White House: Obama will turn Virginia blue

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] He started his general-election campaign here in June after sewing up the Democratic Party nomination, and he’s going to end it here late Monday night. Still want to quibble over how seriously Barack Obama is taking Virginia? “What better way is there to showcase the importance of this state as…

U.S. Senate: The radical centrist will shake things up in D.C.

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I was working for an ultraconservative newspaper based in Charlottesville – not exactly the best place for somebody who would later become the chair of a Democratic Party committee to be, but it paid the bills. It also gave me a different perspective on Mark Warner, at first a skeptical…

Sixth District: It’s time for new blood in Congress

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Sam Rasoul forced the Sixth District Democratic Party to live up to its name. It had been 10 years since the party had even tried to challenge Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte in the Sixth, after his 40-point win over then-Roanoke mayor David Bowers in a race that had seemed at…

Virginia: Warner backs Obama, campaign manager says

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] “We’ve been doing everything we possibly can to make sure that we’re coordinated with the Obama campaign,” Mark Warner’s campaign manager, Mike Henry, told me today, responding to a column in the AFP last week in which I noted how Warner seemed to me to be playing it kind of…

Waynesboro: River City 2020

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] Lee Wolverton and I don’t agree on much, so when we agree, that means something. And we agree that Waynesboro is facing a critical challenge. Lee has seen what we both think is happening to Waynesboro happen elsewhere. A small town struggles with its identity when the factories close up…

Augusta: Brass 5 to play BRCC

Chris Graham

Staff Report The Roanoke-based Brass 5 will make the trek up I-81 Sunday for a concert at the Blue Ridge Community College Fine Arts Center. The 3 p.m. show will showcase the band’s repertoire that ranges from from Renaissance and classical to Dixieland, jazz, rock and country. Brass 5 been featured on local public radio…

Politics: Bogus registration claims a ‘smokescreen’ for GOP suppression efforts

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Republicans and their allies in the mainstream news media are stating publicly that it’s Democrats who are trying to rig the 2008 elections by submitting voter-registration applications with phony names and other such chicanery. Funny how the media is either missing out on the real story or is working in…

Education: How many children left behind?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Twenty, twenty-five, close to thirty percent of students who start the ninth grade in the Shenandoah Valley aren’t graduating high school in four years, according to figures released by the State Department of Education on Wednesday. But are the numbers an accurate reflection of how many children are…

Sixth District: Goodlatte, Rasoul, Allen to debate

Chris Graham

Staff Report There are two Sixth District congressional candidate debates on the schedule this week. Republican incumbent Bob Goodlatte, Democratic Party nominee Sam Rasoul and independent Janice Lee Allen will appear at a candidates forum sponsored by the Roanoke County PTA tonight at 7 p.m. The forum will be held at William Byrd High School…