The new, new conventional wisdom on health care

Chris Graham

Report by Chris Graham [email protected]    Jody Grogan thought, like a lot of hardcore health-care reform advocates, that Congress was thisclose to passing … something. “I’m one of these real cynics about Congress now,” said Grogan, a retired teacher who lives in Staunton, and worked locally last summer as an organizer on the reform effort,…

Letters to the Editor

Contributors

– Guns, guns, guns! – Transparency     Guns, guns, guns! Letter from Linda Bartlett, Farnham     Have Virginia lawmakers gone crazy? Where were they when Virginia Tech students were slaughtered? Guns, guns, guns! I am so tired of being in a state that approves gun laws that were prevalent in the old west. We took…

A conservative’s take on the Fifth

Chris Graham

Former candidate blogs, talks up congressional race Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Republicans can knock off freshman Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello in November, but it won’t be easy. The assumption among some on the right is that Perriello won in 2008 on the coattails of Barack Obama, but as Internet-radio host Bradley Rees points…

Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing

Chris Graham

Howard Dean, Tim Kaine, Vince Lombardi, and a guy named Phil Bengston Story by Chris Graham [email protected] When the football team starts losing games, the fan base tends to start getting antsy, and when the losses compound into a losing season, you can start hearing calls for the coach’s head. Politics isn’t unlike football in…

Lawmaker Dispatches

Chris Graham

Featuring: Randy Forbes, Tom Perriello, Robert Hurt, Kaye Kory Randy Forbes: National Dialogue www.forbes.house.gov Ask a teacher, and they will most likely tell you that one of the quickest ways to kill classroom discussion is for one strong-willed student to monopolize the conversation. A long-winded or uncomfortably impassioned monologue inevitably polarizes viewpoints. Conversation shuts down,…

Richmond Reports

Chris Graham

Featured: Sen. Creigh Deeds, Sen. Mark Obenshain Creigh Deeds: Weekly Update www.creighdeeds.com The third full week of the General Assembly session ended in unusual fashion. For the first time in recent memory, the General Assembly took a snow day. Granted we have had difficult weather this winter, beginning with the snow storm in the middle…

Richmond Reports

Ken Plum

Featured: Del. Ken Plum, Del. David Englin Ken Plum: The LCI takes center stage www.kenplum.com Virginia’s formula for funding public schools is very complex. Theoretically the average school district would be funded half by the state and half by local government. In actuality, the split in spending for public schools is closer to 55 percent…

Poll: Dems damned if they do, damned if they don’t on health-care reform

Chris Graham

   Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A new Public Policy Polling survey seems to buttress the case that Democrats might be well-advised to go ahead and pass a health-care reform package – because the majority party seems destined to at least lose seats and possibly its upper hand in Congress whether they pass a reform…