Former governor Mark R. Warner (D) will not participate in the only U.S. Senate debate this fall that was to be televised statewide.

Warner's opponent, former governor James S. Gilmore, had agreed to participate in the debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Virginia.

"Mark Warner apparently does not want the people of Virginia to have an opportunity to understand clearly where he stands on the issues,'' Gilmore said in a statement. "I believe the people of Virginia have a right to see and hear candidates for public office discuss the issues."

Warner and Gilmore participated in their first debate last month at the Homestead Resort but it was not televised and only a few hundred people traveled to western Virginia to watch it. The two have agreed to a Sept. 18 debate, sponsored by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, that will be televised locally in Northern Virginia.

In 2005, Richmond lobbyist David Hallock spent weeks pretending to be Jerry W. Kilgore, the Republican nominee for governor, as a way to help Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) prepare for the first gubernatorial debate.

This year, Hallock is back to help his old boss, former Gov. Mark R. Warner.

Hallock, who had been one of Warner's top lawyers, is playing Republican nominee James S. Gilmore III as Warner prepares for his first debate in this year's U.S. Senate debate.

Democrat J. Chapman Petersen, who is seeking to unseat Fairfax state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R) in what is widely viewed as one of the most competitive races in Virginia this year, put the Fairfax Education Association in a tough spot at a candidates forum Sunday at which he claimed that the teacher group endorsed Davis only because she is the incumbent.

"I don't have the FEA endorsement because I'm not an incumbent," Petersen told the audience at Temple Rodef Shalom Sunday morning. "It's funny -- the president of the FEA said, 'I'll come to every single one of your fundraisers, and I'll write you a personal check, but understand that we can't go against an incumbent that meets the minimum score.' Our children deserve better than the minimum score. If I'm elected, you're going to get better than the minimum score."

A standard feature of candidate debates are cue cards, usually held up by an intrepid volunteer stationed in the front row, to tell candidates how much time they have left to speak. Organizers of Thursday's McLean Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum came up with an unusual prod for folks to finish up. After cards reading "1 minute," "30 seconds" and "Time," those still orating saw one that read, "Blah Blah."
Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) liked it so much he asked if he could have it. "Maybe I'll bring it to future debates," he quipped.
Or perhaps bring it to flash at windy constituents in public hearings.

Republican Gary H. Baise says that if elected Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors he would halt the planned Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport unless the elevated segment through Tysons Corner was built below ground.

"My first action would be to stop that project until we get it right," Baise said at a Thursday breakfast forum sponsored by the McLean Chamber of Commerce.

Baise, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gerald E. Connolly, is on record supporting a Tysons tunnel. But this morning's pledge was his most explicit of the campaign on the Dulles project, which he has also criticized for its mushrooming cost, dearth of transparency and lack of competitive bidding on aspects of the contract. His vow drew applause from the audience at the Westin Tysons.

Baise also trashed Dulles Transit Partners, the private construction consortium headed by Bechtel and Washington Group International that would build the 11.6 mile first phase of the project from Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. Bechtel was lead contractor on the notorious "Big Dig" highway project in Boston.

"I don't think these are two companies you can trust with the people' money," Baise said.

It's not completely clear what Baise could do about Dulles rail as chairman. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) heads the project. He could try to pull the county's share of the funding, which is in the form of revenue from a special taxing district comprised of land owners and businesses in the Dulles corridor. But he would need five four other votes on the nine-member board.

With apologies to H.L. Mencken, there are lies, damn lies and debates.
In their series of joint appearances across Fairfax County this fall, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) and challenger Gary H. Baise (R) each rely their own menu of "facts" to animate their basic message. For Connolly, Fairfax is the "envy of the nation," the land of high SAT scores and low crime rates. For Baise, it is county at risk, choking on traffic and profligate government spending.
The casualties are context, nuance and the truth.
Connolly is proud of the crime rate, which in 2006 reached lows not seen since the 1970s. There were about 1700 crimes per 100,000 residents, representing an overall drop of about 6.9 percent over 2005. What he fails to mention is the significant increases in robbery and burglary, up 18.4 percent and 17.6 percent respectively.
SAT scores are another favorite note. The combined verbal and match score of 1108 is nearly 100 points above national averages--- just as they have been for years before Connolly took office in Fairfax. What does he have to do with it, other than sending a large county check to the school district every year? He doesn't say.

Many yearn for more civility in our politics, but few walk the walk like Carey Campbell, Independent Green candidate for the Braddock District seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Campbell begins every candidates' forum and debate by presenting his opponent, incumbent Sharon Bulova (D), with a bouquet of flowers. He also asks the audience to give Bulova, running for her sixth four-year term, a round of applause.

Some Fairfax County Democrats are still buzzing about Gary H. Baise's likening of illegal immigration to the heroin trade at his Sept. 18 Chamber of Commerce debate with Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D).

Fairfax County Supervisor Joan M. DuBois (R-Dranesville) did a bit of inexplicable redistricting at the McLean Citizens Association debate Tuesday night when she placed Tysons Corner in the Hunter Mill District. DuBois, locked in what is regarded as a tight race against Democrat John Foust, was trying to make the point that Dranesville often has little control over development activity in Tysons because none of it is in the district. The she added and that she sometimes has a difficult time "getting the attention" of Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D) on Tysons issues. This would no doubt be true, since nearly all of the mammoth office and commercial center is in Providence District, represented by Linda Q. Smyth (D).

DuBois blanched when informed of the mistake afterward.

"Sorry about that," she said.

Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on Tuesday will announce endorsements from three environmental organizations: the Sierra Club, the Clean Water Action Project, and the Fairfax chapter of the League of Conservation Voters.

Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerry Connolly (D) and Republican challenger Gary Baise could not be preparing more differently for Tuesday afternoon's Chamber of Commerce debate at the Westin Tysons Corner.
Baise, a Republican attorney his first run for public office, said he has been meeting with advisers, studying briefing books and doing mock debates.
"It's just like I'd prepare for a case," said Baise, who mostly defends corporate clients in environmental matters. "I'm reading documents. I always do moot courts. "
And Connolly? Not much, really. The Democratic incumbent, seeking a second term, said the plan is to show up.
"If you don't know it by now, cramming isn't going to help," he said. "I usually just go for a walk in the morning to clear my head."
Baise, who is expected to attack Connolly's record on traffic and transportation policy, trails Connolly by close to a 10-to-1 margin in fundraising. Connolly has raised just over $900,000. But Baise sounded almost hopeful this week, citing private polling that shows him down 16 points but placing Connolly's negatives at more than 40 percent.
"I'm at least within striking distance," Baise said.
Connolly scoffed at Baise's numbers.
"That's quite a poll. I'd call that a wishful thinking poll," he said, adding that his negatives are closer to 14.