John Corn
06-18-02, 10:20 AM
Ben Jones, a former congressman who played grease monkey Cooter on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard," is working in Virginia to jump start a political career that ran off the road 10 years ago in Georgia.
Jones, 60, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination to challenge freshman Republican Rep. Eric Cantor this fall. Analysts say he has a tough task ahead of him in the GOP-leaning district.
Jones describes himself as "a Harry Truman, Harry Byrd Democrat," uneasy with the more liberal bent of his party nationally. He said he supports a lower capital gains tax, the death penalty and rights of gun ownership.
He admits opposing a constitutional amendment to ban burning the U.S. flag, but bristles at the suggestion that it makes him less patriotic.
"I'd probably beat the crap out of somebody I saw burning an American flag," he said. "But you don't gut the Bill of Rights just because you see some nut burning the flag."
Click here for the rest of the story (http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20020617/102435390000.html)
Jones, 60, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination to challenge freshman Republican Rep. Eric Cantor this fall. Analysts say he has a tough task ahead of him in the GOP-leaning district.
Jones describes himself as "a Harry Truman, Harry Byrd Democrat," uneasy with the more liberal bent of his party nationally. He said he supports a lower capital gains tax, the death penalty and rights of gun ownership.
He admits opposing a constitutional amendment to ban burning the U.S. flag, but bristles at the suggestion that it makes him less patriotic.
"I'd probably beat the crap out of somebody I saw burning an American flag," he said. "But you don't gut the Bill of Rights just because you see some nut burning the flag."
Click here for the rest of the story (http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20020617/102435390000.html)