On His Excellency's land grab and a couple other things...

If you think our race for governor is nasty you need to check out what's going on in New Jersey. Republican candidate Doug Forrester has used in a TV spot a quote from Democratic candidate Sen. Jon Corzine's ex-wife! Joanne Corzine had told the New York Times in an interview last week: "All I could think was that Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." We need to be thankful that all we've got is guys arguing over whether Hitler should have gotten the death penalty ...

That campaign sign of Tim Kaine's that I wrote about the other day outside the law offices of Hall & Hall (which of course is Frank Hall, the House Democratic leader in the General Assembly) has been replaced with a new pristine one and moved closer to the road ...

And what is going on with Doug Wilder????!!!! I will not pretend to know the legal intricacies of the eminent domain issue but I was aghast (as a great many people were) by the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in June strongly affirming the right of local governments to force property owners to sell property to make way for private projects — not roads and bridges — but malls and hotels and other economic development. Now our mayor (through his right-hand man, Paul Goldman) is floating the idea of seizing the Carpenter Center back from the Virginia Foundation for the Performing Arts because the Foundation's plan won't open the venue quickly enough for him. But I don't even believe this is about eminent domain and economic development. This is about His Excellency enjoying every moment of this melodrama and not missing any opportunity to twist the knife in the already mortally wounded VPAF. This mayor has become all about control: He wants it all and he's almost completely out of it.