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And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...

U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye announced Saturday that he will vote no on the House health care reform bill. He cited costs to small businesses and cuts to hospitals as primary reasons the bill will not get his support. Though he says the latest version of the bill does achieve many health care reform goals, he believes it will not reduce the cost of health care for families, taxpayers and small businesses. A provision in the bill that Nye believes could lead to nearly $20 million in cuts for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD) was also grounds for...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning a second anti-health care reform Tea Party at the Capitol -- this one scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday -- approximately the time when the House is due to vote on Democrats' public option bill, POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports. King and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) organized a rally Thursday that drew thousands to the west front of the Capitol, drawing chants of “Kill the Bill.” There were a handful of arrests. “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care,” King said in a news release. “We need the help of...

Virginia Tech this morning confirmed that Fort Hood shooting suspect Nadal Malik Hasan graduated from the university in 1995. Here's the full news release. Virginia Tech has confirmed with the United States Army Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., that the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, once attended Virginia Tech. According to Virginia Tech records, Nidal Malik Hasan first enrolled at Virginia Tech for Summer Session II in 1992, and completed coursework in Spring Semester 1995. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He minored in biology...

New York Daily News SNIPPET: "NEW YORK — El Salvadoran leaders of the MS-13 gang allegedly put out a contract on the federal agent responsible for a crackdown on its New York factions, the Daily News has learned. The brazen plot to assassinate the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was revealed in an arrest warrant for reputed gang member Walter (Duke) Torres. Torres tipped authorities to the plan after he and four other MS-13 members were stopped by NYPD detectives for hassling passersby on Northern Blvd. in Queens last month."

Sure, Election Day 2009 will scare moderate Democrats and make passage of Obamacare more difficult. Sure, it makes it easier for resurgent Republicans to raise money and recruit candidates for 2010. But the most important effect of Tuesday's elections is historical. It demolishes the great realignment myth of 2008...

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...

In the process, they blew the opportunity to send a solid Reaganite to Washington. Now it turns out Dede is a turncoat (so much for party loyalty). Again, the fact that Doug Hoffman, an unknown, lost by only four percentage points clearly demonstrates a shift to the Right—not necessarily to Republicans.

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...

Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial sweep revealed an electorate deeply anxious about jobs, the state of the economy and the wider Obama agenda. We realize we sound like St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, but if the Democratic establishment wants to avoid a repeat in 2010 they'll dump their current ambitions and start over.--snip--Democrats entered this year well positioned to get political credit for a recovering economy, whether or not their policies had much to do with it. Yet a year later their willy-nilly expansion of government is creating fear and uncertainty that are inhibiting the animal spirits crucial to...

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...

Did voters in the elections last night say, "Yes," to "The Party of No?" Were the convincing victories in last night's elections a victory for the Republican Party? And, were they a defeat for President Obama?

Four men accused of planning to kidnap two Roanoke County women and hold them for ransom were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Joshua Kasongo, 19, of Roanoke; Mohammed Hussein Guhad, 19, of Roanoke; Luke Musa Elbino, 19, of Vinton; and Anthony Eugene Muse, 18, of Roanoke are each charged with conspiring to kidnap and attempted kidnapping. Guhad and Muse are students at Patrick Henry High School. Elbino is a student at Virginia Western Community College.

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.

The peoples' Genie spoke yesterday. But will they keep speaking, or will the Genie ease back into the bottle? After watching the cram-down of astronomically expensive legislation and the accompanying explosion in national debt, the people's Genie tipped over the bottle and came out. Then the Genie's people spoke with bold passion at the August town hall meetings. As the fall approached, they kept speaking. They gathered at T.E.A. Party events along nationwide bus tours. They formed a huge crowd in Washington, D.C. on 9/12. They carried homemade signs in civil demonstrations in cities of all sizes across the land....

Just as many of us predicted the Democrat leadership is frantically spinning yesterdays election saying that Virginia and New Jersey are no big deal while NY-23 should....get this....actually reassure bluedog Dem's: Centrist, Blue Dog Democrats should be reassured on their healthcare vote by last night's election, White House senior advisor David Axelrod said Wednesday. Axelrod said that Democrats' victory in New York's 23rd congressional district should reassure Democrats who are concerned about the political ramifications of any vote for the House's health reform bill. Which is hilarity in the extreme. Owens is, as KOS described him in less then glowing...

Voters in New Jersey proved last night that they are way smarter than voters in Pennsylvania, who blew a chance to rid themselves of the odious Jack Murtha last year. The Republicans ran an outstanding candidate, Lt. Col Bill Russell; but Pennsylvanians decided to stick with the traitorous gasbag instead of electing an American hero. New Jersey voters at last, banished Goldman Sachs alum, John Corzine, who ran on a platform of being Obama’s BFF. The Obama- blessed incumbent offered the traditional Democrat vision: higher taxes and corruption on a scale that makes Mayor Daley look downright saintly. Inexplicably, the...

According to White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, the President was busy with other matters last night and wasn't really concerned with election results. Although one would find that hard to believe, in Obama's case it might be true. He has shown a remarkable ability to ignore events that surround him, tea parties, town halls, Afghanistan, to name a few. It's amazing how the Administration can wave off important events effecting the country in the same manner that Obama swatted a fly during an interview. Nonchalantly dismissing anything that doesn't go their way as unimportant. Truth be known, Obama's ego...

And David Plouffe said Obama considered this guy for Vice President

Pro-Life Advocates Excited by Defeat of Abortion Backers in Virginia, New Jersey Washington, DC -- Tuesday night provided a shot in the arm for the pro-life movement following the disheartening loss last year that resulted in the election of pro-abortion President Barack Obama. With victories in New Jersey and Virginia, pro-life candidates dispatched their pro-abortion opponents. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4542.html

WASHINGTON – The White House says that Republican wins in two governors' races were not referendums on the president. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that voters went to the polls in Virginia and New Jersey to work through "very local issues that didn't involve the president." The presidential spokesman said voters were concerned about the economy. "I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion," Gibbs said. By contrast, Gibbs acknowledged that the 2010 midterm congressional elections will be more about the Obama agenda.

I hope that Michael Steele and other GOP "leaders" were paying close atteniton to what happened here in Virginia and in New Jersey: Conservative Values Win In New Jersey And Virginia Governors' Races 84rules November 4, 2009

Previous: George Allen: with 58.3% of the vote, the largest margin (+17.4 points) since Albertis S.Harrison Jr.[Democrat SEGRAGATIONIST] defeated H. Clyde Pearson with a margin of +27.7 points in 1961. McDonnell: 58.64% as of 12:08am https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov/election/DATA/2009/37C2EDEB-FACB-44C1-AF70-05FB616DCD62/UnOfficial/2_s.shtml

The conservative candidates won in the mountains of Virginia by margins that qualify for the descriptor “landslide.” In contested races for the House of Delegates, an incumbent Republican won re-election by almost 2-to-1 and a newcomer unseated a Democratic incumbent by a 15-point margin. The Democratic apologists were quick to point out that Virginia usually elects a Governor from a different party than the Federal-election majority. True — but not by the stunning margin of 18 points rolled up by Bob McDonnell. If the liberal Democrats insist on believing that there is “no message here” . . . well, they...

CHRIS Christie's gutsy win in New Jersey puts the arrogant big spender Jon Corzine in his place. But it is the election in Virginia that probably has more to say to marginal Democratic congressmen considering how to vote on health-care reform. Obviously, Christie's victory is a body blow to Obama after Corzine outspent the Republican by five-to-one and the president put on a serious push for the incumbent. Corzine's defeat sends a message that the nation is moving sharply against Obama. But Virginia results are the most important. More than 80 Democratic congressmen and 20 senators come from states that...

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...

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...

Major Republican victories in two states last night left the fate of President Obama's signature health reforms in doubt and Democrats licking their wounds a year before the 2010 mid-term elections. The defeat of Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine by an estimated five points in the New Jersey governor's race was a serious blow for Mr Obama, who had campaigned intensively for Mr Corzine and urged crowds across the state to turn out for him as they did in the historic White House race a year ago. In Virginia, Republicans won a clean sweep in contests for Governor, Attorney General and...

Washington - Ein Jahr nach dem historischen Wahlsieg von US-Präsident Barack Obama haben dessen Demokraten zwei Niederlagen einstecken müssen. Aus den Gouverneurswahlen in den von Demokraten regierten Bundesstaaten Virginia und New Jersey gingen am Dienstag die republikanischen Bewerber als Sieger hervor, wie US-Medien unter Berufung auf Hochrechnungen berichteten. Die Abstimmungen galten als Stimmungstest für den US-Präsidenten. In Virginia unterlag der demokratische Bewerber Creigh Deeds nach Hochrechnungen mehrerer US-Medien mit 37 Prozent der Stimmen deutlich seinem republikanischen Konkurrenten Bob McDonnell. Dieser eroberte demnach mit 63 Prozent der Stimmen das Gouverneursamt, das bisher der Demokrat Tim Kaine innehatte. Nach Berichten der US-Sender...

At this writing, close to midnight on Election we have a good Idea of the results. The GOP has taken over the state houses in Virginia and New Jersey and they have seen major gains in those states legislatures. Mike Bloomberg was reelected by a whisker and in NY 23 Doug Hoffman has lost to Bill Owens. The talking-heads heads have been talking all night and quite frankly very few of them have it right. To be honest very little of this election was about President Obama, but in the end there will be implications for the POTUS.

Up shot of article (my snap translation):--Obama in a painful situation, because just one year ago, he took these states. Now, tonight, they fell to the Republicans.--It seems that with the election of the 2 Republicans and defeat of Obama, his prized "Health Care" program is in jeopardy.--The results show the sentiment of the American People in those states toward Obama and is a reflection of what might be expected a year from now in the 2010 midterm elections.--Obama had quite a year in Virginia (in 2008), which did not go for a Democrat for President in 44 years, and...

Republicans win Virginia, New Jersey governorshipsReuters | 11/04/2009 12:11 PM WASHINGTON – Republicans rolled to victory in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday in a sharp blow to Democrats that showed the limits of U.S. President Barack Obama's influence. After suffering a one-two punch in those two states, Democrats were trying to salvage a victory over a conservative candidate in a congressional district in upstate New York. The election outcome in Virginia and New Jersey could offer clues on the mood of America a year after Obama was elected president and a year before 2010 congressional elections...

Expect GOP to Pickup 1 to 4 seats in Virginia House of Delegates.

We knew it was going to be a bad election night for the Democrats when former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe announced on NBC's "Today" program that "the results of these elections tend to be overread." Certainly that was not the prevailing opinion in Democratic circles in 2008, when giddiness over Barack Obama's election reached manic proportions. Virginia, which voted Democratic for president for the first time since 1964, was singled out as an indication of the shape of things to come. In 2008, Mr. Plouffe bragged that only Mr. Obama could make Virginia competitive, and when he won the...

VIRGINIAGovernor (69% Reporting) R. Creigh Deeds - Dem (39%) Robert McDonnell - GOP (61%) Lieutenant Governor (68% Reporting) Jody Wagner - Dem (41%) Bill Bolling - GOP (59%) Attorney General (68% Reporting) Stephen Shannon - Dem (40%) Ken Cuccinelli - GOP (60%) House of Delegates - District 1 (Uncontested Race) Terry Kilgore - GOP (N/A) House of Delegates - District 2 (Uncontested Race) Bud Phillips - Dem (N/A) House of Delegates - District 3 (44% Reporting) Will Morefield - GOP (55%)Dan Bowling - Dem (45%) House of Delegates - District 4 (Uncontested Race) Joseph Johnson - Dem (N/A) House of...

WASHINGTON – Republicans wrested political control of Virginia from the Democrats on Tuesday and New Jersey's unpopular Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was fighting for his political life as independent voters swung behind the GOP in both states. It was a troubling sign for President Barack Obama and his party heading into an important midterm election year. Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds was a triumph for a GOP looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008. It also was a setback for the White House in a...

RICHMOND, Va. – Voters cast their ballots Tuesday for a new Virginia governor in a closely watched race that has focused on promises of jobs and critiques of President Barack Obama's policies a year after he won the state. Interviews with voters leaving polling stations in Virginia showed that independents broke heavily for Republican Bob McDonnell, fleeing Democrat R. Creigh Deeds. Independents are considered the crown jewel of elections because they often determine outcomes.

Republican Bob McDonnell leads Virginia gubernatorial election by 67% after one percent of votes returned.

With Republican Bob McDonnell holding a wide lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia race for governor, the former state attorney general could be at the fore of a GOP takeover on Election Day. (snip) Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told Fox News he expects McDonnell to win big -- and usher other Republicans into office along the way. "McDonnell is not only going to win -- he's going to win by a landslide. He's going to pull his entire ticket to victory," he said, predicting GOP gains in the House of Delegates...

Just returned from voting here in my little corner of bright-blue Northern Virginia. Went down to the local elementary school and the poll worker checked my ID. I assumed she was a racist trying that overburdensome disenfranchising trick on me. But alas, I was ready and whipped out my license. I asked about turnout and whether she could compare this year to 2005, the last time we had the post-presidential, off-year elections, and she said it was noticeably heavier. She said there had been a steady stream all day, which was apparently not the case four years ago.

Follow those races here. Report turnout, exit polls etc. as they happen..

At a get-out-the-vote rally in Fairfax County, Moran said: “I mean, if the Republicans were running in Afghanistan, they’d be running on the Taliban ticket as far as I can see.” Moran was talking about Republicans Robert F. McDonnell for governor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and state Sen. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, who is running for attorney general. By some accounts, the three represent the most conservative Republican ticket to run in Virginia in many years. Moran’s comments clearly were aimed to motivate Democratic voters to turn out on Tuesday and vote blue. According to WAMU, McDonnell spokeswoman Crystal Cameron...

Elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York Could Yield Pro-Life Gains Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- The off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York provide the pro-life movement with an opportunity for pro-life gains. They also provide the first chance for voters to sound off on the pro-abortion record President Barack Obama has compiled since taking over the White House. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4533.html

3 Points in 3 Months: VA Gov Contest Polling Ends Just About Where It Began, with GOP Sweep of VA Races: Three months ago, when SurveyUSA began polling on the Virginia Governor race, Republican Bob McDonnell led Democrat Creigh Deeds by 15 points. Today, 3 months and 7 polls later, McDonnell leads by 18 points, essentially unchanged over the last three SurveyUSA releases, and essentially unchanged since late July. Today, it's McDonnell 58%, Deeds 40%, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted for WJLA-TV Washington DC, WDBJ-TV Roanoke, WTVR-TV Richmond, and WJHL-TV in the Tri-Cities. McDonnell has never polled below...

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) – Sarah Palin isn’t staying out of the Virginia governor’s race after all. Less than 48 hours before voters head to the polls to elect a new governor, several Virginians reported receiving robocalls on Sunday from the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, urging them to “vote your values” on Tuesday. But the recording makes no mention of the Bob McDonnell, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who has been reluctant to embrace Palin during the governor’s race, out of fear that she might alienate some of the independent voters who have helped him climb to a healthy lead in...

Bob McDonnell leads Creigh Deeds 56-42 in PPP's final poll of the race. In a finding that may sum up what happened here 63% of voters in the state think McDonnell made a strong case for why he should be Governor while only 34% said the same of Deeds. Even 36% of Deeds' supporters said he hadn't made a good argument for why he should be elected. Beyond that the same themes that have shown throughout the general election show up in the last survey. 61% of McDonnell's voters are 'very excited' to vote on Tuesday while just 14% are...

There will be many attempts at interpreting the election results this coming Tuesday. Some people will look to New Jersey to see how the President's popularity and policies are holding up with the voters. But I believe the most critical outcome will be the results in Virginia because of the message it conveys to Blue-Dog Democrats (the key swing vote in health care, cap & tax, card-check, government spending, and taxes). Every Blue-Dog Democrat will have to consider the following: Obama won Virginia last year with an easy 6+% margin. Creig Deeds (classic Blue-Dog Demo candidate for Governor) in on...

A Mason-Dixon poll reported today in our local newsrag shows Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell maintaining a strong lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds. The poll results have McDonnell up by 12 points, with only 6 per cent of voters undecided. These numbers are almost exactly the same as the aggregate of eight earlier polls analyzed in Friday's report, Virginia Election -- A Hammer And Tongs Finish.

If Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell wins Tuesday, it will almost certainly be with the help of legions of independent voters whose support of Virginia Democrats in recent elections has been integral to their success. (snip) Sixty-one percent of self-described independents in a recent Washington Post poll of likely voters responded that they will cast their ballots for McDonnell, helping him secure a comfortable 11-point advantage over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds. Those unaffiliated voters make up more than one-third of McDonnell's supporters, and in Northern Virginia such voters have responded well to his message about taxes, jobs and the...