15 percent and rising: Is debate inclusion standard fair?

Story by Chris Graham

If independent Russ Potts had his way, he would be in every candidate debate that his gubernatorial-race opponents Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore are in – no questions asked.

A guaranteed spot in the Super Bowl of the 2005 Virginia debate season – the Oct. 9 debate in Richmond that will be broadcast live to a statewide television audience – would suffice, of course.

Just one problem there: Potts isn’t guaranteed a place in that debate. Read more

What to do about Virginia’s gangs

Column by Max Friedman

The Washington Times ran a Metro Section article on Aug. 16 entitled “Gangs penetrate W. Va. Panhandle: Rural towns face big city trouble,” by Vicki Smith. It concerned the MS-13 and that Salvadorean emigrant gang’s penetration of Jefferson County, W. Va, including the small town of Bloomery in the state’s eastern panhandle region. Law enforcement agencies are preparing for its growth and future potential for violence, something experienced in the Northern Virginia area for years. Read more

Getting to know Tim Kaine

Story by Chris Graham

Tim Kaine knew when he made his mind up that he was going to run for lieutenant governor in 2001 that he was committing himself to another political campaign four years later.

“Honestly, when I ran for lieutenant governor, I thought, you know, if I am lieutenant governor, then I will run for governor. I’m not coy. ‘Well, I’ll think about this later.’ I decided to run for lieutenant governor, and when I made that decision, I knew that if I was lieutenant governor, I would run for governor,” Kaine told The Augusta Free Press. Read more

Cranwell talks about Dems’ course

Story by Chris Graham

Dick Cranwell was getting testy.

He’d agreed to “give five minutes a day to this between now and the 18th,” said Cranwell, the former majority leader in the Virginia House of Delegates, who is set to take over the reins of the Democratic Party of Virginia on Saturday, during a conference call with reporters last week, “and I’ve already gone six minutes past that today.” Read more

On the trail with Leslie Byrne

Story by Chris Graham

Leslie Byrne was back in the office the morning after her hard-fought victory in the June 14 Democratic Party lieutenant-governor primary.

She really had no choice – to hear her tell it.

“The first priority was to start talking to folks now that we’re the candidate, to start gathering support, particularly from the supporters of the other three candidates, which we have done successfully, and to begin to build our consolidated campaign efforts with Tim Kaine and Creigh Deeds. And to begin to raise money for the fall, when people are beginning to pay attention,” Byrne told The Augusta Free Press during a recent campaign swing through Staunton. Read more

Warner pushing Dems to center: But is that the right move for national party?

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner wants to take the national Democratic Party back to the political center where it enjoyed success in the 1990s.

A Shenandoah Valley political analyst, for his part, isn’t so sure that is the right course of action for the party’s future. Read more

Reform? Or increase?

It was tax reform. It was a tax increase.

The 2004 Virginia General Assembly session is being played out again in the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial campaign – and still the two sides can’t agree on even the most basic terms of what happened last spring.

“My opponent is using all these clever words to describe something that he claims to be proud about. I encourage him to be honest with the voters, to call a tax increase a tax increase, stop using the words ‘budget reform,’ stop using the words ‘moving forward,’ stop using the words ‘tax restructuring,’ ” Republican Party gubernatorial nominee Jerry Kilgore said. Read more

Life by design: Debate heats up over new theory of how we got here

The Top Story by Chris Graham

The fact that President Bush thinks intelligent design should be taught in American public schools is more than enough for JoAnne Shirley.

“I absolutely hope that this becomes an issue here locally and statewide. Students need to be given a choice, as the president said,” said Shirley, a former public-school teacher and the state coordinator of the Virginia Weekday Religious Education program. Read more

A lighted path: Deeds talks about political roots

Story by Chris Graham

Democratic Party attorney-general nominee Creigh Deeds picked up his perspective on what government can mean to people at the feet of his grandfather.

“My grandfather was active in local politics. He was the county chair for periods of time from the ’30s up to the ’60s. He had, I remember, back in his office, a ledger where he kept old election results and family obituaries and political memorabilia from conventions that he had collected dating back to the ’20s and ’30s. I knew from him that public service was important. And I knew from him that politics was an important part of public life,” Deeds told The Augusta Free Press. Read more

How does an independent governor govern?

The Top Story by Chris Graham

What does the dog that barks at passing cars all day and night do when one of those cars stops?

This is the same sort of issue being faced by independent gubernatorial candidate Russ Potts – who is focused right now on pulling what the long-time sports promoter himself has said would be the “upset of the century” in his race with Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Jerry Kilgore. Read more