Staff Bios
William C. Flook
This job allows me to immerse myself equally in local and state government, and to chronicle the Old Dominion's ever-shifting political landscape.
Follow The Examiner
Election emboldens GOP against Democrat-controlled Va. Senate
Published: Nov 05, 2009
RICHMOND - Tuesday's election marks a dramatic power shift in Richmond, pitting an emboldened Republican House majority and governor against a Democratic Party whose hold on the Virginia Senate will be continually under siege over the next few years.
The upper chamber is now the only entity preventing the Republicans from taking complete control of state policymaking, and Republican gains on Tuesday will put them on the offense in January -- when Bob McDonnell enters the governor's mansion and the General Assembly convenes with at least five new Republican delegates.
McDonnell, a former state attorney general and delegate, is expected to closely align with the House on policy matters....
Continued...
McDonnell leads Republican revival in Virginia
Published: Nov 04, 2009
RICHMOND - Virginia voters overwhelmingly elected Republican Bob McDonnell as their next governor on Tuesday, part of a clean sweep for the GOP that halts nearly a decade of Democratic gains in the state.
McDonnell -- a former state attorney general and a staunch conservative -- overcame rural Democratic legislator Creigh Deeds by about 20 points, an even wider margin than projected by polls. The victory marks the first time a Republican has won election as the state's top executive in a dozen years.
In a light turnout for the off-year election, McDonnell won with more than 1 million votes, according to unofficial totals. He benefited especially from a strong showing in the heavily...
Continued...
Steady stream of voters head to Northern Virginia polls
Published: Nov 03, 2009
RICHMOND - Polling places across Virginia saw steady -- but far from overwhelming -- voter turnout Tuesday morning, typical for an off-year election day but nevertheless a jarring come-down from last year's surge in voting.
Republicans were showing up alongside Democrats at Northern Virginia precincts, which augers poorly for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds. Deeds needs a big advantage in the heavily Democratic Washington suburbs to pull off what would be an upset victory over Republican nominee Bob McDonnell.
"I was surprised this year that the Republicans fielded a candidate who appealed to Northern Virginia and locked up the rural parts of the state," said...
Continued...
No signs of 2008 boom in Virginia turnout
Published: Nov 03, 2009
Virginia elections officials reported a few hiccups at polls, but nothing big so far. And they’re hinting at a surge-free election day.
A handful of the over 2,300 polling places opened later than the scheduled 6 a.m. start, and some voters found themselves competing with buses for parking spots at schools – which remain open today, State Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues said during a news briefing.
If absentee ballots are any indication, turnout is going to resemble the 2005 numbers far more closely than 2008. For the last gubernatorial election, which had 45 percent turnout, 75,982 Virginians voted absentee.
Rodrigues said 120,916 absentee application have...
Continued...
McDonnell reaches out to female voters
Published: Oct 14, 2009
Bob McDonnell reached out to women Tuesday as polls suggest female voters -- a constituency that once appeared to be tilting away from the Republican gubernatorial candidate -- are now split between the Republican and Democratic tickets.
McDonnell held a campaign rally in Vienna with Sheila Johnson, the multimillionaire BET co-founder and longtime Democratic supporter, appealing directly to potential crossover voters in Northern Virginia.
While reminding the small crowd of her support of Gov. Tim Kaine in 2005 and President Obama in 2008, Johnson said she wouldn't "let anyone intimidate me because I crossed party lines" by supporting McDonnell.
Johnson recently drew criticism...
Continued...
Virginia Democrats desert Deeds
Published: Oct 11, 2009
Democratic candidates for Virginia's House are subtly distancing themselves from Creigh Deeds' struggling bid for governor as the top of their ticket faces mounting troubles.
While not denouncing Deeds or supporting his Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell, down-ballot Democrats are downplaying the importance of the marquee race's outcome and emphasizing themselves as self-contained candidates.
"They're starting to distance themselves from Creigh," said Ben Tribbett, who runs the popular liberal blog Not Larry Sabato. "You can hear the House candidates at debates highlighting endorsements that Creigh didn't get ... you're starting to see the Democratic candidates...
Continued...
Obama political operation tries to refute reported withdrawal from Va. governor's race
Published: Oct 07, 2009
President Obama’s political arm is looking to mobilize Virginia Democrats on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, an apparent reaction to reports of the White House cutting its losses on the governor’s race.
The mass e-mail from Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart is conspicuously timed with a Wall Street Journal article suggesting the White House -- unwilling to invest more in a candidate so far behind in the polls -- would back away from the Virginia race.
Stewart praised Deeds as a pragmatic consensus-builder, while reminding supporters of Republican candidate Bob McDonnell’s 20-year-old master’s thesis criticizing working women, gays and...
Continued...
In final act, Deeds expected to shift course
Published: Oct 07, 2009
Virginia Democrats see Creigh Deeds -- who spent recent weeks trying to kneecap his Republican opponent -- switching the focus of his campaign to a much-needed positive message in the last month of the governor's race.
Some are urging Deeds to move faster in making the case for himself. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., openly urged Deeds at a campaign event to ignore campaign consultants and begin running positive ads.
That any campaign will turn positive in the run-up to Election Day is par for the course. But political observers say the success of Deeds, a rural state senator trailing badly in the polls, will be particularly dependent on his ability to convince voters of his own candidacy and...
Continued...
Wilder withholds Deeds endorsement; cites gun laws, tax hikes
Published: Sep 24, 2009
Doug Wilder, the first elected black governor in U.S. history, will make no endorsement in the 2009 Virginia governor’s race despite pressure from theWhite House and the Kaine administration to back Democrat Creigh Deeds.
Wilder, who had backed Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in the 2001 and 2005 gubernatorial races, based his non-endorsement largely on Deeds opposition to the “one-handgun-a-month” rule.
“Mr. Deeds thinks that's not enough and signed a pledge to repeal that law,” Wilder wrote in a statement.
Deeds, too, has said he would support a tax increase to pay for transportation. Said Wilder: “This is not the time in our Commonwealth to...
Continued...
Connolly seeks to overcome health care skepticism
Published: Aug 26, 2009
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly on Tuesday told hundreds of Northern Virginia seniors he would oppose any health care measure that "in any way, shape or form does any harm to Medicare," as he sought to allay criticism of an expanded government health care program.
For the freshman Democrat, the town hall at Springfield's Greenspring Retirement Community was a chance to speak directly to an influential -- but skeptical -- voter bloc on the need for health care reform.
The crowd of more than 400 -- made up largely of highly educated, white-collar retirees -- showed little of the outsized rage seen at other town hall meetings. Many, however, expressed concern over how a public health...
Continued...
Biden heads to Va. to back stimulus, Deeds
Published: Jul 17, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden ventured into the Old Dominion on Thursday to fundraise for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Creigh Deeds, the first in what is expected to be numerous Obama administration assists on the Virginia campaign trail.
Continued...
Bob McDonnell tries to make it personal with Virginians
Published: Jul 05, 2009
When Mitt Romney was in Richmond a month ago to stump for newly minted GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, they made a well-coifed, perfectly pinstriped pair on stage.
But Romney’s own experiences provide a cautionary note for McDonnell’s candidacy: The appearance of perfection can be a political liability.
Romney had a resume tailored for a presidential contender. And his square jaw, flawless family, and patrician bearing made him the top contender to knock off front-runner John McCain for the 2008 Republican nomination. But Romney ultimately struggled to connect with voters while gruff McCain and homespun Mike Huckabee found traction.
McDonnell seems similarly...
Continued...
Weight of national expectations on McDonnell’s shoulders
Published: Jul 05, 2009
Bob McDonnell could be forgiven for feeling like Atlas.
McDonnell has found himself running both a national and statewide campaign, with a task that extends beyond reversing a bruising trend for the Virginia Republican Party by claiming the governor’s mansion. Fairly or not, he’s been tasked with lifting the entire Republican brand out of the mud.
But McDonnell doesn’t seem to mind the weight on his shoulders.
“I certainly would like to be instrumental in helping to facilitate the resurgence of the conservative cause and demonstrating that our principles of limited government are best for all citizens,” McDonnell said. “I actually welcome...
Continued...
Creigh Deeds wins Va. Dem gubernatorial primary
Published: Jun 10, 2009
Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds, a rural moderate who was once widely counted out of the Democratic governor’s primary race, rode a surge late in the race to clinch his party’s nomination Tuesday night with 49 percent of the vote.
A Deeds blowout would have sounded impossible a month ago. The Bath County legislator had been outfinanced, trailed in polls and been almost forgotten as his two opponents — former Del. Brian Moran and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe — battled each other.
Instead, Deeds appeared the beneficiary of their sniping. He shined where he wasn’t supposed to, winning in the suburban Washington counties of Arlington...
Continued...
Virginia speaker doubts House takeover by Dems
Published: May 26, 2009
Virginia’s highest-ranking Republican lawmaker doesn’t plan on handing the gavel to the opposition anytime soon.
The House of Delegates is the last bastion of Republican majority in Virginia, and Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, sees little chance of it falling.
The state GOP in recent elections has turned over the state Senate, both its U.S. Senate seats, its majority-Republican congressional delegation and even its Electoral College votes, which in November chose a Democratic president for the first time in four decades.
Six seats need to change hands in the 100-member lower chamber to switch party control, with all seats up for election in November. Virginia Democrats...
Continued...
Attacks center on McAuliffe in final gubernatorial debate
Published: May 20, 2009
Terry McAuliffe’s two Democratic rivals worked to drag him off message at the last debate of Virginia’s gubernatorial primary season with questions on his campaign promises, fundraising and business background.
McAuliffe’s chief antagonist, former Del. Brian Moran, unleashed an especially barbed review of his personal history, painting the former Democratic National Committee chairman as too tainted to serve as Virginia’s chief executive.
The attacks, however, appeared to be a tacit acknowledgment that McAuliffe, flush with cash and fresh off a round of national endorsements, has begun to run away with the nomination with only weeks until the June 9...
Continued...
