Shades of Florida in AG race

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Bob McDonnell has claimed victory. Creigh Deeds has vowed to fight to ensure that every vote has been counted. And so the Virginia political world turns as the race for attorney general moves toward week three of overtime. “The people get to decide who the next attorney general is, not Bob…

Mother of Presidents with child? Assessing Warner’s, Allen’s chances at White House in ’08

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham The big winner in last week’s Virginia gubernatorial election was Democrat Tim Kaine. Or was it Democrat Mark Warner? “Mark Warner created the conditions for a Democratic victory in this state for Tim Kaine, no doubt about it,” George Mason University political-science professor Mark Rozell said.

30 seconds to Election Day: How campaigns use TV to reach voters

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham   They’ve spent $18 million to date on the 2005 gubernatorial campaign – and it could all come down to a folksy television spot that featured Jerry Kilgore and his twin brother, Terry, arguing over who is the better-looking one of the two. “No, I had no idea it would take…

Pro-life votes in the ’05 election: Is Kilgore risking their support with run to the center?

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Republican Party gubernatorial nominee Jerry Kilgore has been relentless in recent weeks in his attacks on Democratic Party rival Tim Kaine on one hot-button social issue, the death penalty. Look for Kaine to fight back at Kilgore by highlighting another hot-button social issue – abortion – in the 2005 campaign’s final…

Catholicism and the death penalty

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham The death penalty has become the central issue in the 2005 Virginia governor’s race – and by extension, so has the view of the Catholic church toward the death penalty. Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine, a Catholic, has been under fire since the outset of his race against Republican Jerry…

Liberal use of the L-word

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham   To say that the Jerry Kilgore campaign is efforting to paint Kilgore’s Democratic Party rival Tim Kaine as a liberal would be to understate things by quite a bit. Virginians can hardly turn on their television or radio these days without seeing or hearing the L-word in reference to Kaine,…

Potts files suit to get into debate

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Russ Potts has filed suit against the University of Virginia Center for Politics seeking a spot in the televised gubernatorial-candidates debate being sponsored by the center and WWBT-NBC12 in Richmond this weekend. A hearing on Potts’ suit has been scheduled for noon today in a federal court in Charlottesville. Potts, an…

Potts down to last strike: Candidate running out of polls, time

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Independent Russ Potts may have only one chance left to qualify for an Oct. 9 televised gubernatorial-candidate debate. Three organizations – Mason-Dixon, Rasmussen Reports and The Washington Post – have been regularly polling Virginia voters as to their preferences for governor in the 2005 elections. Only one of those three, the…

Being Russ Potts

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Russ Potts is running for governor as an independent – to the consternation of Republican Party officials in Richmond and elsewhere in the Old Dominion. The state party asked Potts to resign his Virginia Senate seat – and declared that Potts is no longer a member of the GOP. Potts, for…