Category: Politics
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The “Cooch” Makes Things Really Interesting
By Peter Galuszka Kenneth Cuccinelli’s announcement that he will run for Virginia governor in 2013 presages some very interesting days ahead. The controversial and hard-right Attorney General has been a highly polarizing figure in state politics. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, he stubbornly insists that humans have little to do with climate change and…
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Elephants Squeak By
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s Republicans failed to replicate their national party’s success in last year’s mid-term national elections and barely squeaked by to win both houses of the state General Assembly. The 20-20 split in the state Senate hung on a spare 222 votes in a Spotsylvania County race. By conceding his election race Democratic…
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The Politics of Interstate Interchange Funding
by James A. Bacon Here’s another proposed transportation project to watch closely: The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) has proposed building a new interchange on Interstate 95, estimated to cost $250 million to $300 million — or more, depending upon whom you believe — that would benefit the wealthy developers of the Celebrate Virginia…
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They Attack By Night
By Peter Galuszka It may go without saying that propaganda campaigns only tell part of the story. So it was in Richmond’s downtown Kanawha Plaza where a small band of “Occupy Richmond,” an offshoot of the national protest movement, had been camping since Oct. 15. This little group was protesting abuse of democracy and financial…
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Obama’s Undeniable Foreign Policy Successes
By Peter Galuszka You can say what you want about embattled President Barack Obama, but the fact is that he’s had a number of foreign policy successes. Here are a few: After years of failure, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was finally surrounded and killed by U.S. special forces — something the Bush Administration…
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Occupying Richmond
by Norm Leahy On or about October 15th, the “Occupy [insert city name]” phenomenon intends to make its Richmond debut. The nascent group has quite a large Facebook presence — larger than what the tea parties were able to muster at their height back in 2009 — and reading through the postings provides an education…
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Wilder’s Last Hurrah?
By Peter Galuszka Doug Wilder has always marched to a different drummer. A major force in Virginia politics, he became the state’s first black state senator in 1969, the first black lieutenant governor in 1985 and then the nation’s first elected black governor in 1989. In the last post, he defied fellow Democrats by slashing…
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Kaine leaps into the Ponzi Pool
By Norm Leahy I don’t begrudge Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine’s desire to stir-up the base with this meeting, or forum, if you prefer, on Social Security. It is amusing, though, to read the quote Wes Hester pulled from the Kaine campaign’s press release announcing the event: A release from Kaine’s campaign announcing the Tuesday…
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Virginia Reform, Kremlin-style
By Peter Galuszka What is it about Virginia’s Republicans and secrecy? Gov. Bob McDonnell has stirred the cackles of open government advocates and Democrats by keeping private “working groups” of his Governor’s Commission on Government Reform, one of his signature programs. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader and overnight budget hawk, has raised…