Will this Young Gun take Aim at Government Spending in 2011?

If, as pundits predict, Republicans recapture the House of Representatives from the Democrats in elections next month, Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Va.) would most likely become majority leader, and “he could be Barack Obama’s worst nightmare,” according to an October 2 Wall Street Journal article by Steve Moore, senior economics writer for the WSJ editorial page.

Cantor held fast with fellow Republicans over the past two years to vote against the Stimulus, Obamacare and the Financial Reform law. In the article Cantor says the first order of business for a Republican-controlled Congress would be to retroactively extend the Bush tax cuts to all filers. Next would be to cut government spending and “rein in the size of the bureaucracy.”

Incumbency used to have its privileges, but the 2010 political forecast is vastly different, with an anti-incumbent wave taking the shape of a national tsunami. Cantor was first elected in Virginia’s 7^th District in 2000, so he must answer for the sins of Republicans, who controlled the House before losing it in 2006. Cantor admits that “we know we screwed up when we were in the majority. We fell in love with power. We spent way too much money….”

Moore met with Cantor in his office at the Capitol, where Cantor had “just arrived back in town after five weeks criss-crossing the country stumping for scores of Republican challengers,” and to conduct a national media tour to promote a book he co-wrote called Young Guns. Meanwhile, back home in Virginia’s 7^th district, Cantor faces Democrat Rick Waugh and Independent Green candidate Floyd Bayne in the congressional race. He also faces some criticism for refusing to debate his opponents. At a  September 17 book signing Bayne, who calls himself the “real conservative” in the race, confronted Cantor about his lack of willingness to debate, as reported in the Richmond Times Dispatch. This past week Cantor took some heat from WRVA-AM radio Host Doc Thompson, who sarcastically conducted an “in absentia” interview using previously recorded comments from Cantor, after he says he made numerous unanswered requests for the Congressman to participate in a radio town hall.

Will Cantor stop the flood of government spending and point us back to a course of limited government? As always, the answer rests with you. Be sure to register to vote by October 11 and educate yourself on the candidates and issues so you can make an informed decision on November 2.