Politics is getting nasty even at the local level here...

Well, pardon the cliche, but I suppose it has come down to this.

By now, even people living in North Pole, Ak., know about the scandolous mud-slinging in the US Senate race in my home state of Virginia. I actually started to laugh in the floor when I heard that the right-wing drudge report (use of lower case letters is deliberate) actually took passages from Senate James Webb's novels to try and smear him. I do have to wonder- having met the man as a reporter- if Sen. George Allen could write a children's book much less an epic war novel. But, all of this seems highly irrelevant when you consider that Ronald Reagan's last screen-role was as a hit-man in Don Siegel's filmation of Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Killers." Similarly, Gov. Ahnuld (R-Ca) made it big by essentially playing a serial killer in "The Terminator" (1984). Nevertheless, if I were a resident of Malibu or any other California town, my reasons for not voting for the former body-builder would have nothing to do with any of his movie roles- not even "Kindergarthen Cop"............

Here in Rockingham County (NC), just over the Va. state line, the mud-slinging is perhaps just as bad as the Virginia Senate race though. Apparently, a secret mailing went out from a group called "Democrats for Phil Berger Jr." The 34-year-old Berger is the Republican candidate for District Attorney. He faces incumbent Democratic Dist. Attorney Belinda Foster. The suspicious letter for Berger said that as district attorney Foster asked an assistant district attorney, who is actually a Southern Baptist (according to the rumor mill), to convert from Judaism to Christianity because in her words 'all Jews go to........." Since Foster is African-American, one has to wonder if the mailers, who could in fact not be associates of Berger, had racist intentions themselves. The address on the mailing was from Eden, NC, where the Rockingham County Republican Party is based.

Foster herself made the campaign interesting by refusing to debate Berger for our local-TV station whose call letters I myself forget. Her deliberate abensentism made for some awkward moments in the debate (well, what little I watched), but Foster's intentions are quite justifiable when one considers that this tv-station makes about as much effort to cloak their political-leanings as Rush Limbaugh or the aforementioned drudge report. Of course, my blog here makes little effort to cloak political biases (I personally hope everyRepublican in the country except Cong. Frank Wolf (R-Va)- one of the most honest, ethical politicians I know- loses and loses badly on Election Day). But, I am no longer a reporter- except for a few free-lance gigs and I am not going to be hosting any poltical forums anytime soon.

In my own jurisdiction, I will vote for Cong. Brad Miller (D-NC) who is facing ultra-right-wing, xenophobic/homophobic candidate Vernon Robinson who has been dubbed 'the black Jesse Helms.' Robinson's over-the-top campaigns can be found on youtube.com, where one can also see the pulled-from-the-air ads of former Cong. Mark Foley (R-Fl) who Bill O'Reilly actually tried to label as a Democrat!

If anyone passing through here knows of any other interesting political tid-bits, please pass them on.

And, lastly, if there is anyone who wants to make informed electoral decisions beyond petty partisanship, which I may do when Chelsea Clinton becomes president, the best site for you is:

http://www.votesmart.org

............I have already checked to see that indeed Sen. George Allen (R-Va) is to the right of Mr. Potato Head.