The Chesterfield County voter registrar won’t have to worry about running out of ballots this year. Monday is the deadline for people who want to vote in the June 9 Democratic primary who are not registered now, and registrar Lawrence C. Haake III said few people have come by his office at the county courthouse to register. In the February 2008 Democratic presidential primary that featured Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, so many people turned out to vote that some Chesterfield precincts ran out of ballots.

Taxes are climbing in recession-wracked Northern Virginia, bulwark of the Democratic ascendancy. A smooth-talking Democratic governor whose part-time assignment as Barack Obama’s partisan hitman is yanked back to his day job by the swine-flu scare. The Democratic primary is becoming a sandbox quarrel. Voters tune out or—to get their fix of sweaty, noisy post-adolescent males—turn the dial to the basketball playoffs.

Former President Bill Clinton is adding a stop in Northern Virginia in his second swing across the state for Democratic gubernatorial prospect Terry McAuliffe. The McAuliffe organization said yesterday that Clinton will appear in the Washington suburbs May 13—one day before a previously announced stop in Norfolk.

Former President Bill Clinton dashed across Virginia for pal Terry McAuliffe yesterday, saying the gubernatorial prospect can be President Barack Obama’s partner in reviving the economy. Appearing with McAuliffe in Richmond and Roanoke, Clinton said the millionaire investor and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee has the business and political credentials to work effectively with Obama, particularly with the federal government pumping billions in stimulus dollars into Virginia.

Terry McAuliffe, a Democratic candidate for governor, is calling in the man who put him on the map: former President Bill Clinton. Clinton will stump Monday for McAuliffe in Richmond and Roanoke. Details have not been announced. McAuliffe, one of three candidates in the June 9 primary, was chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton presidency.

Terry McAuliffe wants to pay teachers more—and help them pay their bills. Pitching for the important teachers vote in the June 9 primary, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate is going beyond an article of faith with educators: pushing their wages to the national average. According to a Web site that tracks teacher-compensation issues, Virginia ranks 27th in classroom salaries at $43,823—about $8,000 off the national average.

Terry McAuliffe is starting a pile-on by Democratic gubernatorial candidates of the high-interest instant-loan industry, proposing the state kick out payday lenders. “We need to shut them all down; they only shove people into worse economic conditions,“ McAuliffe said yesterday. McAuliffe’s two foes in the June 9 primary echoed his proposal, though both Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County and former Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria voted in 2002 to open Virginia to payday lenders.

The recession is culling the field for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Rich Savage, a Richmond political consultant, announced yesterday that he is quitting the race after three months because he can’t raise enough money. “The worsening economic downturn presents too great a financial hurdle for my campaign to overcome,“ he said in a written statement.

Terry McAuliffe doesn’t need the money, but he wants the job. The boisterous multimillionaire national political operative yesterday formally entered the Democratic contest for governor, concluding a five-month campaign strip tease.

A Democratic political strategist is making the race for lieutenant governor and making education the centerpiece of his campaign.