December 2007

With Del. Steve Shannon (D), a former Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax, being rumored at considering a run for Attorney General in 2009, such a bid would open up his Vienna/Providence/Hunter Mill based seat. While Shannon was largely given a pass in 2007 (the Republican nominee, Arthur Purves, spent less than $10,000), an open seat election would be competitive in a district that Shannon originally won in 2003 with just 51% of the vote.

Who do you see as potential candidates for the seat? On the Democratic side, the obvious choice is popular Providence Supervisor Linda Smyth, who was unopposed for re-election in 2007. Another possibility is Hunter Mill School Board Member Stuart Gibson.

The Republican race is much more in flux. 2003 candidate Bob McDowell, a telecom lawyer, is now serving on the FCC having been appointed by President Bush. His five-year term would expire in 2011. 2005 candidate Jim Hyland is currently the Fairfax County Republican Chairman, itself an struggling organization. While Hyland may consider running for office again, his career would likely be better served by remaining in his current spot, and hopefully finding its way out of the hole its currently in. Repeat candidate and 2007 nominee Arthur Purves, who has run at least a half-dozen times for various offices in Fairfax County, is not a strong candidate. Ed Robinson, who lost the nomination in 2003 2005 to Hyland, is still hanging around, I think. At the very least, his website is still up.

From what I can see, there are no obvious choices, especially with a candidate as strong as Smyth running for the Democrats. However, Vienna and Hunter Mill is the home of the Davis Machine. Certainly someone in that circle would be able to put their name on the ballot, raise a half-million dollars, and make the race competitive.

I’ll open this discussion up to the floor: who do you see running for an open seat in two years, who do you not see running, and who do you think would win?

The shock of the Benazir Bhutto assasination still reverberates, and I fear that Pakistan is headed for civil war and Iraqi-style disintegration. Pakistan is prime example of a geopolitical nightmarish mish-mash of disparate and outright hostile nations, often split with other countries, much like Iraq. The biggest security difference of course is the nuclear component of the Pakistani armed forces.

India is Pakistan’s biggest rival and a shining beacon of democracy in a troubled south centra Asia. Instability in Pakistan is a clear and present danger to an Indian state with its own disparate mix of nations and a sizable Muslim component. Kashmir has been relativley quiet, but will certainly erupt into conflict if Pakistan disintegrates and/or falls into the theocracy trap. India has far exceeded Pakistan in the modernization of its armed forces and will be very tempted to strike preemptively at Pakistan’s nuclear assets should they be on the verge of falling into radical Islamist hands.

India also made the news recently with its suspension of arms sales to Burma, and it continues to play geopolitical games with China. I’ve long been interested in the Himalayan region, and there remain several border clash hotspots between India and China. Of course China is our number one current and future geopolitical adversary.

India is a shining light in this troubled and often dictatorial and inhumane region. The United States needs to move strongly towards India, without fear of further alienating Muslim countries. I frankly do not ever see any chance of a long lasting relationship with the radical Islamists, who certainly seem to be on the rise in the Muslim world.  India will need our support more than ever should Pakistan become Talibanized. We need to start now.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqi-pDhHv9g]

I hope y’all like the new site design. Matt Mahrer designed the new site which I think looks great.

If you click the Share This button below each post you’re now able to e-mail the posts to others.

Thanks again for all of the donors!

Also on a side note….Andy Harrover announced a few days ago that he is not running for Manassas Mayor. I’ll try and do a post about this race in the days ahead.

UPDATE:

Most of your concerns have been fixed and the top banner now links back to the home page.

A few hours ago I hopped on the blogger conference call sponsored by AG Bob McDonnell.

I appreciate the AG reaching out to bloggers and know that Tucker Martin has a lot to do with his embrace of New Media.

He made opening remarks and then took questions.

I asked one on the death penalty.

Vivian Paige has a recap of the call here.

McDonnell is definitey going to have ALOT of friends for his gubernatorial run….

It’s 11:30 PM ET and I am at Huckabee HQ in downtown Des Moines.

Yesterday the Governor went pheasant hunting in Iowa and got some good press out of the event. The Governor flew back in town today from Florida where he raised a boat load of cash. Tonight he spoke to a crowd of over 1,500 in Des Moines and beginning tomorrow A.M. will be heading across the state for votes. Senator Tim Hutchison, First Lady Janet Huckabee, Former Governor David Beasley, and Chuck Norris are among the people coming to Iowa to help the Governor campaign in the next stretch.

Things are getting intense here and things continue to look up for us. A new LA Times/Bloomberg poll out tonight shows the Governor with a commanding lead at 37%. Romney is in second with 23%.

I’ll be on the road alot over the next week blogging on events for the campaign. Keep checking out our national blog here for updates throughout the day.

The more I get to know the Governor I continue to know he is the best man for the job. He’s an incredibly kind man both on and off the cameras and his communication skills are incredible.

Keep your eyes glued to the television for what will be good news over the next few weeks.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all faithful TC readers. What are everyone’s Christmas wishes and/or New Year’s resolutions for Loudoun County?

My most important:

That more citizens become engaged in government and politics.

That Loudoun County Schools get a complete makeover and become a model of efficiency and fiscal prudence.

That the new Board of Supervisors makes my life easier by behaving themselves!

Unfortunately I only see the last one having any real chance of being fulfilled. Share yours.

A week away from the new year, some people prefer to look at the year in review. I prefer to look at next year in review. Without further ado, I present to you, in roughly chronological order, the top ten political events of next year:

1) Despite a push for a total repeal, the abuser fees are scaled back significantly to just cover DUI’s and reckless driving. The novelty of posting sob stories of “victims” of this “draconian law” who just happened to be going 60 MPH in a 35 zone will soon fade, and most people will forget it exists.

2) Governor Kaine’s budget faces significant hurdles in the House of Delegates due to the sources of funding, which include raiding the transportation lockbox, despites promises to the opposite, as well as investing $20K into playing the state lottery, hoping for a Mega-millions jackpot. Kaine compromises on a scaled-back version of his bill, largely eliminating the government-sponsored health insurance he proposed.

3) Austin Roberts (R) narrowly defeats Albert Pollard (D) in a special election in the 99th to take over Congressman Rob Wittman’s old seat in the House of Delegates.

4) Tom Davis announces he is not running for re-election; Tim Hugo and Keith Fimian announce they will seek the GOP nomination to replace him; Hugo cruises to an easy victory. On the Democratic side, Gerry Connolly announces he’ll seek the seat. Doubts about Connolly’s ethics causes him to split the non-moonbat vote with Doug Denneny, allowing Leslie Byrne to come away with an underwhelming victory for the nomination.

5a) Fairfax City holds their general elections in May, much to the surprise of Fairfax residents. Roger Federer (?) is re-elected Mayor. (Since I promised the top ten events, I’ll only count this as half.)

5b) Jim Webb is leaked to be on the short list for VP for Hillary Clinton, but when Clinton officials realize that no one in Virginia really likes Webb that much, and (assuming this conversation takes place in March ’08) that his 23 months total of public service makes his claims of “experience” even more laughable than Hillary’s, they quickly move onto better options. Jim Webb then angrily challenges Mark Penn to an arm-wrestling match; Penn declines, while backing away slowly as if to not make any sudden moves. (more…)

        Â

Last night I had to sit through dinner while my wife played a gag-inducing Hall & Oates Christmas CD. What absolute awful butchery of holiday classics! Of course, at least the songs sung by the real singer in the “duo”, Darryl Hall, were more palatable than the “singing” of John “Bababooey” Oates. There is an inescapable loss of musical gravitas the moment that guy decides to assert himself as a real partner in the “duo”.

Maybe the best example ever of a lopsided musical duo was Simon and Garfunkel. Simon did everything, wrote the songs, and basically took Art along for the ride out of the kindness of his heart, eventually kicking him to the sidelines where he belonged.

For country fans, there is an inescapable parallel in Brooks & Dunn. Just what the hell does that Brooks guy do other than try to look cool and singing doo-wop backing vocals??? ( I have to say at least they have kept themselves less distinct by name than the others – I had to double check to make sure I had the right guy for the right role – Brooks is in fact the loser)

So, for the ultimate in not so dynamic duos (notice the dominant half is always on the left side looking at the photo!):

Â

I can’t help but have the same feeling when I see Bill and Hillary (and of course the dominant duo half is always listed first) in action – the ultimate dysfunctiuonal duo of the political world. For all of his many faults, Bill Clinton is a consumate and skilled politician. Hillary just doesn’t measure up in any appreciable fashion. She is the Oates to the Hall, the Garfunkel to the Simon, and the Brooks to the Dunn, all wrapped up in one unsaleable and unappealling package. Please, national Democrats, select this woman as your nominee!Â

I just got in about an hour ago from Iowa where the weather is cold and the snow is abundant.

Gov. Huckabee is getting huge crowds out there, every event has hundreds. I will return to Iowa through the Caucus on Christmas Day. I hope y’all can check out the Governor’s national blog here. I’ve been uploading some great videos and pictures from the road.

While VA Blogger mentions a McCain/Huckabee ticket…I sure hope that it’s flipped to Huckabee/McCain!

Also-I’ve hired a web designer who’s hard at work on the new TC. Thanks for all of your donations!

Merry Christmas and if any of y’all plan to be in Iowa for the Caucus please shoot me an e-mail at vincent (dot) harris @ explorehuckabee.com