Sportsmen for (insert candidate name here)

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham   Either Virginia sportsmen are the key to winning the 2005 Virginia governor’s race – or Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore are plumb running out of ideas. “Neither one has been able to get any traction with voters, so they’re grasping at straws. They’re grasping at the sportsmen issue. They’re trying…

Getting to know Tim Kaine

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Tim Kaine knew when he made his mind up that he was going to run for lieutenant governor in 2001 that he was committing himself to another political campaign four years later. “Honestly, when I ran for lieutenant governor, I thought, you know, if I am lieutenant governor, then I will…

Cranwell talks about Dems’ course

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Dick Cranwell was getting testy. He’d agreed to “give five minutes a day to this between now and the 18th,” said Cranwell, the former majority leader in the Virginia House of Delegates, who is set to take over the reins of the Democratic Party of Virginia on Saturday, during a conference…

On the trail with Leslie Byrne

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Leslie Byrne was back in the office the morning after her hard-fought victory in the June 14 Democratic Party lieutenant-governor primary. She really had no choice – to hear her tell it. “The first priority was to start talking to folks now that we’re the candidate, to start gathering support, particularly…

The politics of teacher pay

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham The group from John C. Myers Elementary School in Broadway was wrapping up its Thursday-afternoon field trip to downtown Harrisonburg when it happened upon a real-life civics lesson. Republican Party gubernatorial-nomination candidate Jerry Kilgore was at a Court Square eatery holding court with reporters on the issue of, yep,…

House GOP leaders pledge support for bay cleanup: Impact to be felt in Augusta

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   Ken Fanfoni’s eyes are locked on the date … 2010. It’s not a space odyssey that the Augusta County Service Authority executive director has in mind, but rather a bay odyssey. Service-authority customers in Augusta are on the hook for $25 million in improvements to eight wastewater-treatment plants…

What’s Emmett going to do?

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Everybody, it seems, wants to know what Emmett Hanger is up to these days. It has to be a nice place to be in. “I’ve been encouraged to learn that my name is already known across the state. I also realize that it might not always be for positive things,” quipped…