Are the Dems giving up on Virginia? The lights aren’t out yet, but Kerry move seems to signal the end

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham The summer of 2004 was the best time in a long time to be a Democrat in Virginia. The polls had presidential candidate John Kerry within shouting distance of George Bush, for one thing. Kerry, sensing the possibility of an upset in the heart of what Republicans throatily consider…

Not invited to the party: Exclusion from debates another slap in the face to third parties

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham Independent presidential candidate John Anderson was threatening to break down the door to the two-party system. The Illinois congressman was running strong in the national polls, which showed him with the support of as much as a fifth of the electorate in the summer of 1980. He also had…

A Kerry (Vanessa) stumps the Valley

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham The presidential campaign trail is a long, winding, unforgiving road. Indeed, if it weren’t for the letters DQ, Vanessa Kerry might have a hard time staying in between the white lines. “When I think of the words campaign trail, my mind immediately goes to little sleep, lots of coffee and cravings…

Tweaking NCLB: Republican delegation to ask feds to ‘back off’

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham When Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, brought up his concerns with respect to the No Child Left Behind education-accountability initiative during the news conference in 2003 in which he announced his candidacy for re-election to the Virginia General Assembly, it didn’t take long for fellow Republicans to paint a…

An interview with Michael Badnarik

Chris Graham

Story by Steven Sisson Poet Robert Frost wrote, “I never dared be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.” But what about being a … radical conservative? That could be the best description for Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik out there. Badnarik, 50, is a baby boomer – nothing…

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…