Virginia's Dems win a squeaker
On Tuesday, January 12, somewhere in Richmond, Tim Kaine breathed a very shallow sigh of relief.
Virginia politicians were just too darn easy to lampoon in 2009
Well, here we are, poised at the starting gate of another fantabulous year.
The Salahis aren't the only ones
You know, sometimes a story comes along that’s just so exquisitely absurd that it feels like someone has secretly fitted us with electrodes during the night and recorded the most outrageous of our feverish political dreams. “I was honored to be invited to attend the First State Dinner hosted by President Obama & the First [...]
The Republican Party of Virginia sharpens its claws
Remember, kids: Political momentum, like Parcheesi leads and poker hands, can turn on a dime. Even the most irreversible-seeming trend can evaporate overnight, given the right combination of party complacency, candidate incompetence and voter disgust. Tea Party Patriots, as they call themselves, threatened to burn Tom Perriello, seen here at an August 11 town hall [...]
The winners are losers
Believe us when we tell you this: Even the most pessimistic member of Creigh Deeds’ beleaguered campaign staff didn’t think it was going to be this bad.
Odd prediction: Governor McDonnell
Well, here we sit, just a week away from Election Day, and things are certainly not looking up for the good ol’ boy from Bath, Creigh Deeds.
Creigh Deeds crawls toward the finish line
There’s little doubt that would-be governor Creigh Deeds is currently stuck between Barack and a hard place. Long known as a genial, gun-lovin’ Democrat, Deeds has been forced to fight his current battle against Bob McDonnell—a slick, well-coiffed conservative Ken doll—well outside his comfort zone. Consider this: In their previous match-up, a hard-fought 2005 campaign [...]
Congressman Eric Cantor mouths off
Suffice it to say that this will not go down as Rep. Eric Cantor’s finest moment. Appearing at Richmond Times-Dispatch “Public Square” healthcare forum, Virginia’s most-photographed congressman was confronted by a Virginia voter with an all-too-common tale of woe: One of her relatives had recently lost her job and her insurance, leaving her without the [...]
McDonnell, Deeds and…Bacon?
We know it’s hard to believe, but there was once a time—way back when polling places had hitching posts and no legislative chamber was considered complete without a spittoon—that political races were completely ignored before Labor Day. No, really—there were no early opinion polls, no third-party attack ads, no nothin’! In fact, a fellow could [...]
A sex-free Virginia political scandal?
You know, we spend all kinds of time poking and prodding into the seamy, unsavory corners of Virginia’s political basement, so you can trust us on this one
Beyond the fringe
All right, we might as well state our position up front, so that anyone who disagrees with us can throw the paper down in disgust right now: It is the official position of the Odd Dominion that President Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii, the 50th star on the United States flag, on August [...]
From the ballot box to the bullet box
Even for left-leaning liberal media pantywaists such as ourselves, one thing simply cannot be denied:
Virginia Republicans look to 2009…and beyond
If there’s one thing that we love about Virginia’s odd-year election cycle, it’s that it stretches the already interminable political season into near-perpetuity,
Pain, Fears and Insects; Fugue in Cow Minor; Baby Opaque; BabyOpaque.com
O.K., I admit it—I still owe Michael Dean 20 bucks. See, way back in the misty, mohawked recesses of time (like, 1984), when I was but a wee, dog collar-sportin’ Downtown Mall rat, Dean was the lead singer of Baby Opaque, the hands-down best band in Charlottesville at the time (sorry, Indecision fanatics). A completely [...]
Creigh flees—and after all we’ve done for him!
It’s a tale as old as time: Politician, down on his luck, shacks up with a nice, unassuming little municipality.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s a-VA gubernatorial primary voting we do go
Mmmm, can you smell that? Yes, dear readers, that delightful effluvia of half-punched chads and grease-smeared touchscreens can mean one thing and one thing only: It’s election day! And not just any election day, either — we’re talking about the sort of seismic, epoch-defining, life-changing face-off that comes along but once in a generation. Yes, [...]
Is this where once-great political parties go to die?
Lenin returning triumphantly to Finland Station. Napoleon plotting his phoenix-like second act from the Isle of Elba.
Virginia politics must be over-stimulated
If you’re anything like us (and honestly, our condolences if you are), you probably spend way too much time following the vagaries and vicissitudes of Virginia’s preening political class. And if you’ve been watching closely over the past few weeks — while completely ignoring that insignificant little thing we call real life—you could be excused [...]
The mysteries of Shad Planking revealed
Don’t ask us why, but it cannot be denied that greasy, indigestible foodstuffs and electoral politics fit together like William Howard Taft and his seven-foot presidential tub.
In politics, as in life, it’s all about the Benjamins
By funneling his sea of cash into his organization, The Macker (i.e. Terry McAuliffe) secured the top spot on the Democratic gubernatorial primary ballot. It’s certainly no coincidence that so many hackneyed political catchphrases have a decidedly financial slant. From “dialing for dollars” to “the buck stops here,” there’s not a single part of [...]
Old McDonnell flies below the radar
You know, when it comes to politics, sometimes it’s good to be invisible. Sure, most elected officials dream of having Barack Obama’s charisma, JFK’s sex appeal, Hillary Clinton’s smarts and Ronald Reagan’s hair—but then, most of them also dream of being president, and we all know how often that fantasy ends in tears. But the [...]
Virginia GOP + technology = high comedy
You would think that, following the notorious e-mail escapades of page-pawing Congress-creep Mark Foley (a scandal which featured our all-time favorite non-carpentry-related use of the phrase “get a ruler and measure it for me”), Republicans would be at least slightly circumspect when using (and abusing) these newfangled intertube technologies. But, with the national GOP currently [...]
Cantor leads GOP attempt to steal prom-king crown
There’s an old joke among political journalists that Washington, D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people. To that delightful adage, we would like to add our own observation that it’s also like the world’s biggest high school, only with the exalted position usually reserved for the football team given instead to the debate club. Republican Rep. [...]
Cringe-inducing Cantor, Connolly and Moran
Look, we know that Thomas Jefferson set a pretty high bar, oratory-wise, for Virginia’s vote-chasers. And so we certainly don’t expect every single utterance from our elected officials to reach the prosaic level of the Declaration of Independence (or even “A Summary View of the Rights of British America”). But come on, people! Whatever proud [...]
Where there’s smoke…
You remember November 2008, right? That magical time of hope and rejoicing for Virginia’s once-beleaguered Democrats, who rode a wave of Obama-inspired optimism to record gains,
Gaffe it up
Well, here we are again at the squeaky-clean beginning of another political season, with an
