Sixth District: Goodlatte mailer claims support in err

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The Bob Goodlatte campaign contacted Rockingham County Democrat Mike Breeden asking Breeden’s permission to use his name on a campaign mailer as a supporter. Breeden didn’t return the phone call, but his name ended up in the mailer anyway, at the top of a list of eight Democrats and eight…

Sixth District: It’s time for new blood in Congress

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Sam Rasoul forced the Sixth District Democratic Party to live up to its name. It had been 10 years since the party had even tried to challenge Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte in the Sixth, after his 40-point win over then-Roanoke mayor David Bowers in a race that had seemed at…

Fifth District: A vote for solutions, not controversy

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The Danville Register and Bee endorsement editorial put it well, I think. Noting that the paper hadn’t endorsed a Democrat since Virgil Goode was a Democrat, the editorial board relayed that it is changing course not because it is leaving Virgil Goode. “Virgil Goode,” the Register and Bee said, “has…

Waynesboro: Traveling museum on Bush years to stop downtown

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A museum on wheels dedicated to the legacy, such that it is, of the George W. Bush years will be in Waynesboro on Friday. The Bush Legacy Bus will make a stop at the Democratic Committee Election Headquarters in Willow Oak Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The 45-foot,…

David Reynolds: The Pendulum

David Reynolds

Column by David Reynolds As usual Thomas Jefferson got it right. He wrote, “The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny is to illuminate the minds of the people.” TJ would not have been pleased with the lack of illumination during the 2008 presidential campaign – much heat, little light. Jefferson…

Bruce Kesler: The Fannie-ization of Health Care

Contributors

Column by Bruce Kesler Health care could be the next Fannie Mae-type disaster. Similar forces are at work. Anxieties over the financial meltdown may increase Democrats’ power to further their statist agenda via appeals that exaggerate need and rights among the poor and feed greed by many of the rest of us. The forces worked…

Harrisonburg: Obama to rally Valley on eve of historic election

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Why in the world, you’re asking yourself, is Barack Obama spending half his day on Tuesday in the Central Shenandoah Valley that went 70 percent for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004? A better question, given a look at the ’08 poll numbers, might be, Why in…

Valley: Groups seek ruling against I-81 widening

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A coalition of advocacy groups that filed a federal lawsuit last year to block the proposed $11.4 billion widening of Interstate 81 filed a motion in federal court in Charlottesville last week seeking a positive judgment in the case. “We have asked the court to require that (the Virginia Department…

The Valley Blue Dog: Sarah Palin is a Closet Socialist

Steven Sisson

Column by Steven Sisson Yes, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin is a Closet Socialist. The governor’s state of Alaska receives more federal dollars, in subsidies and earmarks and government assistance, than any state in the USA. The Blue Dog says Palin is a tried and true socialist. Like I wrote in the Blue Dog column…