Focus | Democratic divide

Chris Graham

Battle brewing between progressives, centrists over direction of party Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The 2001 election that ushered in the Democratic Decade in Virginia gave power in Democratic Party circles to the centrists in the mold of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine who led the mini-revolution that fall. The model that they laid out…

Webb joins bipartisan group in prescription-drug plan

AFP

   Staff Report www.webb.senate.gov Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) today joined a bipartisan group of 19 senators in proposing an amendment to the health care reform bill to lower prescription drug costs and save the federal government nearly $20 billion over the next ten years. Originally introduced earlier this year as the Pharmaceutical Market Access and…

Webb on Afghanistan: ‘How do we define our enemy?’

AFP

  Statement from U.S. Sen. Jim Webb www.webb.senate.gov I have great regard for the careful process employed by this administration in an effort both to define a new approach for the long-standing military commitment in Afghanistan and to put an operational framework in place for our responsible withdrawal. At the same time, I intend to…

Focus | Webb discusses Afghanistan strategy

Chris Graham

Raises questions about surge, withdrawal timeline Story by Chris Graham [email protected] With AFP Audio U.S. Sen. Jim Webb has questions both about President Barack Obama’s planned Afghanistan troop surge and the goal set by the Obama administration to be able to begin drawing down troops from the Afghan theater in 2011. “My belief is that…

UVa., Politico to host conference on ’10 elections

Chris Graham

Staff Report Leading journalists, party insiders, and political analysts will share their views on the upcoming 2010 midterm elections at an afternoon conference sponsored by the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Politico. The 11th annual American Democracy Conference will be held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, December 3 from 1-5…

Earth Talk | The skinny on the Climate Change Conference

AFP

Dear EarthTalk: What do organizers hope to accomplish at the upcoming (December 7-18, 2009) United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen? – F. Rojas, Oakland, Calif. The upcoming COP15 meeting in Denmark—so named because it is the 15th such international gathering of the Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework…

Focus | Perriello ’10: A safe bet? Hardly

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham We’re about a year away from the November 2010 elections, though you wouldn’t know that by watching local TV and seeing the wall-to-wall commercials telling you about what Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello has been doing up in Washington. First it was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with an ad in…

What Virginia’s delegation had to say on health-care vote

Chris Graham

The House of Representatives voted 220-215 late Saturday night to approve legislation that includes mandates to insurance providers and consumers and creates a public option for the provision of insurance coverage. One Republican, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, joined 219 Democrats in voting for the bill; 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats voted against the legislation, which…

Robert Gibbs | Press Briefing

AFP

Friday, Nov. 6 MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Let me – I’m going to start with a couple of things. I was going to do a week ahead but, as you might imagine, the week ahead prior to leaving for Asia is a bit in flux. As that gets filled in throughout the rest of today,…