Alito Appointed

President Bush appointed Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court this morning. Everything I hear about him is good. He has been on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for 15 years. He is being compared to Scalia in ideology. He sounds like a great appointment. Much, much better than Miers.
Now the confirmation battle begins. I hope those senators who supported Alito back in 1990 will do so again (he was unanimously confirmed by a voice vote). I specifically want to ask Senator Warner to support this great candidate and stand with our party to prevent a filibuster.

VCDL Update

The VCDL has now decided to endorse Bob McDonnell is the AGs race.
This is a very interesting move since they had orginially said they would not make an endorsement on this race. This is also interesting b/c now gun rights advocates must decide who to side with, the NRA or the VCDL.
Personally I like the NRA more, but I sided with the VCDL.
I think Bob will make a great Attorney General.

Poll Rundown

As we near the election, polls become an even more focal point of the campaigns. Thanks to RealClearPoltics, we have a list of all the polls done for our Governor's race. Here they are:
Rasmussen: Kilgore - 44%, Kaine - 46%
Washington Post: Kilgore - 44%, Kaine - 47%
Mason-Dixon: Kilgore - 44%, Kaine - 42%
Survey USA: Kilgore - 45%, Kaine - 47%
Diageo/Hotline: Kilgore - 40%, Kaine - 41%
Poll Avg: Kilgore - 43.6%, Kaine - 44.6%

First off, from a Valley perspective, the Diageo/Hotline and Washington Post polls are both useless from their crosstabs. The Post poll has Kilgore and Kaine tied in the Valley. The Diageo poll has Kaine leading by 14 in the Valley. I think we can all agree this is not going to happen.

The Survey USA poll is also a questionable one b/c it has Kilgore leading by only 10 in the Valley and 7 in Richmond Metro, and Kaine leading by 25 in NOVA. I also tend to not agree with these crosstabs either.

That leaves the Mason-Dixon and the Rasmussen polls. The Rasmussen has no crosstabs, so we really can't dissect that poll much further. The M-D poll does not have the exact numbers but says Kilgore leads in the Valley, SWVA and Southside and Kaine leads in Hampton Roads and NOVA. It also says they are both tied in Richmond. I consider this to be how the election will turn out so I think this poll is also very credible. If you average these 2 polls you get a deadheat.
Don't forget though, I consider Rasmussen to be the most reputable, regardless of past performance of the M-D. So from the this stage, I would give a slight lean to Kaine.

One more thing, in the past Republicans have tended to be underpolled by about 5 points in statewide elections. That is not to say that it will continue, especially with the changing politics of the Commonwealth. Even so, knowing that along with the GOP 72-hour program, I think there is pretty convincing evidence to show that Kilgore will probably win this election unless more reputable polls come out showing him down 3-5 points.

New Rasmussen Poll

The new Rasmussen poll now has Kaine leading Kilgore 46-44. One good thing from this poll is that Kilgore now has support from over 80% of GOPs. We still need those numbers to be higher, but we will take wat we can get. Bush's approval ratings are at 51%.
I still believe that the 72 hour program, as well as the underestimation of GOPs in polls will lead to a victory on election night.
I guess we will know for sure 11 days from now.

More PAC Money

Yesterday I heard a NRA radio ad for Jerry Kilgore. I must say, its the best Kilgore ad I have heard all year. It actually mentions who to vote FOR (Kilgore). I fully expected this in SWVA.
Has anyone heard or seen any other PAC ads?

Hokie Red Zone Offense

The Hokie defense was solid yesterday after giving up less than 200 yards in the game and only 10 points. Vince Hall also had an INT return for a TD.
The offense did well except for the red zone (492 yds of total offense ain't too shabby). In 7 trips, they had 2 TDs, 3 FGs, 1 missed FG and a fumble. Not too great. I think this problem can be fixed though. Even so, we can't depend on our defense to allow almost no points in order to win. We have to take advantage of our opportunites. Hopefully we will fix this problem before our Nov 5th night game against Miami. We will hopefully have College Gameday.
By the way, hopefully it will be as cold as it was last night for Miami. It was quite chilly out there.

Miers Withdraws

Hallelujah folks! I just saw on Fox News on my way back from class that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice this morning. Here is the link from DrudgeReport.com.
I don't think she would have been confirmed anyway, but I am happy she realized that we didn't want her to be on the court. Thanks for making this process easier Ms. Miers.
Now President Bush needs to think twice before picking another "stealth candidate" and pick someone with PROVEN conservative credentials.
As before, my vote is for Janice Rodgers Brown but perhaps she is one of the ones who asked that her name not be considered. If not her, then Edith Jones would be another good one.

DNR Editorials

Today the DNR is loaded with letter to the editors on the Lohr-Fulk race. There are 4 supporting Lohr, 2 supporting Fulk and one that is ticked off at both of them.
This is a nice balance since Fulk seemed to be having them all in the recent past.

By the way, the GOP is listed first on the ballot this year. I don't know how much it will help, but we will take whatever we can get.

PAC Money Begins to Flow

With 2 weeks before the election, a few of the big organizations are starting to spend money on this race for governor. The NFIB began running running ads in the hampton roads area yesterday on Jerry's behalf. Also, Chad Dotson has a post on the new NRA mailer.
The heavy hitters have started for our side, I wonder how long before the MoveOn folks start in for Mr Kaine? What big organizations will run ads for Kaine anyway?
I also have to wonder when all the out-of-state folks will show up for the dems.
Does anyone know the status of that?

Anti-Miers Ads

There is a group on BetterJustice.com that is going to begin running ads against the Miers confirmation. It is a pro-Bush ad but criticizes this nomination with quotes from Robert Bork and Rush Limbaugh. They also have a petition that can be signed to show your dissatisfaction with the nomination and showing support for it being revoked.
I would encourage all conservatives to sign this petition and check out this site.
SST also points out another anti-Miers site, WithdrawMiers.org.
Folks we need a true, proven conservative on the Supreme Court; not a successful woman who is good at moving up the corporate ladder. We already have one of them, his name is David Souter.
Another thing I would caution conservatives on, abortion should not be our only issue here. The Supreme Court has botched countless other rulings in the past that need to be fixed (no executions for minors, eminent domain, etc.) not to mention the many other issues that the court will face in the future (excessive lawsuits, excessive damage awards, gun control laws, gay marriage, public display of 10 Commandments, etc).

WHSV Debate

Last night WHSV had a "debate" between Lohr and Fulk. It was basically a forum where the candidates could respond to the attack ads from the other campaigns and also have more of a dialogue than most of the other debates. Here is the DNR article on it. Here is the WHSV video as well. Neither says anything we didn't already know.
One point I want to make, in the video Fulk says the government all too often is reactionary and they need to fix problems before they happen. Isn't that the purpose of the amendment you are opposed to Mr Fulk?
Any thoughts on the debate from those who saw it? I obviously didn't so I'm interested to see what you folks thought.

Night Games Abound

It was announced yesterday that the Miami game on November 5th will be at 7:45 PM.
We have BC this Thursday at 7:45 on ESPN and then another night game the following weekend. We should also get Gameday for the Miami game.
Blacksburg is gonna be crazy for the next few weeks.
UPDATE: Lane is still not finished. Here is the link. It was supposed to be finished before the first game. What is taking you guys so long? Not that I really care, its only the luxury seats that are affected anyway, but still. They need to get on the ball with this.

One more thing, does anyone have any UVA-VT tickets they want to sell? If so, post a comment or email me. I am looking for a few. Thanks!

VCDL Endorsement

I figured I would let everyone know that Matt Lohr still has the endorsement of the VCDL. Someone on another blog said that Lohr might lose that endorsement, but he has not.
Just thought I put that out there for everyone.

New BCS Rankings

Texas is now number 1 in the BCS with USC close behind. We are still about .5 behind USC. Texas is number 1 in the computer polls and 2nd in the human ones. USC is the opposite. We are 3rd in both (which is up from 4th in computers last week).
Folks, we still need Texas or USC to lose to get to the Rose Bowl. To help though, we need to crush BC this Thursday night and Miami the following Saturday.
By the way, it's SNOWING in Blacksburg.

New Governor Poll

Rasmussen has a new poll out today showing Kilgore leading 48-46 and Potts drawing 2%. This is up from 46-44 in the last poll.
I consider Rasmussen to be the most reputable polling firm and so it looks like a tight race with us having the advantage, which is what we have known all along.
As some people have commented on past posts, this is not necessarily good for us. Kaine will gain lots of "undecideds" at the end b/c of Warner. People will have the opinion that Warner is doing a good job so theres no reason to change. Lets hope this doesn't occur, but I fear it will. Hopefully, all those people will be GOPs who decide to vote for their man, not the status quo; but I don't think it will.

DNR Letter to the Editor

I saw this on the DNR today and had to share it with you all. The link is here.
Would someone from Cville please explain to me what this woman said. As a lowly uncultured conservative Hokie, this letter makes no sense to me. All I got was that this woman was comparing Fulk to FDR.
I guess I agree with that assessment, both are free spending liberals whose answer to everything is more government and more money.

Hokie Defense Stays Strong

Tonight, our 28-9 victory over Maryland was a good one and a bad one. Our defense was solid for the most part except for a few key penalties. Our offense worked well when Imoh finally got going. Marcus threw 3 INTs which wasn't good, but all in all, we did OK.
As long as we don't commit that many turnovers against our other opponents, we should be fine.
What is everyone else's take on the game.

Gun Lawsuit Shield

Congress passed a law today to prevent alot of the frivilous lawsuits against the gun industry. The link is here. Great bipartisan support and I have been hoping for this for a while now.
Great victory for the NRA and gun rights advocates everywhere.
Thanks to all the congresspeople who supported this (like my politically correct statement there?).

15th District Rundown

I have not covered the 15th District race b/c its not a race. It was the first non incumbent race for NLS to call, way back in the summer. It is going to be a cakewalk for the GOP here.
Jim Blubaugh of Rappahannock County is the dems' sacrificial lamb, taking on Todd Gilbert of Woodstock. For reference, this district encompasses all of Shenandoah, Page and Rappahannock Counties and Swift Run precinct in Rockingham. Gilbert has an A from the NRA and Blubaugh has an F. Thats right folks, a candidate in the valley with an F rating from the NRA. Its gonna be ugly.
Today in the Northern Virginia Daily they are reporting that Blubaugh is challenging Gilbert to a debate before the election. This is incredible. He is actually calling for a debate less than 3 weeks before the election. I don't think I have ever seen anything like this before. It is ridiculous. No one decides on a debate this close to the election. This is a clear sign of a campaign with absolutely nothing going on.
It just goes to show how bad this Blubaugh character is going to get his clock cleaned.
I am predicting Gilbert pulls at least 65% in this race if not more.
Gilbert has but one flaw, hes a wahoo. That sucks b/c he is replacing a Hokie.

UPDATE: The main reason Gilbert doesn't want to debate Blubaugh is that he can't stay with a position. The other night at the Luray VFW forum, Blubaugh was complaining how gas prices have hurt valley tourism and Gilbert said Blubaugh wanted to raise the gas tax. Blubaugh replied that he was amazed how much he was learning about himself b/c he never said he supported that. Fact is on the VA FREE survey, Blubaugh said he supports raising the gas tax. Also Blubaugh says he is opposed to gay marriage, but he didn't fill out the Family Foundation survey. Like I said before, this guy is on his way to be being crushed.

9th District Update

The Dudley finance report has now been filed so here is what the race looks like:
Allen Dudley: $164,062 Raised ($17,767 from current), $125,445 Cash On Hand
Eric Ferguson: $146,233 Raised ($31,670 from current), $45,234 Cash On Hand
-note: included in the $31,670 is a $21,000 loan that Ferguson secured

Major Expenses of the Dudley Campaign:
Direct Mailings - $7017
Ads - $5722
Peter Foster - $2600

Major Expenses of the Ferguson Campaign:
Radio Ads - $8875
Ads - $6628
4x8 Signs - $5487
Race Sponsorship - $4500
Derrick Shapley - $2500
Joe Stanley - $2072
Staff Housing - $1131
Sound Tech - $700
Rent - $600

Dudley has a huge money advantage, which should allow him to make an unbelievable ad blitz at the end. As long as he uses that money and doesn't sit on it, he will win this race. He is in a GOP leaning district and has almost a 3-1 money advantage a month from the election. This race is over folks.

New Ratings

Over at NLS they have updated the ratings for the uncalled HOD races. Our own 26th has been changed to Leans Republican from Toss-Up. Annie B's race in the 6th is still Toss-Up. NLS is saying that GOPs are weakening in alot of places and a few NOVA races have been changed toward the dems. For those of you who haven't seen, there are 2 polls out now that have Kilgore down by 1 or 2 points.

It should be an interesting election night. I fear it could be a long one for us GOPs though. I am still hopefull of our chances in all the races, but the direction of the polls is what concerns me. Its possible that the undecideds are starting to break for the dems in the governor's race since they don't know who is better and they want to stay with the 70% approved of governor's party.
I believe Annie B, Allen Dudley, and Lohr will win, but if NOVA goes bad for us, it could be a bad situation. I wish I had a better handle on those races, but I have no knowledge of those at all.
Any predictions from you folks on election night results?

Finance Reports

Whenever Benny Keister and Allen Dudley release their finance reports, I will be able to complete my analysis for these races.
Hopefully it will be in the next day or so, but these are the same folks who were late last time.
I am still waiting to hear back from the NOW folks regarding an endorsement. Perhaps they don't want me to know, since I am a GOP.

DNR Weighs in on Fundrace

In today's DNR, there is an article on the fundraising reports from both the Fulk and Lohr campaigns.
I want to thank them for pointing out Fulk's support from the AFL-CIO and VEA.
The article is a pretty good rundown of the money situation and the donors.
Its going to be a battle of the airwaves for the next 3 weeks folks.

Fundrace in the 6th

Anne Crockett-Stark: $77,533 Raised ($32,374 in current period), $20,202 Cash On Hand

Major Donors to the Annie B Campaign:
Republican Party of Virginia - $24,566 (in-kind)
GOPAC - $1000
The Leadership PAC - $1000
Virginia Victory PAC - $1000
Chris Jones for Delegate - $750 (in-kind)
Carrico for Delegate - $500

Major Expenses of the Annie B Campaign:
Direct Mailings - $24,566
Polling - $5195
LyAnna Johnson (for salary and all expenses) - $3486
Ad Production - $2438
Invitations - $2000
Casey Phillips (for salary and all expenses) - $1510
Anthony Reed salary - $900
Postage - $822
Bumper Stickers - $438

Keister has not filed his report as of yet.
I apologize for the eariler post, I hadn't realized it was the old report for Keister.

New Finance Reports in the 26th

The new financial reports are out today. Here is what they show:
Matt Lohr: $163,041 Raised ($34,056 current period), $64,219 Cash On Hand
Lowell Fulk: $159,105 Raised ($31,672 current period), $58,041 Cash On Hand

Major Donors to the Lohr campaign:
Republican Party of Virginia - $10,840 (in-kind)
House Republican Cmte. - $5115 (in-kind)
Valley Leadership Trust - $3000
Virginia Wine Wholesalers - $2000
James Sipe Jr. - $1000
Bailey's S&M Brands - $750
Chris Jones for Delegate - $750 (in-kind)
Friends of Dick Black - $600
6th District Republican Cmte. - $500
Steven Brown - $500
GOPAC - $500
Jared Scripture - $500
Victoria Simmons - $500
Elam Steiner - $500
Charles Whetzel - $400

Major Donors to the Fulk Campaign:
House Democratic Caucus - $11,398
New Leadership Virginia Fund - $3500
Rockingham Democratic Cmte. - $2000
VEA-PAC - $2000
John Edwards for (Va.) Senate - $1000
Morgan Massey - $1000
Neff Enterprises - $1000
Continuing Care Mgt. - $500
C.D. Hammer - $500
INDEPAC - $500
Don Litton - $500
Sickles for Delegate - $500
Sonjia Smith - $500
Tim & Ruth Stoltzfus - $500
Barkley Rosser - $400
Virginia AFL-CIO - $400

Major Expenses of the Lohr Campaign:
Ad Development - $12,000
Direct Mailings - $10,840
Polling - $5115
Printing Cards, T-Shirts, etc - $4793
Audrey Berkshire's salary - $2500
Fundraising (George Allen) Breakfast - $1297

Major Expenses of the Fulk Campaign:
Direct Mail - $20,961
Walsh Davis' Salary - $7500
WHSV Commercial Buy - $5980
Video Production - $4200
Kipps Lee's Salary - $2000
Aramark for Brunch - $1444
Football Program Ads - $630
T-Shirts - $512

Who Am I?

Before this gets out of hand, I want to clarify something.
My name is not Brandon Driver.
I don't you liberals planning assassination attempts on this man, whoever he is. Its not his fault all of your feathers are ruffed and your panties are in a bunch.
Its mine.
Try again folks.

Valley Family Forum Rescheduled

The VFF has been rescheduled for October 29th at 7 PM at the Houff Community Center in Bridgewater. Here is the letter to friends of the VFF:

To: Friends of the Valley Family Forum
Summary: The Forum has rescheduled the public debate between Matt Lohr (R) and Lowell Fulk (D) for 7 PM, Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Houff Community Center in Bridgewater. The focus will be on issues that affect our faith, our families, and our freedoms. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend! End Summary.
A Tangled Web
The Forum proposed this debate last June and set the original date for Sept. 30 with the agreement of both candidates. Because Fulk was unable to participate at that time due to illness, we all committed to finding a new date for the debate. Lohr followed up immediately with 17 new dates. In contrast, Fulk delayed a response for nearly a week, and then said it was not possible to reschedule because his calendar was full.
A Possible No-Show?
That is a disappointment, but leaves us no choice except to proceed as originally planned. Lohr has clearly made this a priority and plans to participate. We continue to hope that Fulk will review his options and join us as well. However, if not, we have invited him to send someone else to represent him. And if he is unwilling to do that, we have offered to meet with him at his convenience and record his responses to our questions, which we will then make available to the audience on Oct. 29. Sadly, neither Fulk nor his campaign manager has yet responded to these repeated offers, which I reiterated to Fulk in person today.
Why Bother?
The need for this debate is increasingly clear because it is about our laws and their impact on our lives. Regrettably, some of these laws have become badly twisted, giving us legalized abortion, no-fault divorce, rampant pornography, and restricted freedoms of religious _expression. The result is a moral meltdown that has led to broken families, abused women, and badly damaged children.
That is why we must all work together to fix our laws. The General Assembly is all about law, and the election on Nov. 8 is all about law makers. And that is why this debate is so important. We need to know which of these two aspiring delegates is more deeply committed to rebuilding a culture of life, defending the sanctity of marriage, maintaining high standards of public decency, and protecting our First Amendment freedom of religious _expression.
Our Commitment
We will continue to encourage Fulk to participate in this debate. However, if he does not, we will do our best to keep you informed about his positions. Therefore, please watch for our report on the Voter Guides that The Family Foundation Action has prepared, not only for this race but for others at the local and state level as well. If you would like to order extra copies for your church or civic group, please contact Steve Waters at (804) 343-0010 or steve@familyfoundation.org.
Please stay tuned, and we’ll see you at the Forum on Oct. 29!
Regards,
Dean

I wonder if Mr. Fulk will find time to attend. I wonder if he will send a person to take his place if he doesn't attend?
By the time October 29th rolls around, Mr. Fulk may have more questions to answer at this than he would have had in September.

Fulk Endorsements

Lately we have been showcasing the endorsements of Matt Lohr. To be "fair and balanced" I will give you some endorsements Lowell Fulk has received as well.

The first is one he has had for awhile now. It is from Democracy for America. This organization is basically a PAC that was started by Jim Dean, Howard Dean's brother, to support Dean's presidential run. They are supporting Leslie Bryne in our LG's race this year. Here is the link to Fulk's endorsement; you have to read a few posts before you get to it. Fulk was only endorsed by the local meetup group in Harrisonburg. He has not been endorsed by the national organization as of yet.

The second is from the AFL-CIO. As we all know, this is the largest union in the country. They have endorsed Kaine, Byrne and Deeds, along with most of the other democratic delegate candidates in the state. This one was secured at the annual convention in August.

He has received the endorsement of the Virginia Education Association. They too endorsed the Kaine/Byrne/Deeds ticket. This organization almost always endorses Democrats (most all the GOP endorsements were the "gang of 17").

I have also heard the National Organization of Women has endorsed Fulk, but that is not confirmed yet. Hopefully that will be determined tomorrow. As you all know, NOW is well known as a pro-choice organization and also is now supporting gay marriage.

Folks, which candidate do you want? The guy with endorsements from the NRA, VCDL and NFIB, or a guy who has them from the DFA, NEA and AFL-CIO?
What I really don't understand is that, if Lowell Fulk is a different kind of democrat, why is he getting the typical endorsements democrats get?

UPDATE: The DNR has article on the endorsements on this race in today's paper. They did not list Lohr's NFIB endorsement, or Fulk's AFL-CIO or DFA endorsements. I have contacted them, so hopefully they will make sure to get the other ones out there as well.
The NOW people are supposed to get back with me on their endorsements. I will let you all know as soon as I find something out.

NRA Ratings

Governor
Jerry Kilgore - A
Tim Kaine - F

LT. Governor
Bill Bolling - A
Leslie Byrne - F

Attorney General
Creigh Deeds - A
Bob McDonnell - B+

6th District
Annie Crockett-Stark - A
Benny Keister - B

20th District
Chris Saxman - A
Bruce Elder - C

26th District
Matt Lohr - A
Lowell Fulk - B

I will list any others that people would like to know. Just post what race(s) you want.

Upset in the Making?

I realize we usually talk about Virginia politics here, but I have to point this out.
According to this article in the Washington Times, Doug Forrester (R) is trailing Joe Corzine (D) 44%-43% in the New Jersey governor's race.
Throughout the entire election season Corzine has held a doube-digit lead, and it has been widely expected that the dems will hold this seat. To be fair, Rasmussen has this race at 44-37.

Folks, this will be a crushing blow to the democratic party if they lose this governor seat.
That will have almost no hope of re-gaining a majority of the governor's mansions if they lose the NJ race, as well as the Va one.
That would give us 30 governors. We will undoubtably lose Massachusetts, New York and maybe a few more, but I don't think the dems will be able to gain 6 governors in 2006 if they lose the NJ race.
If the GOP can pull out this race in NJ, it could spell disaster in the 2006 elections for the dems.
That is, if we win here in Virginia as well.

Endorsements Continue to Roll in

Thanks to Mr. Cushing at Commonwealth Watch for showcasing another key endorsement for Matt Lohr. He points to an Augusta Free Press article that says Lohr has received the endorsement of the NFIB (National Federation of Indepedent Business).
Lohr now has the backing of the VCDL, NRA and NFIB.
The NFIB endorsement is arguablly as valuable as the NRA's in the Harrisonburg area.
There are lots of business people in this area, most of which usually vote Republican.
This just proves that it would behove them to continue that trend.
Has anyone seen anymore new ads from either of the campaigns?
Don't be surprised if a Lohr ad showcasing his defense of gun-rights, small business, and family values comes out soon.
What a winning combination!

Potts Weakens

In the latest Rasmussen Poll, Kilgore leads Kaine 46%-44%.
The part that is encouraging is that Russ Potts now only polls at 1%. This is huge for us, b/c it appears he will not have an effect on this race.
I have been saying all along that our worst case scenario was Potts getting 5%. This is great news.
With all the endorsements for Kilgore, the new attack ads, and Potts polling next to nothing; election night looks promising for the GOP.
Hopefully it stays that way.

Death Penalty Issue

All across the GOP blogs today is a feeling of elation. Everyone thinks we have found the home run issue that will bring this election home.
Tim Kaine's death penalty stance/record.
I hope everyone is correct, but we need new ads. These new ads are ok, but they need to be followed up with an ad where Jerry says that he will make sure executions are carried out, and that his opponent won't.
We need Jerry to actually say something in an ad other than "Hi this is my ad".
Hopefully this will end up being the break we needed.

Lohr Gets NRA Endorsement

Thanks to Republitarian for the heads up.
The NRA has officially endorsed Matt Lohr in the 26th house race.
Here is the press release.
Another reason folks should vote for Matt Lohr.

New Kilgore Ads

Has anyone seen the new Kilgore ads?
Here is the link to them. They are showing family members of murder victims and pointing out that Kaine defended the murders to get them off.
It tugs hard at your heart strings. Even so, I think these ads may backfire. We still aren't using Jerry's name, its only attacking Kaine.
I would like to see these ads say, "Jerry Kilgore will make sure these scumbags are executed. His opponent wants to defend people like this, free of charge."

Liberals at VT

Today in the Collegiate Times, there is an editorial about the death penalty and this year's governor's race. In it, the author claims that MOST Virginians oppose to death penalty.
She claims: "Since 1989, repeated polls, the most recently reported of which was taken in 2001, show a large majority of Virginians would rather not use the death penalty if other means of punishment were available."
"In a state with such a high percentage of citizens opposed to the death penalty — 82.7 percent in a 2001 poll".
Is she crazy? Here is a Rasmussen poll taken 2 weeks ago that finds the opposite. It finds that 68% of Virginians support the death penalty.
Stark contrast don't you think?
Has anyone out there ever seen a poll showing Virginians being opposed to the death penalty.
If so, please let me know; I would love to see it.

Losing the Sign Wars

I was just wondering if anyone out there has noticed this. I don't really remember past elections, so maybe this always happens; but this year we are getting creamed in the sign wars.
Don't forget, thats in the Valley and SWVA (I don't know how the rest of the state is).
Everywhere I go, there are many more dem signs than ours (especially big signs along main roads).

Folks, I realize elections are not determined by signs alone, but they do make a difference. I ask that everyone out there get signs up wherever possible (ask permission of course), especially on main arteries of transportation. We need our guys to get sign exposure. Its alot cheaper than TV ads and also don't want to lose the votes of people who say "well I've seen a bunch of signs for x so I'm gonna vote for him".
I don't know if its the fault of the local parties, or if we just never have as many signs out there, but we need to try to get more if at all possible.
Does anyone else see this happening, or am I just driving on the wrong roads all the time?

What a Surprise

The DNR has reported that the Valley Family Forum debate will not be rescheduled. Fulk's schedule is "totally booked up until election day".
This does not surprise me. I never expected Fulk to reschedule this debate.

Also, to the second letter to editor today in the DNR, do you pick the car that goes the wrong direction? Thats what you are doing by voting for Lowell Fulk. I'd rather have a car that gizzles gas and only runs 62.5% of the time than having one that doesn't go the direction I want it to go.

Candidates in the 25th

Over at Commonwealth Watch, Poli Amateur has a post on the dems recruitment of a candidate for the 25th Senate district if Creigh Deeds wins the AGs race and has to step down.
They have about 4 possible names for the dem nomiation. They also say one Republican has voiced interest: Keith Drake who is chairman of the Albemarle County GOP.
I would say Rob Bell would have to be a front runner for the GOP nod, since he is well liked in his district and is also from Albemarle County. If Bell were to get the nod and win, Drake might then run for Bell's HOD seat.
Either way, I don't think a GOP has much of a chance in a district that is 25% C'ville and the rest of it is 50-50 at best.
Hopefully we won't have to worry about any of this b/c Bob McDonnell is going to beat Deeds.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

Hokie Defense Struggles

Folks, I am glad for the 41-14 win today, but our defense needs to get better. We played soild in thr first few games, but WVU and this game were a little shaky.
Marshall ran the same play up the middle 30-some times and ran all over us.
We also need to teach everyone to rap up and tackle.
Well done by the offense today, even though we lost Humes.
I hate to say this, but I have always thought Ore and Bell are better than Imoh and Humes.
I guess we will find out now (Imoh is still suffering from a hurt ankle from the Duke game).
We have an extra week to prepare for Maryland, so I hope we get everything straightened out before then.

VCDL Arrogance

Folks, I have been thinking about posting on this for awhile now, but I guess this is a good time.
I don't understand the VCDL's obsession with the Kilgore survey. I have always thought it was dumb for the Kilgore campaign to do nothing about this, but what is the big deal?
Its as if its killing the VCDL that they will have to endorse Kaine since he is the only person to return the survey. I had a member even tell me he knew Kaine's survey was BS, but that they want to see Kilgore's.
Every other organization I have ever seen never cares. If you don't turn in a survey, they give you a ? or rank you on past experience, and usually don't endorse you. Simple as that.
The NRA never makes a federal case out of someone not turning in a survey, why is the VCDL?
The only thing I can figure is that they are so arrogant, they are more worried about getting the surveys than actually making a difference in the election.
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery on this one?

Local Delegates Blogging

If you haven't noticed, there have been a few local delegates blogging lately.
Del. Ed Scott (R-30) commented on something regarding the Kilgore campaign's mail pieces about a week or so ago on NLS.
Today Del. Chris Saxman (R-20) has been commenting on the Republitarian's site, as well as Commonwealth Conservative. I also saw him comment on Bacon's Rebellion a few weeks ago.
I think its good that our local elected officials are recognizing blogs as reputable political arenas, instead of just pains in the rear.
Thanks again guys!

Kilgore Gains Key Endorsements

Chad Dotson over at Commonwealth Conservative has a post about the endorsements Jerry Kilgore has picked up today.
Wayne LaPierre of the NRA has been flying around the state with Jerry today and the NRA has now officially endorsed Kilgore. This has long been expected.
Also the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Kilgore and Bob McDonnell. They are not endorsing in the LG race. This endorsement is much more unexpected from what I hear.
Hopefully it will help our numbers in NOVA, but I'm not holding my breath.

Lohr Strikes Back

The DNR has an article today about Matt Lohr's new ad. It basically says that the ad accuses Fulk of being opposed to the gay marriage amendment, being in favor of a tax increase and in favor of automatically restoring felon voting rights.
Now it's the Fulk campaign saying his opponent is "distorting the facts".
Fulk claims he doesn't support automatic voting rights restoration, even though thats what the Democratic platform of Virginia says (which Fulk co-authored).
Fulk is opposed to the marriage amendment on the grounds that it is not needed (its already illegal for a gay couple to marry in Virginia).
Fulk also says he is only in favor of a tax increase on the sales tax to increase transportation funding, even though he supported the 2004 tax increase; which has only been partially used for transportation funding (all of which was in NOVA).
My favorite quote from the article is:
"Basically, what they’re saying in the ad is a total distortion," Fulk, 47, said.
Where is the distortion Mr. Fulk?

Debate Tonight

Any news or reactions to the debate from tonight?

6th District Update

NLS has a new post on the 6th district race. He is wondering if Annie B can win even though she has almost no support (financially) within the district.
I believe she can. Annie B has "raised" $66,904 and only $6,281 has come from her district.
Even so, Keister has raised $86,272 and has only raised $16,625 from the district ($6500 of that was a donation from himself).
So about 9% of Annie B's money has come from the district and about 12% of Keisters has. Probably this is a very low donor area, but I don't know.
One other point, Keister's opponent 2 years ago, Morgan Morris, only raised $1,000 of the $55,000 from the district. He was outspend 3-1 and still only lost by 51 votes.
I think since Annie B is close in funds w/ Keister, she will probably win it walking away.
She is also having a fundraiser next Wednesday morning with George Allen. Perhaps that will increase her district money flow.
This race will continue to get more interesting the closer to election we get.

Fulk "Distorting the Facts?"

The DNR has a few articles on attendance records of Fulk and Lohr today. They are here and here. The second one points out how Matt Lohr's school board attendance record is in fact better than Fulk's ad implies. His ad only uses the 2004 year and says Lohr missed 37.5% of the meetings. Lohr has actually attended 80% of his meetings since joining the school board (he has been there since 2002).
For those of you who don't know, Matt has a speaking business that he travels around the country for. Many of these speaking engagements are scheduled far in advance, so most of his missed meetings were special meetings that were scheduled a week or less in advance.

Folks, I have said since the beginning that I am not enthused about Matt missing any meetings, but that is still no reason to vote for someone who doesn't believe what you believe. Matt believes in what all our other valley legislators believe in and what the valley voters believe in: that we didn't need the tax increase, we need a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, we need to make govenment smaller, not larger.
The 26th district should not vote for Lowell Fulk, just because he has a better school board attendance record. The campaigns has been saying for people to decide based on the facts.
Well the fact is that Matt will do a better job of representing the valley.
Lowell Fulk will have to listen to the democratic party since Mark Warner has funded his campaign with $25,000.
Matt will also listen to his party, the party of Steve Landes, Chris Saxman, Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith, etc. These are the people who always vote for the valley.
Now I ask you, who would you rather have defending the valley, Mark Warner or the Valley Republicans?

Wilder Endorses McDonnell

Over at NLS, he is breaking a story about former Governor Doug Wilder endorsing Bob McDonnell over Creigh Deeds in the AG's race. He is also endorsing Leslie Byrne over Bill Bolling. What a pair!
He still has not made an endorsement in the governor's race.
I doubt this will really make a difference, but it will get some headlines.

Update: This has not happened yet and looks like it may not. Who knows when we will know for sure.

Goodlatte Fundraiser

Last night Bob Goodlatte was in Harrisonburg for a fundraiser on behalf of Matt Lohr. The DNR has an article about it here. Goodlatte gave Matt $4,000, the full total of the fundraiser has not been released. Bob gave a good speech at the Allen breakfast in August, and I am sure he delievered another great one last night. I heard there were about 150 people there, which is pretty good. Republitarian says there were only 80. Hopefully someone out there can clarify the number.
We will hopefully find out soon the total raised at the event as well.
Has Fulk had anymore fundraisers?

Tom Davis Fundraising

Over the weekend, I received a fundraising letter from Rep. Tom Davis. Now I live in the central Shenandoah Valley, so why am I getting a letter from him? He is a Republican, but I am no where near his seat.
Is this common practice?
Also, if he is raising money from valley GOPs, does that mean he is having trouble in his district, or hes just getting our money since Goodlatte, Wolf, Goode, and Cantor never have anything to worry about?

Why did we vote for him?

First, George W. Bush lost control of spending, and now he has appointed 2 unproven "conservatives" to the supreme court.
Harriet Miers will replace O'Connor. She is a GORE DONOR. What the hell George?
I have no more confidence in regaining the supreme court, if this is who he replaces another "conservative" with, God forbid he replace someone like John Paul Stevens or Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I would hate to see the replacement for them.
Dick Cheney, please start telling George what to do again. Why did you stop?

Mrs. Obenshain Sets the Record Straight

Here is the editorial from the DNR today. Mrs. O really let Fulk have it. Its a pretty good letter to the editor.

A Misleading Ad
In his first TV ad, did Lowell Fulk tell the voters anything positive about his vision for the Valley? No. He aired a misleading, and shrill attack ad in which he offered mistruths about Matt Lohr’s record and service to this community.
Lowell has apparently fallen under the influence of this small but vocal liberal minority in our area who last year bitterly attacked the president. It is unfortunate that the people of the Valley are being subjected to this misinformation. Matt Lohr has never backed away from any question concerning his positions on the issues or his service to the community.
Here is the truth. During his tenure on the county school board, Matt Lohr has attended 84 percent of its scheduled meetings. This information is a matter of public record.
Fulk’s attack ad also falsely claims that Matt voted to raise his own pay as a member of the county school board. Matt did vote to raise the pay of school board members by $1,700 per year (the first increase in 17 years). The measure was approved by 80 percent of the board. The raise will not ever apply to Matt Lohr. The raise takes effect in 2006. Matt’s tenure on the school board will end December of this year.
I hope that the final two months of the race will on the true issues and not fabrications.
Suzanne S. Obenshain
Harrisonburg

Rating Increase?

NLS is now considering raising the rating of the 26th distrct race to "Leans Republican".
He must have seen what I have, Fulk missed a debate at the worst possible time.
Lets watch and see what comes next from the campaigns.