Virginia's top legislators rally in Danville

In the final hours before the polls open Tuesday, both major party candidates in the 5^th District brought in big name supporters Monday with a common message: Call everyone you know and “get out the vote.”

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5^th District, and his Republican challenger, Robert Hurt, fight once and for all for the 5^th District’s votes Tuesday, but neither let the 11^th hour run out without a last push for support.

Sen. Mark Warner stopped in Danville on Monday as part of a Southside swing to fire up about 75 local Democrats and to continue the momentum from Friday’s rally with President Barack Obama in Charlottesville.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins rallied about 150 supporters outside Hurt’s Danville campaign office for a “victory tour” stop Monday afternoon, speaking on themes of limited government and fiscal responsibility to combat the nation’s staggering debt.

 “Let’s remember Tom Perriello in our prayers tonight,” Mullins joked, telling the crowd of Hurt supporters that Republicans were “taking over.”

Cuccinelli referred to Perriello as “Perri-losi” and spoke about how Hurt would fight the “massive growths of government power.”

Taking the stage for the second time in a week for Hurt, McDonnell said the country was in trouble and in need of less regulation and fewer taxes.

“We need the vision of Robert Hurt here in the 5^th District” to prosper, he said. “… We are down to the wire, and you all are the boots on the ground. This race is not over.”

McDonnell, Cuccinelli and Mullins were all confident in Hurt’s victory, but Hurt emphasized that there was still work left to do — reminding the crowd of Perriello’s slim win against Virgil Goode in 2008. Hurt said his Danville office made more than 100,000 phone calls in recent days and urged people to make more.

“Now is our time,” Hurt said, “… to stand up and save our country from the wrong direction. This is not gonna be a blowout. This is gonna be a close race. This is not gonna be won easily.”

Across town, Warner and Perriello, along with House of Delegates Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, fired up a crowd of about 75 people crammed into Perriello’s downtown campaign office, with some spilling out onto the sidewalk shouting “Go Tom go!”

Warner spoke about the “virtual economic chaos” the Democrats inherited in 2008 but said the country was “starting to climb out of this near-economic depression.”

“There’s been no one that has fought harder to stand up and listen to all people” than Perriello, Warner said.

He criticized Hurt and Republicans for not having a plan, saying, “It’s easy to be against things.”

“If you do your part,” Warner said, “Tom will continue to do his part and we will have a victory tomorrow night.”

Campaign staff have said that volunteers have made more than 150,000 calls since Friday.

Perriello touted his accomplishments in office, such as fighting for veterans, growth in local green energy business and getting federal funding for projects such as the Robertson Bridge — all with “nine months of private sector growth.”

Perriello asked that supporters “give us everything you can” until polls close today.

“Right now we can choose,” Perriello said. “We can look backwards and we can think small … or we can say, ‘Not on our watch.’”