What the heck just happened?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   You listen to Bob Goodlatte, Republican congressman from the Sixth District of Red State Virginia, heading into his eighth term, finishing out his second two-year term as chairman of the powerful House Agriculture Committee, talk about life on Capitol Hill, and you realize pretty quickly that a sea…

Can we all just get along?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   The Shenandoah Valley is usually pretty tame as far as its politics goes – but even the solid Republican Mountain Valley has seen its share of contentiousness this political season. To wit … – One of the highlights of the Augusta County Fair this summer was an episode…

Warner rallies Dems in Staunton

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Mark Warner has been down this road before – lending his name and expending his political capital to aid political protege Tim Kaine’s run at the governor’s job last fall. The businessman-turned-Virginia political favorite son knows that there is risk involved to engaging in such efforts. “If you feel like you…

Marriage amendment – a lose-lose-lose situation?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   It’s politics to some people – the debate over a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would prohibit gays and lesbians from being able to enter into a state-recognized marriage or civil union. For those whose lives would be impacted directly by the much-talked-about change to the…

Next on the Mark Warner agenda: Is former governor, White House candidate ready to again be a player on Virginia political scene?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   Mark Warner made it a point to tell Virginia politics reporters covering the final year of his term as governor of the Old Dominion that he really felt he was hitting his stride in the job – and while the focus of their editors seemed to be on…

Race issues dog Allen

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   A group of former University of Virginia football teammates of U.S. Sen. George Allen alleges that the former quarterback regularly used the n-word to refer to African-Americans. A second group of the Republican’s former teammates has stepped up to say that this is not true. Meanwhile, the state’s…

Can Webb bite into GOP advantage on vet vote?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   The conventional wisdom is that the military vote and veteran vote both tend to lean strongly in the Republican direction – but Democratic Party Senate nominee Jim Webb, a Vietnam War veteran and former Reagan administration Navy secretary, might just be able to turn the conventional wisdom on…