Dental clinic adds new full-time staffer

Chris Graham

The Augusta Regional Dental Clinic announced this week that Emily Harding, D.M.D., will join the clinic as a full-time staff dentist on March 22. Dr. Harding is a graduate of the University of Louisville Dental School, where she received her doctorate of dental medicine in general dentistry. She has spent extensive time working in dental…

Push ’em all out the nest

Chris Graham

“Big Bird needs to be pushed out of the nest.” That’s from Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn, who is leading the push in the Republican House to defund public broadcasting once and for all. Interesting tactic from the GOP: trying to talk up how the public can’t afford and doesn’t need public broadcasting in today’s media…

Where do the pols rank?

Chris Graham

The most liked Virginia political figure – no surprise, it’s Mark Warner. That was the finding in a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Feb. 24-27. Warner, a popular former Democratic governor in his first term representing the state in the U.S. Senate, is viewed favorably by 58 percent of Virginians, with 29 percent viewing him…

Chris Graham: Draft Perriello?

Chris Graham

It seems to me that Tim Kaine is the logical choice for Virginia Democrats looking for a Senate candidate in 2012 – and I wouldn’t call myself a political genius for thinking that way. The conventional wisdom isn’t stopping a group of Virginia Dems who are pushing recently unseated former congressman Tom Perriello for the…

Chris Graham: The forest for the trees

Chris Graham

Mark Warner, once again, I’m right there with you, dude. “This problem cannot be solved simply by focusing on cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, which is only 12 percent of the budget. Increased revenues and economic growth by themselves will not get us there, either. That’s why we must have a grown-up discussion about spending…

The Valley’s maverick Republican: Hanger gears up for State Senate re-election run

Chris Graham

It hasn’t been that long since the word “maverick” triggered the next drink in the drinking game. John McCain, the original GOP maverick, has since made a hard turn to the far right, judging his political survival to be of more import than his political legacy. The maverick is a dying breed in the Republican…

Obama offshore drilling ban draws bipartisan criticism

Chris Graham

A bipartisan group of Virginia leaders will work to get the Obama administration to reverse its move to block drilling off the coast of Virginia until at least 2017. “As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we learned a number of lessons, most importantly that we need to proceed with caution and focus…

The AFP on WREL: Friday, Nov. 12, 2010

Chris Graham

Editor Chris Graham joins WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan” to talk Virginia news. The segment begins with a review of Sen. Mark Warner’s visit to the Valley on Monday to host a tourism summit aimed at getting tourist-sector leaders to cooperate toward the development of a regional marketing strategy. The discussion turns to the back-and-forth…

Kidd: The fundamentals in Virginia politics haven’t changed

Chris Graham

At first glance, Virginia has flipped, big time. The Old Dominion was blue in 2008, and has been bright red since, with Republicans sweeping the 2009 state races and taking three of the six seats held by incumbent Democrats in the 2010 congressional midterms. Not so fast, says Quentin Kidd, a political-science professor at Christopher…