Foust Advantages Continue; Comstock Continues to Struggle

From the John Foust for Congress campaign:

TO: Interested Parties
FR: Shaun Daniels, Foust Campaign Manager
DT: September 19, 2014
RE: Foust Advantages Continue; Comstock Continues to Struggle

Last week I detailed the progress John has made on the campaign trail over the past 10 months while highlighting the chronic shortcomings of Barbara Comstock’s efforts to match us in fundraising, communication, and on the ground. This week, Foust’s campaign is only continuing our momentum.

Comstock’s Ethical Woes

Comstock continues to be plagued by ethics questions. Last week’s revelation that Comstock failed to disclose at least $85,000 for work she did as a partisan operative for the Romney-Ryan campaign and the RNC has led to an ethics complaint being filed against her with the US House Ethics Committee. The complaint requests that the committee “investigate whether Ms. Comstock’s action constituted a calculated and deliberate attempt to deprive voters of an important source of information about her background.”

After being forced to update her disclosure reports, Comstock also revealed that she failed to report other clients as well – including her work for a firm conducting opposition research on Hillary Clinton in 2013.

Comstock’s recent work for this firm contradicts her attempts to distance herself from her past as a partisan political operative and obsessive investigator of the Clintons during the ‘90s. It also reaffirms comments Comstock made on the campaign trail that she will use her seat in Congress to launch new investigations into the Clintons.

John Continues to Dominate on the Air

After John’s first ad earned praise from voters and political observers, this week we released our second ad, “Head Shake” — highlighting Comstock’s right wing agenda on women’s healthcare using her own words.

In another signal of faith in our efforts, the DCCC went online with their own ad, “The Barbara Effect,” which highlights Comstock’s extreme positions on women’s health, gun safety, and gay marriage.

As John’s two ads now run on broadcast and cable, Comstock bewilderingly chose to release her own ad only on cable and at a fraction of our buy. Her inability to match us on television is allowing us to out-communicate her on the airwaves significantly. While voters become increasingly familiar with Foust’s record as a fiscal watchdog in Fairfax and the bipartisan, commonsense values that he’ll bring to Congress, Comstock is unable to answer for her own right-wing record.  

Fundraising is Strong

Comstock’s anemic ad buy, coupled with her extravagant campaign spending, is an indication that John is continuing to win the fundraising battle. In a sign of trouble, Comstock is being forced to rely on national figures to prop up her disappointing fundraising. Her last major event featuring Paul Ryan spurred a protest in downtown Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, John’s online fundraising has been particularly successful. John’s wife, Dr. Marilyn Jerome Foust, a well-respected OB-GYN, sent an email highlighting Comstock’s record on women’s health. Paul Begala followed up with an email explaining why the district should choose John’s community based approach over Comstock’s commitment to the politics of personal destruction. And our supporters responded overwhelmingly with another week of strong grassroots fundraising.

Additionally, Virginia Senator and former DNC Chair Tim Kaine headlined a fundraiser this week at the home of former Senator Chuck Robb and his wife, Lynda Robb. Once again, enthusiasm for John’s campaign led to higher-than-expected attendance and helped propel us to a record week for fundraising. In fact, the campaign banked nearly $100,000 in just two days.

The campaign is on track to meet or exceed our fundraising goals for this quarter and retain our financial advantage over Comstock. 

The Ground Game Grows

John Foust joined forces with Senior Senator Mark Warner and the Democratic Party to deploy the largest field operation Virginia’s 10^th District has ever seen. Organizers are fanning out from five offices sharing John’s message of expanding opportunity, spending only what we can afford, and investing in our future. The volunteer response has been so strong that we will soon see a sixth office opening in the district and several more organizers will hit the ground within days. Governor Terry McAuliffe even joined the field organizers on a conference call to review their progress and offer encouragement.

John Foust is running circles around Barbara Comstock. And while her campaign over the past weeks has been erratic and unfocused, Comstock is already resorting to the same tactics of lies and false attacks that she practiced as a partisan political operative in order to try to tear John down.

For another week, the Foust Campaign is winning on the ground, in the press and on the air – and with your support we can continue our momentum through Election Day.