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(To be clear, that is a relatively low bar. Republicans went into the political wilderness in a major way following Bush's re-election as he grew increasingly less popular and it became increasingly more clear that the party was either unable or unwilling to break with the chief executive in any major way. Polls suggest that the Republican brand remains badly damaged in the eyes of the American public with most people still trusting Obama far more than Republicans in Congress to solve the major issues of the day.) With 2010 right around the corner, there is significant movement in this...

CEDAR CREEK, Tex. –After four years of grappling with how to appeal to voters, a group of top Republicans believe they’ve found a winning formula for 2010. Call it the McDonnell Strategy. The shorthand: run on economic policy, downplay divisive cultural issues, present an upbeat tone, target independent voters and focus on Democratic-controlled Washington—all without attacking President Barack Obama personally. It’s an approach that elected Bob McDonnell to the Virginia governorship earlier this month. While Republicans posted two hard-fought gubernatorial victories on Nov. 3, McDonnell’s path to victory is the one that most encourages the GOP, a remarkable case of...

AUSTIN – Here's what I did not hear at the annual confab of Republican governors held here this week: The words socialist, extremist, or government takeover. With the focus on jobs, jobs and jobs, the only red meat was the Texas barbecue. And by design, there was no Obama-bashing. [snip] Barbour cautioned Republican candidates to refrain from attacking the president, period: "People want the president to succeed; good Lord, they want the country to succeed, and particularly the first African-American president has a lot of goodwill. . . . We need to be careful, we need to treat the president...

RICHMOND | Civil rights organizations are asking Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to sign an executive order restoring the rights of nearly 300,000 felons before he leaves office in January. Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that permanently strip felons of their civil rights, such as voting, serving on juries or holding public office. In Virginia, the power to restore those rights lies solely with the governor. Mr. Kaine has restored rights to more than 4,000, felons, a greater number than under any other Virginia governor. He and former Gov. Mark Warner, a fellow Democrat, restored more altogether than...

Thrilled with twin victories this month, Republican governors are looking to lead a party-wide resurgence in 2010 and shape the GOP for years to come. Republicans boast of a strong crop of gubernatorial candidates who could be future party leaders, $25 million in the bank a year before the elections and a difficult environment for Democrats, particularly in financially ailing swing-voting states like Ohio and Iowa. "Next year's going to be a good year for Republican governors," predicted Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor and chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "In states where there are Republican governors, people can see if...

Suburban Democrats are bracing to defend their recent gains amid unmistakable signs of volatility among an electorate that is impatient with the pace of economic recovery. Their concerns are coming into sharp focus amid ongoing developments in Nassau County, N.Y., where County Executive Tom Suozzi, a rising star in New York politics and a prominent suburban Democratic politician, might lose his seat in a recount. Suozzi’s predicament comes on the heels of other troubling developments in some of the nation’s largest suburban counties, including nearby Democratic Westchester County, where voters tossed out County Executive Andrew Spano in a startling...

Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage. Following serious setbacks with independents in off-year elections earlier this month, White House officials attributed the defeats to local factors and said President Barack Obama sees no need to reposition his own image or the Democratic message. Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents—the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are...

If you were watching television on Tuesday night as the election returns came in showing Republicans capturing the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, you probably missed seeing the biggest losers of the evening. You may have caught the concession speech of Creigh Deeds, who ran 12% behind Barack Obama's winning percentage of the vote in Virginia, and that of Jon Corzine who, after spending over $100 million of his own money on three campaigns, ran 13% behind Obama's winning percentage in New Jersey and got evicted from Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton. But you missed seeing the guy...

A $200 million genetic research facility planned for Fairfax County could bring with it thousands of jobs over the next decade and spur spinoff businesses that would focus on the fast-growing field of personalized medicine, Virginia officials and researchers said Monday as they announced the move. Enticed by millions of dollars in tax breaks and a location close to universities and federal agencies, officials with the Ignite Institute for Individualized Health, a nonprofit organization specializing in DNA research, announced that the center's facility would be in a 300,000-square-foot campus in the Northern Virginia suburb. A location has not been selected....

Virginia Muslims are calling on McDonnell (R) to disavow comments made by the Virginia Beach religious broadcaster last week in response to the shootings at Fort Hood, Tex., in which Robertson asserted that Islam is "not a religion" but a "violent political system" and that those who practice it should be treated like members of a communist or fascist party.

...two Catholic candidates won elections this year to state-wide office without compromising their pro-life, pro-family principles. The world didn't end, and once they are in office, they won't conduct witch hunts against those who disagree with them on these issues - but they will use their office to promote these central values, which transcend any one religion or political party. Catholics aren't pro-life and pro-family, after all, only because the Church tells them to be so, but rather, they are encouraged to hold true to these commonsense principles because of the witness and encouragement of their Catholic faith. You read...

CNSNews.com) – Virginia’s Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R) said that his administration would not participate in a government-run health insurance plan, if one is passed by Congress and signed into law. He also urged other governors to “stand up” against federal proposals if they are not good for their states. McDonnell, who won election on Nov. 3 with 59 percent of the vote, said on the Nov. 8 edition of CNN’s “State of the Union” that a government-run public option would be bad for his recently red state. McDonnell also said that during the campaign he heard concerns from Virginia voters...

Fred Barnes: It's like Jimmy Carter never left town By: Fred Barnes OpEd ContributorNovember 9, 2009 Republican conservatives and moderates are at each other's throats. Tea party populists are furious at President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and aren't crazy about Republicans either. Democrats haven't got a clue. There's talk of a third party. The economy is stagnant as unemployment, now 10.2 percent, climbs. It's beginning to look like the late 1970s.This is good news for Republicans -- extremely good news. Today's struggles between conservatives and moderates are mere skirmishes compared with the titanic intraparty battle touched off by...

Grand Old Partisan Malcolm A. Kline, November 9, 2009 In his acceptance speech, Virginia’s governor-elect, Bob McDonnell, may have quoted the founding fathers more extensively than the last four U. S. presidents combined have in their entire political careers. But then, he also may have made more such references than many teachers do in their working lifetimes. Among pedagogues, a notable exception to this trend is Colleen A. Sheehan, author of James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government. “Our core of self –government has been on the wane for a century and grows weaker every day,” Sheehan told an...

Last Tuesday’s election in Virginia has been reported by some as a vote of no confidence in the Obama administration. Maybe it was – but a closer look indicates that seven of the nine incumbents who lost were caught flat footed on gun rights. . . . Philip Van Cleave, President of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. feels that "the results show that this election was open season on anti-gun incumbents. The antis have lost at least five reliable anti-gun votes in the already pro-gun House of Delegates, and their perennial bill to restrict private firearm sales at gun...

November 8 Megan Whittemore McDonnell's Winning Strategy Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell seems to have found a winning formula for unifying his party and delivering a clear message. During the campaign McDonnell focused on jobs, the economy, transportation and education while staying positive. "We kept it overwhelmingly positive, giving people an uplifting alternative for the future," McDonnell told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday. "We, I think, tapped into some of the sentiment at the national level on the issues of card check, cap and trade, and some under-funded mandates and things like that that were not resonating well with Virginia...

The Talk Shows Sunday, November 8th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell; Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent; Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Govs. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.THIS WEEK (ABC): Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine and Republican National Chairman Michael Steele; Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Army chief of staff Casey; Virginia...

Why won't we nominate one of the most conservative leaders with proven electability on the GOP ticket in 2012? Sure, it will only be an year and a half in the Governor's chair. But, who cares. Obama was only in the Senate an year and a half before he ran. Bob McDonnell gave Obama (and his puppet) a thumping in a key state. He is a social conservative as well and has shown the road to win key elections.

A New Grassroots Political Organization Makes Its Mark by Deal W. Hudson    11/06/09 The election results of November 2 were not merely the spontaneous reaction of Republicans to the bad economy and liberal excesses of the Obama administration. The four pro-life, conservative GOP candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were elected in a groundswell of religious and social conservatives, many of them independent voters who had voted for Obama only a year ago. A new grassroots organization played a major role in getting these voters to the polls -- the Faith & Freedom Coalition was founded by Ralph...

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Despite the best efforts of the White House and much of the media to portray this week’s elections as a meaningless barometer of the public’s mood toward the Obama administration, the results were clear. The voters were communicating buyers’ remorse. One year after reaching its zenith, the Democratic Party is now grappling with what could be the beginning of the end of the Obama era. In Virginia, former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a solid pro-family, pro-life conservative, won a landslide victory, as did down-ticket conservative candidates. Repeated Obama visits to his own backyard did...

The Lesson of Bob McDonnellby Charlie SpieringA week before the election, Virginia candidate for governor Bob McDonnell was asked in a radio interview if he would veto state funding for Planned Parenthood.“We shouldn't be doing that (funding Planned Parenthood) in Virginia,” answered O’Donnell. “That's common sense I think, and that will be part of what we get done.”Pro-choice activists were furious and quick to condemn his remarks. To them it was one more reason why McDonnell was “out of step and out of touch with voters.” But McDonnell, with his common sense approach to politics, proved that you can still...

Tuesday, Bob McDonnell was elected to serve as the 71st Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, defeating state Sen. Creigh Deeds by a margin of 59 – 41 percent. By comparison, President Barack Obama received 53 percent of the vote for in 2008. Sen. Deeds had made clear during the campaign his willingness to raise taxes. On September 23, in a Washington Post Op-Ed entitled “My Transportation Plan”, Deeds said, “As a legislator, I have voted for a number of mechanisms to fund transportation, including a gas tax. And I’ll sign a bipartisan bill with a dedicated funding mechanism for...

As Santayana said, "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." Congressional Democrats take note! Are the elections of 2009 precursors of the same kind of massive partisan upheaval in Congress that we experienced in 1994? The historical data says yes, they are. In Virginia, the outcomes in 1993 and 2009 were almost identical. In 1993, after the Democratic incumbent, Doug Wilder, could not seek re-election, the governor's race pitted Republican George Allen against Democrat Mary Sue Terry. Allen won handily, 58 to 41 — virtually the same margin by which McDonnell defeated Deeds this week. And...

In Ohio, citizens marched to the polls on Tuesday and voted to allow gambling casinos in the state. This was obviously a message to President Obama that independent voters are not happy with the way the health care bill is going. Really, I don’t see how else you can interpret it. Ohioans were looking forward to the lower insurance costs that would come with a robust public option, and if the president can’t deliver, they’re planning to pay their future medical bills with their winnings at the roulette wheel. Also, people here in Cincinnati rejected a proposal that would have...

Democrats have some thinking to do after Tuesday's elections, but Republicans don't have time to think. They're too busy trying to survive the party's internal purge and avoid being shipped off to political Siberia. Will loyal members inform on others for harboring suspiciously moderate views? Will anyone judged guilty have to wear a sign saying "Republican In Name Only" as penance? Will there be re-education camps? Will deviationists face the Enhanced Interrogation Technique of being forced to listen to the wit and wisdom of Glenn Beck, at ear-splitting volume, for days on end? Or worse: When Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going...

Dear xxxx xxxxxx, The elections held Tuesday should open all of our eyes. Please meet the new Governor of Virginia: [The] " dynamic new trend of working women and feminists ... is ultimately detrimental to the family." You read that right -- the new Governor of Virginia thinks working women are "detrimental" to the family. If you're scared that it might get worse in 2010 -- and you should be -- well, I have a way you can help fight these right-wing extremists who'd like to take over our government. NOW is committed to making sure women's voices are heard...

WASHINGTON -- What strikes me about politics over the past couple of years is how obvious it all has been. In 2008, as the junior senator from Illinois campaigned across the country, demonstrating his gifts as a motivational speaker and community organizer, all one had to do was review his recent life to know that he was about to bring down on the country -- ever so incompetently -- the most left-wing government in American history. And so he has -- with the utmost incompetence. Think of the paucity of swine flu vaccine, in large part the consequence of his...

WASHINGTON -- Bob McDonnell's decisive victory is even more impressive if one stops to acknowledge that it came in the face of incredibly daunting opposition, misleading and low-brow campaign commercials, and a "news" organization which often advocates for left-of-center candidates and causes. To win the election, McDonnell had to defeat not only the Deeds campaign, but the DNC, the White House, and The Washington Post. Lest we forget, this is not the first time this "take no prisoners" strategy was employed by the Democrats and The Washington Post against a Virginia Republican. In fact, three years ago, not only was...

As the final votes were being counted, it was possible to draw some lessons from Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia and the close, three-way governor's race in New Jersey, never mind that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has taken to saying that the elections don't mean much. The odd-year elections -- held in the first year of a presidency -- have been meaningful over the last two decades. In 1993, New Jersey voters rejected tax-raising Democratic Gov. James Florio, despite the best efforts of Bill Clinton's consultant James Carville -- a harbinger of the losses congressional Democrats suffered...

In an RV swing through Northern Virginia in late August, there wasn't really time for Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, to stop in West Springfield. But an urgent memo awaited from his senior advisers in Richmond...A 20-year-old academic thesis -- in which McDonnell had presented a deeply conservative vision of government and criticized working women, single mothers and homosexuals -- had surfaced. McDonnell needed to sign off on the campaign's response, and then he needed to race to a rally...That moment brought the greatest test of McDonnell's disciplined campaign. Would he be able to maintain his focus...

Affecting nonchalance, the White House briefed that President Barack Obama would not be watching the results on election night. By the morning after, however, there was little doubt that he was poring over the sobering details. The most ominous aspect of Tuesday's election results for Mr Obama was that huge numbers of the young people and minorities who voted for him a year ago stayed at home while independent voters swung heavily to Republicans. That meant that Democrats lost two Obama states – Virginia by a whopping 18-point margin and New Jersey, a party stronghold where the President himself campaigned...

Our online activists have been very, very busy. Using Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and cell phones, we've been directing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Doug Hoffman and Chris Christie campaigns. We've been calling voters, urging them to vote for conservative candidates. Personally, I've been e-mailing a few acquaintances of mine in the Dede Scozzafava campaign, asking them to convince Scozzafava to drop out of the race. We work behind the scenes, and under the radar. Quietly and effectively, we've been directing support to the conservative candidates in these races. A few months ago, we were working on behalf of...

*break* Bob McDonnell yesterday announced his transition committee leaders, including Tom Farrell, chairman and CEO of the state's largest utility, Dominion Resources. The transition committee also will include Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling; Attorney General Bill Mims; Bobbie Kilberg, president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council; and Kay Coles James, a Cabinet official under Gov. George Allen. *break* James, who served as director for the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush, also is a former dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, where McDonnell received his law degree. *break* He said the...

My Wednesday Examiner column, written as the 2009 election returns were coming in, stands up pretty well. But let me add some observations written as the course of the elections became clearer. First, in the governor elections in Virginia and New Jersey, the Democratic candidate ran far behind Barack Obama’s percentages in 2008 and the Republican candidates ran ahead of George W. Bush’s percentages in 2004. The numbers are pretty daunting. In Virginia Creigh Deeds won 41% of the votes, way behind Barack Obama’s 53% in 2008. And in New Jersey Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine won 45% of the votes,...

President Barack Obama has brushed aside a sharp rebuke at the polls on the first anniversary of his historic election, saying his administration had saved the nation from economic ruin. Just hours after rival Republicans gleefully ousted Democratic candidates in two key gubernatorial races, the White House dismissed suggestions that the results were a referendum on Obama and his policies. Republicans trumpeted Tuesday's victories in New Jersey and Virginia as a conservative comeback one year to the day after Obama vowed before a tumultuous crowd in Chicago that change had come to America. But Obama reminded a school audience in...

ELECTION 2009: CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN! -- MSNBC, Aug. 31, 2009, Keith Olbermann on Robert F. McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor of Virginia: "In [McDonnell's master's thesis], he described women having jobs as detrimental to the family, called legalized use of contraception illogical, pushed to make divorce more difficult, and insisted government should favor married couples over, quote, 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.' Wow. When did he write this? 1875? No, 1989. Wow, 1989. "Goodbye, Mr. McDonnell." -- MSNBC, Sept. 22, 2009, Rachel Maddow also on McDonnell: "And here's where the conservative movement and the Republican establishment smash into each...

There seems to be some misconception by some, especially those on the left, that the big winners in Tuesday's elections in Virginia were moderate Republicans. Let's disabuse them of that notion. The charge is usually stated as a premise in a comment along the lines of "the right wing should not celebrate too much over these results, because had the Virginia guys been conservatives, they never would have won." Then, for the chaser, they throw out the Hoffman loss in NY-23 as the example of what happens to a conservative when he dares to run for office.

RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. Many of the young,...

Most House Democrats tried to put a good face on Tuesday's election results, saying they picked up two more votes for a sweeping health care bill that could be on the floor as early as Friday. But it can't make it any easier for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she works to corral the last holdouts she needs to pass legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system. Of course, the speaker, who told POLITICO recently she's "not big on showing weakness," brushed aside questions about how the Democratic gubernatorial losses in Virginia and New Jersey would impact her final tally...

Lessons from Virginia for the GOP By Ed Gillespie Thursday, November 5, 2009 After losing Virginia's governorship for the first time in eight years, some Democrats are trying to console themselves that Virginia is at its core a "red" state. This ignores not only that they won back-to-back governorships but also that Democrats defeated a sitting senator in 2006, took control of the state Senate in 2007 and won an open Republican Senate seat and three House seats in 2008 while carrying Virginia's electoral college votes for the first time since 1964. Some in the White House are trying to...

Republicans increased their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates in Tuesday's election by picking up at least five seats -- stanching a recent Democratic tide in the state's lower chamber. The GOP also made inroads into a handful of seats representing the Washington suburbs, including the 34th District, comprised of part of Fairfax County. Republican Barbara Comstock defeated Democratic incumbent Margi Vanderhye in the race for that seat by the razor-thin margin of 50.6 percent to 49.2 percent. Meanwhile, Republican Scott Garrett nipped incumbent Democrat Shannon Valentine in Lynchburg, 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent, with the race called by...

On the home page of the Washington Post website this morning, the headline for liberal columnist Ruth Marcus is "Ignore the hype." Inside the newspaper, it's "As Virginia goes, not so much." Marcus advises that this GOP landslide is all some meaningless fairy tale: Advice to readers about the coming orgy of analysis about the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections: Ignore it. Disquisitions on The Meaning of It All for President Obama or the 2009 results as a harbinger for Congress in 2010 have scant basis in reality. Over-interpreting election results is an occupational hazard for political reporters. This...

American voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to Barack Obama by rejecting his allies in Virginia, the swing state that helped deliver him the White House almost exactly a year ago, and the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey. Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate, trounced his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds, for whom Mr Obama had campaigned, by 17 points to become Virginia governor. Republicans also won the races in Virginia for lieutenant governor and attorney general. Governor Jon Corzine, the incumbent Democrat, was defeated by Chris Christie in New Jersey, where no Republican had won state-wide since 1997. It was a...

Barack Obama's Democrats have lost two key state governorships, Virginia and New Jersey, in a stinging blow to the party one year after Obama's historic election as US president. The Republican Party has won two governors' seats in off-year elections, dealing Barack Obama's Democratic Party a significant blow one year after its clean sweep of the White House and Congress. With most votes counted, Republican Chris Christie prevailed over Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey while Bob McDonnell scored an easy victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia. The results are a big setback for Obama, who had campaigned...

When Republican supporters of candidate Robert McDonnell are asked why they voted, a surprising number refer to "he" or "him." The folks at the Chesterbrook polling place in McLean are not talking about McDonnell or his rival, Creigh Deeds, but President Barack Obama. McDonnell voter Christina Hoag, who owns a catering business with about 25 employees, said that she hopes a Republican victory would slow the growth of government and send the message to Democrats that they don't have the mandate in Washington they think they do to remake the economy. "There's anger right now within ourselves, and I think...

In last year's campaign, the one true thing Obama said to his critics was, "The political ground is changing under your feet." But what is not sufficiently recognized is that is going on again, right now, in the opposite direction. That is what yesterday's elections showed. And what yesterday's political earthquake revealed about the landscape is that the biggest miscalculation going on right now is that the Republicans underestimate their own strength. As a result, they may fail to take maximum advantage of the political tsunami that is coming in 2010, just building to what is to come in 2012....

Pro-Life Advocates Win Big on Election Night With Virginia, New Jersey Victories by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com Editor November 3, 2009 Email RSSPrint Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The 2009 off-year elections yielded big victories for the pro-life movement with significant wins in both Virginia and New Jersey. The Virginia election saw pro-life advocates carry each of the three major offices and New jersey will have a pro-life governor for the first time in recent memory.In Virginia, pro-life former Attorney general Bob McDonnell defeated pro-abortion candidate Creigh Deeds by a landslide 59-41 percent margin.Poll consistently showed McDonnell leading Deeds even though Deeds...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...

Most House Democrats tried to put a good face on Tuesday's election results, saying they picked up two more votes for a sweeping health care bill that could be on the floor as early as Friday. But it can't make Speaker Nancy Pelosi's job any easier as she works to corral those last holdouts she needs to approve the bill. Of course, the speaker, who told Politico recently she's "not big on showing weakness," brushed aside questions about how the election results would impact her final tally and instead trumped the two special election wins. "From our perspective we won...

A GOP supporter waved a broom Tuesday at Rivals Sports Bar and Grill after Republicans swept the competitive Albemarle County Board of Supervisors races. Republican Rodney S. Thomas pulled ahead of Democrat David L. Slutzky, the incumbent, taking the Rio District seat. And Duane Snow, a Republican businessman and grandfather of 13, sailed past a Democrat and an independent for the Samuel Miller seat.... Snow said that his commitments include “looking for wastes and inefficiencies. I’m going to listen to the citizens of Albemarle County.” Snow received more votes than Democrat Madison Cummings and independent John Lowry. The Rio victor,...