, the man aiming to unseat the 28-year incumbent in the GOP primary.

McKinley faults Wolf for votes on "earmarks," also known as directed spending, as well as other votes that the challenger says represent an unwarranted expansion of the role of the federal government.

The incumbent was wrong to support things like the No Child Left Behind education act, the Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens and a prohibition on Internet gambling using credit cards, McKinley said.

The 10th District stretches from McLean and Manassas in the east to Front Royal, Winchester and Frederick County in the west.

The Republican and Democratic primaries are June 10.

* Contact Garren Shipley at gshipley@nvdaily.com