McDonnell to deliver GOP response to Obama

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama's weekly radio address this Saturday.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio designated McDonnell as the responder yesterday.

McDonnell, a former state attorney general, said he will focus his remarks on the need for new jobs and opportunities in Virginia and the nation.

The designation brings a national focus to the McDonnell campaign in the same week that Obama is coming to Virginia to stump for state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, the Democratic candidate for governor. The president will be the headliner at a rally for Deeds at 7 p.m. today in McLean.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County, the Republican candidate for attorney general, has filed a bill in advance of the Aug. 19 special session of the General Assembly to try to address problems caused by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Cuccinelli was the first to call for a special session. The pre-filed bill is the first to try to deal with the problem.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who called the special session, also is expected to offer a bill.

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution could demand that a witness be present in criminal trials, rather than simply presenting a certificate of laboratory analysis into evidence.

Kaine said this could have clogged the court system with drug, drunken-driving and sex-offender cases by requiring forensic scientists from the state to be present.

The Cuccinelli bill would allow lab technicians to be notified in advance if they are required to be in court so they could better arrange their schedules. But Cuccinelli said the state might still need to hire more lab technicians to catch up on the backlog. Kaine has said he will do this.

Cuccinelli's opponent for attorney general, Del. Steve Shannon of Fairfax County, said he hopes the special session can deal quickly with the problem "without injecting politics into this delicate situation."

The session also is expected to approve compensation for a Virginia Beach man, Arthur Whitfield, who was wrongly convicted of rape and later cleared by DNA evidence after serving more than 20 years in prison.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .