Marrow: Obama, Dems no better than GOP
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
See if you can guess who updated their Facebook status this way over the weekend.
“A year later is has become abundantly clear that Obama and the dems are no better than bush and his republican sleaze. They are all corporate wh@#es, liars and thieves. The only difference is that Obama actually has a brain (most medical experts agree that bush did not), but no spine, at least bush had a spine ..even if was cheney’s…”
No, though I have a number of hardcore Republican friends, it wasn’t one of them.
And no, it wasn’t me, centrist critic of the Obama administration that I am.
Would you believe, Greg Marrow, the Democratic Party House of Delegates nominee in the 25th District from last fall? Read more
Republicans sweep local House races
Not much to say about the four contested House of Delegates races in the AFP reader area. The Democrats got pantsed.
Jeff Price’s 28.8 percent showing in his 24th District challenge to Republican Ben Cline was actually the best showing of the four, if you can believe that. And Price wasn’t even able to get what a Green Party candidate, Eric Sheffield, was able to do in 2005 in the 24th against Cline.
Erik Curren got 28.3 percent of the vote against Staunton City Councilman Dickie Bell in the 20th District, even falling short in Staunton by 59.8 percent-to-40.8 percent margin. To put the defeat in Staunton in perspective, Barack Obama won the Queen City last fall. Read more
Chris Graham | Where I am on local elections
I explained in a column today on our new sister website, VirginiaPoliticsToday.com, how much I loathe making endorsements.
That said, I get it that some of our readers are at the least interested in knowing where I am on local elections, assuming that since I do news and analysis for a living I might have some insights into what’s going on.
So … here goes. Read more
Democrats aim high
Marrow, Curren face steep hills to climb
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
A candidate for public office needs to shake as many hands and slap as many backs as possible. A Democratic Party candidate in the bright-red Shenandoah Valley has to work twice as hard to have a shot on Election Day.
“You’ve got to beat the streets, pound the pavement,” 25th District Democratic Party candidate Greg Marrow said before a meet-and-greet with voters in Waynesboro earlier this month. “I’ve gone through two pairs of shoes already. You’re hot, sweaty, tired. You want to go home and play with your children. But you just know that it’s worth it. You have to believe that it’s going to happen.” Read more
GOP, for the most part, dominating local House money races
26th District Democrat Gene Hart is giving Republican incumbent Matt Lohr a run for his re-election money, literally. Aside from Hart, though, Democratic candidates contending for seats representing the Central Shenandoah Valley in Richmond are struggling to keep pace with their Republican counterparts.
Hart actually outraised Lohr in the Sept. 1-30 reporting period, according to reports both filed with the State Board of Elections this week. Hart took in $9,974.04 in the month of September, while Lohr raised $4,040 in the period.
Of Lohr’s total, $1,500 came from political action committees – the Altria Corporate Services PAC, the Virginia Coal Association PAC and the Virginia Hospital Association PAC. Hart did not receive any PAC monies in the period. Read more
The Pulse | Silly season going on largely outside public view
That’s what I call the part to an election cycle where we have the debates and the candidate endorsement interviews.
I refer to it as the silly season because, well, to be honest, I just don’t see the value to the hand-wringing that goes on with debates and endorsements, on all sides.
Which isn’t to say that I didn’t put a premium value on debates and endorsements back when I was running for City Council in Waynesboro last year. Read more
The Pulse | Did you read that endorsement of Landes?
Posted by afp on October 21, 2009 · 1 Comment
“The preternaturally bland Steve Landes views his political career as that of a slogger trudging through legislative thickets whittling away tax and regulatory weeds. Accountants and morticians are peppier,” began the recommendation of the editorial board of the News Virginian in the 25th District published today, which went to Steve Landes, the incumbent Republican. Read more
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with 25th district, augusta county, greg marrow, news virginian, rockingham county, steve landes, virginia, waynesboro