Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th) has just returned from his third trip to Iraq, and he shares his thoughts in the Washington Post this morning. Things in Iraq are not as good as I had hoped they would be by now, but—despite the constantly-negative media reports about terrorism and insurgency—things have been steadily improving.
Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 2005
In the race for Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, moderate Republican Jerry Kilgore is pitted against moderate Democrat Tim Kaine and independent candidate Russ Potts (a Republican running without party support). A strange clause in the Constitution of Virginia which prohibits consecutive terms for governors frees incumbent Governor Mark Warner (D) to pursue his supposed 2008 presidential ambitions.
Virginia Statewide Offices (Lt. Governor, Atty. General), 2005
Lieutenant Governor
For the second-highest office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Senator Bill Bolling (R-VA 4th) from the south is up against former Senator Leslie Byrne (D-VA 34th) from the north. I mention regions only because Byrne is the only Northern Virginian running for any state-level office.
Virginia House of Delegates, 35th District, 2005
Incumbent first-term Democratic Del. Steve Shannon (VA 35th) is up against Republican challenger Jim Hyland for the 35th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. The 35th district includes the Town of Vienna and part of Fairfax County (including Oakton and Dunn Loring).
Fairfax County Bond Referendum, 2005
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is a very large school system. Sporting over 164,000 enrolled students, it is the largest system in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the twelfth largest in the United States. FCPS has over 200 schools—136 elementary, 22 middle, 4 secondary, 24 high, and 12 special education centers. The system has nearly 22,000 employees, 1,500 school busses, and (for FY2006) an operating budget of nearly 2 billion dollars.
Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.