Northern Virginia may have been critical battleground in election

Every discussion of politics in the Old Dominion eventually comes back to Northern Virginia, and numbers show why. Anchored by the state's largest jurisdiction and home to two of the nation's fastest-growing counties, there are nearly 400,000 more voting-age adults in the region than when Allen won in 2000, and they were not kind to his candidacy Tuesday.

Even when he ran in 2000 against a Northern Virginian, former senator Charles S. Robb, Allen lost by only 3 percentage points and 30,000 votes. This year, Webb beat Allen by 116,000 votes and 17 points in the region. About half of that margin came from Fairfax County, the state's biggest place and an important symbol of the change in the state's politics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802578.html

After a bitter race, which will determine what party controls the Senate, where the outcome is still uncertain, and which will turn on a few thousand votes out of a total of over 2 million, don't anyone, ANYONE dare to tell me their vote isn't important and doesn't count.

This was a critical election, and voters in Virginia may have been able to help turn the tide. Thank you, everyone who voted, and extra thanks to those who worked for the candidates and parties--telling people about the issues, getting voters to polls--and to those who staffed polls, making sure that people were able to vote. Democracy works because of you guys!

OK, somehow I had thought this had already been done

President Bush said yesterday that he will review a bill to give District residents full voting rights in the House, marking the first time he has spoken about a measure that local lawmakers are trying to win approval for over the next few weeks.

The bill, introduced six months ago, also would add a congressional seat for Utah. Proponents of D.C. voting rights have waged a major push to get the bill passed this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802407.html

for the techies amongst you (and those who like rabbits)

Making your own PC from parts

another casualty?

Key lawmakers said yesterday they would block the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, all but killing chances for him to remain in the post past December.

For nearly 20 months, President Bush has tried, unsuccessfully, to get Bolton confirmed in a job he has held since August 2005. Bolton then received a recess appointment after not getting enough support in the Senate.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and its presumed chairman when the Democrats take control of the Senate in January, said yesterday that Bolton's nomination is "going nowhere."

"I see no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again in the Foreign Relations Committee because, regardless of what happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full Senate," Biden said in a statement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110901185.html

Let us hope...