Boss Hogg beware. The actor who played Cooter on "The Dukes of Hazzard" is running for political office right here in Virginia.
Former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones has thrown his hat in the ring for the House of Representative seat in Virginia's seventh district.
Jones, a Democrat, will challenge Republican incumbent Eric Cantor in the election this November.
Though the filing date for candidacy was not until April, the two, who currently are uncontested within their parties, likely will be the candidates, Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato said.
Jones officially announced his candidacy in mid-March.
"I'm running an old fashioned, independent campaign," Jones said.
Jones represented Georgia in the House of Representatives from 1988 to 1992 until former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, defeated him.
From 1979 to 1985, Jones played Cooter Davenport, the trusty mechanic, on the CBS television series, "The Dukes of Hazzard." He currently runs a store and memorabilia museum about the show in Sperryville, Va.
Despite his celebrity though, Jones' campaign will be an uphill battle, Sabato said.
"That race will be over before it starts," Sabato said.
Virginia's seventh district is considered to be one of the most conservative districts in the country, he said.
"I'm running because the political system, like the economic system, works a whole lot better with competition," Jones said.
The Cantor campaign took nothing for granted, however.
"Anytime you've got someone who is a former Democratic Congressman and Hollywood liberal movie star, you're going to be concerned," Cantor's campaign manager Matt Williams said.
Jones said his campaign would be a grassroots operation. He does not plan to cash in on his famous face with television commercials for the campaign, though he would do some radio advertisements.
Television "is mostly used by candidates to assassinate the character of other candidates," Jones said.
Instead, he said his campaign will consist of riding from county to county in a flatbed truck greeting residents.
"People will see my face," he added.
Both Jones and Williams hope to address important issues in the campaign, such as education, taxes, social security and national defense.
Jones said he had challenged Cantor to debate in every county in the district.
The Cantor campaign expects to debate Jones, though probably not in every county, Williams said.
Though the race will not be close, it still will be entertaining to watch, Sabato said.
"We hope to show that politics is not just a good thing, it's a fun thing," he added.
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