Top Ten Virginia political stories of 2010

Virginia Senate candidate Jamie Radtke reacts to federal health-care ruling
Jumping ahead of potential competitors, Virginia tea Party Leader Jamie Radtke this week announced her official entry into the 2012 contest for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Radtke will face a field of rivals that includes former Senator George Allen, Delegate Bob Marshall, and chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors Corey Stewart.  The winner of the GOP primary will probably face Incumbent Democrat Jim Webb, although Webb has not announced his intention ...

Virginia's governor looks over his first year, calls it 'fair'
RICHMOND Gov. Bob McDonnell was all smiles on a breezy day in late March as he stood outside the State Capitol to discuss the prospect of drilling off Virginia's coast. At the time, the venture was seen as the payoff for his dogged pursuit of federal clearance for offshore energy exploration as a way to create new jobs, Tax Revenue and money for roads. But the excitement gave way to disappointment after the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico prompted the Obama Administration to reverse its decis...

Business groups back McDonnell's roads plan
Twenty-six business organizations, including road-building organizations, endorsed Gov. Bob McDonnell's $4 billion transportation plan Wednesday but said it didn't go far enough. "Fully implemented, and prudently invested, the Governor's proposals can add much-needed capacity to Virginia's transportation network, put more people to work and improve our economy," the group, led by the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, said. However, "Virginia's aging infrastructure requires at least ...

Christine O'Donnell, crook
By Michael J.W. Stickings Yes, she's back in the news. Not as a self-aggrandizing liar or an evolution-denying fool or an anti-sex fanatic or a self-aggrandizing liar or an anti-gay bigot or a clueless anti-American theocrat or a self-aggrandizing liar or an anti-Chinese warmonger or a shameless panderer or a moronic and supremely unqualified Candidate for Senate but as a criminal: Defeated Tea Party Candidate Christine...

EPA accepts Va. Chesapeake Bay plan as agency lays out clean-up roadmap
Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin is reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency released detailed steps Wednesday that must be taken by the District of Columbia and six states, including Virginia, by 2025 to help clean up the Chesepeake Bay. Read more from Eilperin here. The 200-page plan from the EPA, which is legally enforceable, comes as the EPA has reviewed plans submitted by states in the Chesapeake watershed this fall. In a statement, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) indi...

Transportation, business groups back McDonnell plan as a first step
A broad consortium of business, transportation and construction groups has endorsed Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to spend $4 billion on roads over the next three years, $2.9 billion of it borrowed money--with the caveat that the plan is merely a down payment on the crumbling transportation system's vast needs. In a joint statement, leaders of the 26 groups--which include the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, the Homebuilders Association of Virginia and chambers of commerce from across the ...

Tea Party, Scott Brown Good for GOP in 2010
Since Robert Schlesinger came up with reasons 2010 was good for Democrats, here are as many reasons why it was a great year for Republicans: [See a slide show of 7 reasons 2010 was good for Republicans.] Scott Brown : The election of Scott Brown to the United States Senate was the political “shot heard around the world.” His emergence was perceived as a sign that Democrats had overplayed their hand and that Americans were rebelling against Big Government. During a debate over the ...

Mark Tapscott: Political elites still don't get the Tea Party
You would think the smartest guys in the room of American politics would have figured out the Tea Party by now, especially after the momentous defeat voters handed them in November. But you would be wrong. Abundant proof was just provided by the opinion page of the New York Times, the utterly predictable voice of the political elite, in an indignant editorial titled "The Repeal Amendment." The Repeal Amendment is a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to enable the legislatures of two-thirds...

Budget Busting
Stan Collender has some deservedly bitter words for the Republicans in Nassau County whose fiscal irresponsibility is putting a rich county into quasi-receivership. He draws some lessons from the situation, not the least of which is that the tea parties have to be as serious about cutting spending as they are about cutting taxes . . . and so far, they haven't been very effective at either advocating, or achieving, the former. 1. A promise to cut taxes by a Candidate for office is not the same as...

George Allen catches a break: Staying ahead of the story
If the Post and the Republicans had been reading Blue Virginia a month ago, they would have seen discussed here what they think now makes news 30 days later. So let's try to give them something to write and talk about in the future when they awaken to the real world of Virginia. Fact: The rise of Ken Cuccinelli has forced a recalibration of Virginia Republican politics. In large measure, you now have BC - before Cuccinelli got to be AG - and AC - after Kenny C and his sunshine band started play...

Virginia gets a Tea Party challenger
(CNN) - The 2012 Senate campaign in Virginia has its first Tea Party Candidate. Jamie Radtke, head of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots, filed federal papers to run for the Republican nomination for Virginia's Senate seat currently held by Democrat Sen. Jim Webb, and Radtke plans to make a formal announcement in January. Radtke said the recent tax deal passed by Congress and increased national spending contributed to her decision to run. "We would be foolish to hope one last time that career...

The Most Interesting Senate Race of 2012? It Might Be Virginia
Chris Greenberg/Bloomberg News; Win McNamee, via Getty Images Former Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia and Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, could face off in a 2012 rematch. Will Virginia be home to the most competitive and politically interesting Senate race in 2012? Already, there are the makings of a blockbuster rematch between Democratic Senator Jim Webb and the man he beat in 2006, Republican George Allen, by only about 9,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast. For Mr...

Historians find Virginia textbooks about as accurate as Fox News
Washington Post: In the version of history being taught in some Virginia classrooms, New Orleans began the 1800s as a bustling U.S. harbor (instead of as a Spanish colonial one). The Confederacy included 12 states (instead of 11). And the United States entered World War I in 1916 (instead of in 1917). These are among the dozens of errors historians have found since Virginia officials ordered a review of textbooks by Five Ponds Press, the publisher responsible for a Controversial claim that Afri...

TEA Party Candidate Files for US Senate for Virginia
The former chairwoman of the Virginia Federation of Tea Party Patriots, Jamie Radtke, will challenge Democrat James Webb for his Virginia U.S. Senate seat in 2012.  She may also face high-profile Republican George Allen. The lame-duck, Deficit-building Congressional Legislation clinched her decision. Radtke is 36 years old. She is credited with tightening the structure of the Richmond Tea Party after taking the presidency in 2009. She holds a master’s degree in pubic policy from the C...

Hits and misses of the year gone by
A sampling of the highs and lows of the year that is ending ... MISS A tidal wave This year began with the financial unraveling of Norfolk's light rail system and the departure of the man in charge. The year ends with The Tide under a cloud, $100 million over its original Budget, its former management accused of hiding trouble and the actual costs. By the summer, the trains should be running; by the winter, perhaps we'll know if that's enough to keep the project on track. It may take considerabl...

20 Democrats and Republicans to watch in 2011
Each year, there tend to be a few politicians that garner a fair share of the political headlines. Some based on their position like President Obama and others based on their comments like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. There are good and bad reasons that elected officials generate those headlines. 2011 will be important in two regards: 1)it will be a year where the results of 2010 will be reviewed and election outcomes will produce legislative consequences and 2) 2011 will set the stage fo...

GOP presidential hopefuls paying attention to Nevada
Nevada was a political afterthought for Republicans in the 2008 Presidential Election. Caucus votes were nonbinding, meaning delegates could change their minds about whom to support, so Candidates focused on other more influential states rather than risk wasting time and money in Nevada. But that strategy seems to be changing, with the state GOP deciding to make caucus votes binding. Now that Nevada can boast real political juice, Republicans toying with the idea of presidential bids are scoping...

House Republicans' new playbook: Constitution
WASHINGTON — When Republicans take over next week, they will do something that apparently never has been done in the 221-year history of the House. They will read the Constitution aloud. They then will require that every bill contain a statement by the author citing the Constitutional Authority to enact the proposed law. Call it the Tea Party-ization of Congress. "It appears that the Republicans have been listening," said Jeff Luecke, a sales supervisor and tea-party organizer in Dubuque...

Californias new primary system will eliminate Republican candidates from ballot
W hen the founders considered the form of government that would replace the English monarchy, two examples of representative government led the lists: Democracy and Republicanism. Reasoning that a representative republic led by informed citizens with a stake in the nation’s well being would be more stable than a direct Democracy subject to volatile emotions of a public fired up over the issue du jour, they opted for the republican form of government. California, in its state constitution, ...

Christine O'Donnell's Campaign Spending Probed
Federal authorities have opened a Criminal Investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell to determine if the former Senate Candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of a client who has been questioned as part of the Probe. The case, which has been assigned to two Federal Prosecutors and two FBI agents in D...

DeMint: Palin Has Done More For GOP Than Anyone Since Reagan
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) had some kind words for another champion of the Far Right in a recent interview with Politico. In assessing the potential field of Candidates for the Republican party's 2012 presidential nomination, DeMint said that Sarah Palin has, "done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan." However, despite the high praise for the half-term Alaska Governor turned conservative commentator, DeMint said he has yet to decide which candidate he'll endorse to repres...

US reportedly looking at O’Donnell funds
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether former Senate Candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware violated federal law by diverting campaign funds for personal use, Law Enforcement sources said yesterday. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleged in September that the Republican used campaign funds for rent, meals, and other personal expenses. O’Donnell stunned the political world that month by riding a wave of Tea Party movement support t...

Radtke files for Senate run
Virginia tea-party Activist Jamie Radtke filed a notice of candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, saying she is worried about the future financial well-being of her three young Children. The Chesterfield County resident is one of several Republicans considering running for the seat held by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. Webb has not said whether he will run again in 2012. Also considering a bid for the Republican nomination are former Gov. George Allen, whom Webb unseated from the Senate in 2006; Del. ...

Va Tea Party activist seeks GOP Senate nomination
Virginia Tea Party Activist Jamie Radtke has filed a notice of candidacy to run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The Chesterfield County resident recently stepped down as chairwoman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots. The Senate seat is held by Democrat Jim Webb, who hasn't said whether he plans to run again in 2012. Radtke told the Richmond Times-Dispatch she plans to make a more formal announcement in January. Other Republicans considering running against Webb include George ...

EPA Moves to Restore Chesapeake Bay
Since the attempts of Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) to protect his big agriculture & tobacco Donors the Chesapeake Bay were flunked, I'm glad to see President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency stepping in to provide a real plan:Shawn M. Garvin, the agency's regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic, described the plan as "the largest Water Pollution strategy plan in the nation" and possibly "number one or number two" in the world. He noted that it will affect "basically every drop of wat...