Free Republic

A sitting senator resisting to back the party’s choice to succeed him would be extraordinary in itself, but Warner’s seat also is a top target for Democrats next year looking to increase its majority in the Senate. The once-reliably Republican commonwealth has gradually been tilting toward the Democratic column in recent years. Junior senator Jim Webb (D) surprised many by narrowly defeating incumbent Republican George Allen in 2006, for example. Warner has history with both of his potential successors. Democrat Mark Warner, Virginia’s governor from 2002 to 2006, narrowly lost to the senator in a 1996 bid for his seat....

Tomorrow (Thursday), we're organizing an event in Annandale to highlight the GOP's extensive ties to Big Oil. We've invited the media, and having a good crowd is critical to show them that voters don't want oil industry gimmicks, they want real solutions like alternative energy to solve our energy crisis. Can you make it? Click Here Dear MoveOn member, Republicans have been escalating their attacks on Obama and the Democrats over oil drilling, and we need to push back. Can you join us at an emergency action in Annandale tomorrow (Thursday)? House Republicans have been "protesting" ever since Congress adjourned...

The Presidency: It takes little courage — or brains — to join the mob vilifying President Bush. But the Democrats (and Republicans, too) depicting him as villain will one day regret it.In the eyes of members of both parties, George W. Bush seems to be the cause of everything from the recent GOP special election losses to a flagging economy to today's bad weather. Barack Obama plans to reach the White House by claiming the presidency of Sen. John McCain would amount to a third Bush term. McCain, meanwhile, seems to think it a wise campaign strategy to highlight his...

A former House GOP leader is calling this year's political atmosphere "the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than the fall of 2006," citing "deep seeded (sic) antipathy toward the president." Rep. Tom Davis wrote a 20-page treatise (see earlier note) assessing the state of the Republican Party as we head into the summer and presented it to House GOP rank and file this morning. Davis, who is retiring, is rumored to be interested in finishing his term as the head of the GOP House campaign arm.

In an interview to air later tonight on Bloomberg TV, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) said President Bush is "absolutely radioactive" and Republicans "will suffer widespread election losses in November unless they distance themselves from him." Said Davis: "They've got to get some separation from the president." Davis also said his party "would lose 20 to 25 House seats if the election were held today." And if Sen. John McCain is seen by voters as "Bush III" he will lose by 20 percentage points.

Lot's of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. The political situation is not good, and they aren't even trying to deny it. Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment. "This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor." Inside the meeting, Davis had just presented his colleagues with what he said was a 20-page memo outlining his prescription for a way out of this mess. He did not offer...

Republican candidate Keith Fimian has been able to raise more money than any of his four Democratic opponents in a fight for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11). Fimian, who contributed $325,000 to his own campaign, had raised $838,662 by March 31. Out of the Democrats, Fairfax Board of Supervisors chairman Gerry Connolly came the closest to Fimian, with $501,734 raised.

A former Talk-Show host on this station once announced a "RINO Hunt" at election time. "Time to purge the party of anybody who isn't a lock-step conservative," he said. So this host went ‘a huntin’. And he laughed with glee every time a Republican moderate lost an election. "That'll teach 'em," he said. Ok, if you say so. But I just checked: It’s been four years since his great "RINO Hunt," and each of those seats, where he was so gleeful to see the “Republican In Name Only” lose, is now occupied by a Democrat. Now, why was he so...

Shortly after U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th) announced that he will not seek re-election Wednesday, an Oakton accountant announced his intention to run for the seat. In a statement, Keith Fimian, 51, praised Davis for his hard work for the citizens of Virginia. “Congressman Davis has served our state and our nation well and he will be missed,” Fimian said. Fimian has already raised over $711,000 and has $662,000 in his campaign account, according to the candidate's release. “I told Tom if he ran I would be first in line to campaign for his re-election, but if he chose not...

U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) said today he will retire from Congress at the end of the year, bringing to a close a 14-year stint in the House of Representatives during which he rose rapidly through the ranks of Republican leadership and championed such issues as D.C. voting rights and a vibrant defense-contracting industry.

WASHINGTON - Influential Northern Virginia Rep. Tom Davis will announce his retirement from Congress this week, multiple political sources told The Examiner Monday. Davis has decided not to seek an eighth term in office, five sources with ties to the Republican congressman or his political allies said. The decision was widely expected after Davis pulled out of a potential U.S. Senate campaign and his wife lost a re-election bid in a Fairfax County district with a similar growing Democratic lean last fall. Davis’ spokesman Brian McNicoll said an announcement could come as early as Wednesday, but would not confirm Davis...

Jeannemarie Devolites Davis yesterday lost her bid for re-election to the Virginia Senate, dealing Republicans a blow in a key Northern Virginia district. John Chapman "Chap" Petersen, a Democrat, defeated Mrs. Davis in the 34th Senate District in central Fairfax. "This is one of those moments you dream of all your life," Mr. Petersen told the crowd last night at his postelection gathering at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner. "When I was young and stupid, I thought I would put Fairfax on the map, but the reverse happened. The people of Fairfax City put me on the map," he said....

".. A master politician with a national profile, he took her under his wing and found his life's love..... Davis used every page in his playbook to save his wife and...arranged for New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to join Devolites Davis at a campaign event and praise her votes for gun control..."

CNN’s "The Situation Room," a program not known for featuring state legislators, did a live interview on Thursday of "little-known" Virginia state senator, Republican Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis, whose liberal stance on gun control earned her the endorsement of Michael Bloomberg. The New York City mayor appeared with Devolites-Davis during the interview. As CNN correspondent Deborah Feyerick put it during a report preceding the interview, "Today, the newly turned Independent threw his personal support behind friend and fellow gun critic Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis, a Virginia state senator trying hard to get re-elected. His endorsement of a little-known legislator is rare for a man...

In a possible setback to Congressman Tom Davis, the moderate Northern Virginia Republican running to replace retiring Sen. John Warner, Politico's Josh Kraushaar reports the state Republican Party Central Committee voted yesterday to nominate a candidate for Senate by convention. Davis allies, Kraushaar reports, were lobbying for a primary, which they believe would give their candidate a better chance against more conservative former Gov. Jim Gilmore. Davis has a million-dollar fundraising head start on Gilmore, and a primary would draw many more moderate Republicans to the polls. A convention, many contend, would advantage Gilmore by drawing more conservative party activists....

Veteran Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), who has been seen as a leading candidate to replace retiring Sen. John Warner (R) in 2008, may now be just a day away from announcing his own retirement from Congress.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) is expected to announce that he will not be running for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, according to a senior Virginia Republican familiar with Davis’ plans. The seven-term congressman began telling close friends of his intentions last week. His decision would leave former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore as the only GOP Senate candidate left in a state that had been reliably Republican but where Democrats have won two consecutive governor’s races and, in 2006, unexpectedly nabbed the other Senate seat.

Rep. Tom Davis is expected to announce later this week that he will not run for the Senate seat being vacated by John Warner (R) in 2008, according to several informed GOP sources with Virginia ties.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Republicans will hold a convention instead of a primary to choose their candidate to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, upsetting critics who say it makes the party appear closed off. The state party's central committee voted 47-37 on Saturday in favor of a convention. No date or location was decided. Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and U.S. Rep. Tom Davis have expressed interest in seeking the GOP nomination. Supporters of Gilmore wanted a convention, while Davis backers had argued for a primary. John Warner, 80, announced in August he would not seek a sixth...

Undoubtedly, many of you will be receiving letters in the mail from U.S. Rep. Tom Davis within the next few days announcing that he is creating an exploratory committee to run for U.S. Senate. What is interesting is the repeated use of “conservative” vs. “liberal” throughout the three-page letter. On page 1 alone, “liberal” or “liberals” is used five times to describe the Democrats, Mark Warner and the Clinton White House while associating himself with the term “conservative” three times on that same page. Overall, the letter uses the terms “liberal,” “liberals,” “radical,” “special interest,” “socialized,” and “extreme liberal” a...