The Valley Blue Dog: Notes from the dirty campaign trail

Steven Sisson

Column by Steven Sisson Our presidential campaign has sunk lower than the Wall Street stock index. Down, down, down … Republican operatives have historically gone negative in losing campaigns to drive down voter participation and denigrate their Democratic opposition. Guess what? Dinosaur-like GOP president nominee John McCain is losing to a first-term senator. The Blue…

Virginia: Kaine announces budget cuts

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Gov. Tim Kaine wants to balance the fiscal-year 2009 state budget with $348 million in state-agency cuts, the utilization of $400 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and the bonding of $250 million in capital projects that the state had been planning to pay for with cash. The measures…

Local Politics: Are we all losing our minds?

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] Dinah Gottschalk is a volunteer in the Waynesboro Democratic Committee. She’s a committed Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, and she’s been working hard this campaign season at the local Waynesboro Dems election headquarters in Willow Oak Plaza with me and dozens of other Waynesboro and Augusta County Democrats. She was, to…

Business and Politics: Bailout rescue passes House

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] And just like that, we had ourselves a bailout rescue. The House voted 263-171 today to pass a compromise $850 billion plan to buy up securities from Wall Street lenders to take pressure off the financial and credit markets, just four days after a vote on a similar legislative proposal…

The Valley Blue Dog: Do as I say, not as I do?

Steven Sisson

Column by Steven Sisson It’s becoming clear as mud after last night’s debate that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is worst running mate since Thomas Eagleton in 1972. McCain’s political strategy ensuring women will vote for the Republican ticket because Palin’s sexuality is condescending to say the least. To quote Charlie Chan, the “mud of bewilderment…

White House ’08: How will Palin do tonight?

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] The buildup to tonight’s vice-presidential debate is like that of the walkup to the Super Bowl. And if there’s one thing we can say about Super Bowls, this year’s excluded, well, they never live up to the hype, do they? I doubt we get the knockout punch from Joe Biden…

David Reynolds: Why it happened

David Reynolds

Column by David Reynolds Greed. That’s OK for a one-word answer. But the editor allots me 800 words each week, so I should say a little more. I could say that before their sudden death, the investment banks were not subject to the same regulatory controls we place on commercial banks. But that is still…

Business and Economy: Let ’em go under?

Contributors

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] To my surprise, that’s what I’m hearing friends on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle say about the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout. “If it was your business that was failing, they wouldn’t bail you out,” one friend who is a Downtown Waynesboro business owner told…

White House ’08: McCain has to stick with Palin

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] I wrote a piece yesterday about the growing sentiment among conservatives that it might be best for John McCain’s sinking campaign if Sarah Palin would volunteer to step aside as the GOP vice-presidential nominee in favor of another more seasoned candidate. Here’s what I think – that would be the…

David Cox: Personality clash

David Cox

Column by David Cox “Which candidate do you trust?” When former governor Jim Gilmore asked that question in Buena Vista on Labor Day, roars arose from both sides: Republicans supporting him for Senate, and Democrats supporting his opponent, former governor Mark Warner. In that instant, Gilmore personalized this year’s Senate race. Gone were issues that…