An election at the grassroots: The Valley Family Forum and its role in the race in the 26th

Story by Chris Graham

The Democratic Party targeted the 26th House District seat being left open by the retirement of Republican incumbent Glenn Weatherholtz, and for good reason – namely, a win by Democrat Lowell Fulk would give the party a plum seat in a GOP stronghold in Rockingham County and the city of Harrisonburg. Read more

The ghosts of Vietnam finally vanquished

Column by Max Friedman

As I watched the debate in Congress the other night about the Republicans’ preemptive resolution that undercut the Democratic Party’s cut-and-run policy on Iraq (as somewhat articulated by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., I knew that the ghosts of Vietnam had finally been vanquished. Read more

The future of constitutional offices in Staunton

Story by Chris Graham

Issues in Staunton involving the independently elected treasurer and commissioner of the revenue offices and City Hall have been making the news headlines for going on two years now – with the focal points being the delays in the implementation of a new financial-management software system and the delineation of duties between the treasurer office and the city finance office, which answers to the city manager and ultimately to city council. Read more

Variety is the spice

Golf Things Considered column by John Rogers
JSpencerRogers@msn.com 

Golf was once considered an elitist, old man’s sport, a world where diversity meant little more than whatever variety of hideous colors made up the players’ plaid pants. But as things go in a relatively open and free society over time, golf has become accessible to almost everyone. The cookie-cutter country club types of yesteryear, once the poster boys of golf, have had to make room for John and Jane Doe. And now there are subcultures within golf, different species of golfers, and the game has become a melting pot for a range of personality types who are united only by their infatuation with chasing little balls into small holes with crooked sticks. Read more

Shades of Florida in AG race

Story by Chris Graham

Bob McDonnell has claimed victory. Creigh Deeds has vowed to fight to ensure that every vote has been counted.

And so the Virginia political world turns as the race for attorney general moves toward week three of overtime.

“The people get to decide who the next attorney general is, not Bob McDonnell,” said Mark Bergman, a spokesman for the campaign of Deeds, a Democrat who is currently trailing McDonnell, a Republican, by 349 votes in the latest reporting by the State Board of Elections. Read more

Guv, LG, other pols weigh in on Hokies-’Hoos

Story by Chris Graham

Lt. Gov.-elect Bill Bolling knows his first major public appearance in the aftermath of his Election Night win over Democrat Leslie Byrne could be a little trying.

“We could get booed off the field. But I’m rooting for the Hokies either way,” said Bolling, who will be in attendance at Saturday’s football clash between the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.

Being an adopted Hokie is actually something that Bolling, a Republican, and Gov.-elect Tim Kaine, a Democrat, have in common. Read more

Virginia Tech’s ACC booster

The Top Story by Chris Graham

The Big East was going up in flames around them, but Virginia Tech officials knew their bird, as it were, wasn’t cooked quite yet.

Because they had a key ally in the moves being orchestrated by the Atlantic Coast Conference to raid the Big East for new members.

“The biggest irony of the whole thing is that Tech probably wouldn’t be in the ACC if it weren’t for UVa. John Casteen really was the deciding vote,” said Bill Bolling, a Mechanicsville state senator who was elected lieutenant governor last week. Read more

Mother of Presidents with child? Assessing Warner’s, Allen’s chances at White House in ‘08

Story by Chris Graham

The big winner in last week’s Virginia gubernatorial election was Democrat Tim Kaine.

Or was it Democrat Mark Warner?

“Mark Warner created the conditions for a Democratic victory in this state for Tim Kaine, no doubt about it,” George Mason University political-science professor Mark Rozell said. Read more

How did Kilgore lose in red-state Virginia?

Story by Chris Graham

The numbers at the top of the page on Election Night in Virginia were nothing if not surprising.

Republicans Bill Bolling and Bob McDonnell swept to apparent victories in the lieutenant-governor and attorney-general races, respectively. Meanwhile, GOP candidates were holding on to a solid majority in the House of Delegates – likely a 58-seat majority in the 100-member body. Read more

Potts says Kilgore has ‘nobody but himself’ to blame

Story by Chris Graham

Russ Potts knows why Jerry Kilgore failed in his bid to become Virginia’s next governor.

“He has nobody but himself to blame. The issue that did him in is the debate issue,” Potts told The Augusta Free Press. Read more

Staunton voters pull lever for change

Story by Chris Graham

The conventional wisdom is that Staunton voters voted Ray Ergenbright and Elnora Hazlett out of the offices of the commissioner of revenue and treasurer, respectively, because they decided that they’d had enough with issues like the failure to get a new revenue-management software system operational and the effort of Hazlett as treasurer to sue the city over a political move to transfer oversight of key financial duties from her office and wanted a change. Read more

Kaine soaks in victory at polls

The theme music from “Rocky” played in the background as Tim Kaine and Mark Warner made their way to the stage.

It was appropriate – because Kaine, like the mythical boxer Rocky Balboa, and Warner, like his trainer, Mickey, had just pulled off the political upset of the year. Read more

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