Pres. Bush 49, Sen. Kerry 46: Poll numbers show Virginia really is in play

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham Virginia wasn’t at all on Scott Rasmussen’s radar screen. The polling-firm head and Fox News Channel regular had been tracking several battleground states in the walkup to the 2004 presidential election. The Old Dominion, which has voted Republican in the past nine presidential-election cycles, wasn’t on that list at…

Was the governor ready for his closeup? Warner makes national debut with speech on big night at national convention

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   Gov. Mark Warner was able to deliver one particularly good line in his brief speech to the Democratic National Convention Thursday night. Noting that the Old Dominion hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, Warner went Old Testament, invoking images of the Israelites fleeing Egypt to…

It’s the end of the no-car-tax as we know it: And not everybody feels fine

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham As House and Senate conferees struggle to work out the details of the state’s 2004-2006 budget, legislators outside of the spending maelstrom are focusing at least some of their attention on the revenue compromise that seemed to signal the end of the four-month-long budget impasse last week. One item…

Farmers for Hanger: Farm bureau endorses Republican’s re-election bid

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham  For Emmett Hanger, being conversant in agricultural issues isn’t an election-year strategy. It’s a way of life. “I think he’s more effective because he understands the realities that we face out here every day,” said Gerald Garber, a Weyers Cave farmer who remembers Hanger, a Mount Solon Republican, from their days…

Like the Maytag repairman: Unopposed candidates talk about running a one-person race

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Jean Shrewsbury could take it easy this election season. Given that Shrewsbury, the commissioner of the revenue in Augusta County, is unopposed for re-election this fall. But the Republican isn’t sitting on the sidelines lamenting the fate of her challenged colleagues.

County leaders share vision for future

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham  Candidates for the six of the seven seats on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors that are up for election on Nov. 4 took part in a candidates forum held at Verona Elementary School Thursday night. The forum, sponsored by the Augusta Community Partnership, focused on issues related to agriculture and…

Ready to rumble: Residents prepare for Isabel

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director Ben Carter was thinking of Hurricane Camille on Tuesday. Many locals do look back at Camille whenever the region is in the crosshairs of a hurricane – as is the case right now with Isabel making a beeline for Western Virginia. But Carter…