Sheriff Bob McCabe

It was nice to see Treasurer Tom Moss back in the Democratic Party. Some may know that due to inside political baseball - Tom ran as an independent in 2005.  It was unfortunate but I did support the Democratic candidate that year against Tom.

That election made alot of Dems feel uncomfortable because many who had supported Tom in the past did not do so in ‘05 because of their loyalty to the party.  I, for one, am glad that Tom has re-filed the necessary paperwork and will be running for re-election  for Treasurer in 2009 as a Democrat!!

It is without hesitation that I lend my support and endorsement to Greg Underwood who has announced his candidacy for the special election for Commonwealth Attorney in Norfolk.

Greg, who is a Deputy C/A presently, is a veteran prosecutor with impeccable credentials to undertake the critical job of being the top prosecutor in Norfolk.  Greg’s temperament, experience and dedication to his profession makes him more than ready to take on this task.

I look forward to working together with Greg to fight crime in our neighborhoods and work to make our schools safe for our kids to learn.  Please make sure to vote for Greg Underwood on March 10, 2009 in the special election for Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney!!

Caught Gov. Arnold this morning with George Stephanopolous.  I have never seen Arnold speak more intelligently and insightful.  The subject was what future does the GOP have to look forward to and more importantly what do they have to do to connect with mainstream USA.

Arnold talked about core values. GOP leaders talk about getting back to the core values of the Republican Party. But he asks “What does that mean?”  How far back do these core values go?  Back to Teddy Roosevelt’s days of when he talked about universal health care?  Back to Eisenhower’s days when he invested billions into infrastructure i.e., the interstate system, bridges, tunnels.

He is right on point!  Today, when the subject is health care and investing in infrastructure the GOP balks as if these are liberal agendas - and - government shouldn’t be funding these items as priorities.

Maybe some in the GOP should really look at their  EARLY roots. It seems that many in the GOP think that there core values started with President Reagan.
Unless Republicans and Democrats come together and work on mutually benefical programs to help ALL citizens then gridlock will continue and nothing gets done.

Maybe there is a reason most independents broke Obama’s way - and republicans!!

Now that the elections are over it is usual for intereste parties on both sides to evaluate what happened - especially those who didn’t come out on the winning side.    

Close to home here in Hampton Roads the 2nd District Congressional race proved to be an upset. Challenger Glenn Nye, a virtual unknown before getting in the race, knocked off the veteran incumbent Thelma Drake.

Although many considered this an upset, many Republicans across the country became victims of Bush’s negative poll numbers.  Some have suggested that the incumbent made some mistakes as well in her campaign.

The negative ads against Nye dealing with his residency in Washington D.C. backfired.  These ads ran before anyone really had caught on to Nye’s campaign.  Drake’s vote against the Sen. Jim Webb sponsored GI Bill could have been the beginning of the end.  Her reason to vote against the Bill (before she eventually voted for it)  was their was too much pork attached to the bill.

John Warner and many Republicans voted for the the original bill and Thelma eventually did after the bill was “cleaned up”.  However, those claims were mostly inside baseball political stuff that the average voter doesn’t care about. Nye did a good job in a political sense of exploiting her original vote against the GI bill. (Kind of like Sen. John Kerry’s “I was for funding the troops before I was against funding the troops”.

Hopefully, Nye will bring a fresh outlook to Washington and focus on the things important to our area. His assurances of being on the Armed Services Committee will serve the area well as it has for his predessessors. Additionally, his strong interest in veteran’s health care (especially those coming back from the current conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan) will be welcomed by so many veterans and their families.

It really has been a national disgrace the lack of quality health care that our heroes are subjected to when they come back.  It is unprecedented the number of mental health issues and psychological and physical trauma our service people have suffered.  It is really a shame that the Bush Administration did not have the foresight to handle this situation.