WASHINGTON In recent weeks, we’ve seen broad stock market gains push the Dow to near 10,000 for the first time in more than a year. And while there have been some promising signs that our troubled economy is starting to rebound, it is not creating enough new jobs. Each month, more people join the ranks of the unemployed. Thousands of small business owners across Virginia also are acutely aware that this has been a slow, dreary recovery.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., says he’ll try to convince International Paper to reconsider its decision to shut down its plant in Franklin, which would put 1,100 people out of work.

Nearly half of Virginia voters oppose President Barack Obama’s health-care initiative, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch poll, which also shows his popularity here fading. Forty-nine percent are against the Obama program, while 39 percent favor it and 12 percent are undecided. The poll, conducted for The Times-Dispatch last Tuesday to Thursday by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, indicates eight in 10 voters fear that a defining feature of the Obama proposal—a public option for health insurance—will drive up their taxes.

Coulter In nearly seven weeks on the job, Virginia’s new computer boss has sacked top executives, worked to strengthen ties to state agencies and taken steps to prevent interruptions in IT services that have ranged from hiccups to complete shutdowns. But Chief Information Officer George F. Coulter said he’s just starting to leaf through the voluminous contract that binds the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to its giant, embattled contractor, Northrop Grumman.

State Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Pittsylvania, said yesterday that he will seek the Republican nomination to run for the 5th District congressional seat. Hurt has been urged to run by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which views freshman incumbent Rep. Tom Perriello as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House of Representatives.

In case you’re wondering why Democrat R. Creigh Deeds’ TV ads feature Sen. Mark R. Warner and not Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, here’s your answer. Warner, who served as Virginia’s chief executive from 2002 to 2006, is Virginia’s most popular governor of the last 20 years, according to a survey by Public Policy Polling. Warner was the choice of 40 percent of respondents, followed by another governor-turned senator, Republican George Allen, at 31 percent.

Iran’s missile tests demonstrate the importance of U.N. inspections and of muscular diplomacy by additional world powers, according to Virginia’s U.S. senators. “Iran’s latest missile test is part of a pattern of provocative behavior that underscores the need for Tehran to open up its newly discovered nuclear fuel sites to international inspectors,“ Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., said in a statement.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., in a speech on the Senate floor, yesterday warned of the consequences of inaction on a health-care overhaul. “Doing nothing means exploding our federal deficit,“ Warner said. “Doing nothing means doubling the health-care premium cost for American families. “Doing nothing means that American companies will be less competitive in a global market and [that] our small businesses will continue to be challenged to meet their basic needs.“

President Barack Obama yesterday nominated Justice Barbara Keenan of the Virginia Supreme Court to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, had recommended Keenan. “Her commitment to fairness and judicial integrity has been unwavering throughout her career . . . ,“ Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

The plan was to run Virginia’s government computer systems like a business, but the result was two huge outsourcing deals that have missed their targets. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency—where a new chief has done some major house-cleaning, firing three top executives last week—was a key initiative of then-Gov. Mark R. Warner, intended to centralize the state’s computer operations to save money.

The state director for Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., will head to Capitol Hill with a box of petitions signed by Virginians in support of President Barack Obama’s health-care principles. Several hundred health-care-reform supporters gathered at the Bell Tower on the grounds of the state Capitol yesterday evening to express their support for Obama’s efforts. The event was coordinated by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee.

Battling anti-Obama headwinds in the dash for governor, R. Creigh Deeds is trying to hang another unpopular president on Bob McDonnell in a brace of fresh television and radio ads. Deeds, a Democrat, is pairing Republican McDonnell with George W. Bush, whose policies McDonnell—in remarks as recently as last month—credited with leading “an economic revival in America.“

Deeds McDonnell Trailing in the polls and seeking traction with voters, Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds went on the offensive yesterday. He said Republican Bob McDonnell would mire Virginia in an “an ideological crusade” that “replaces mainstream goals with his social agenda” on issues such as abortion. Deeds’ campaign followed his speech at George Mason University in Fairfax County by launching his first television ad since his June 9 victory in the Democratic primary.

Thanks to an early and extensive tour of his sprawling district during the congressional recess, freshman Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, is the first area member of Congress to brave the fiery health-care debate at a series of town-hall meetings. Now several of his fellow congressmen in the region are suiting up. Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, and Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., plan to schedule meetings later this month but have not yet released the specifics.

The National Right to Work Committee took to the airwaves yesterday to pressure Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner to vote against proposed “card-check” legislation. The two Democrats are said to be undecided on the legislation, sought by labor unions and opposed by the business community. The Springfield-based Right to Work Committee has bought $2 million in television ads in five states, including Virginia, urging viewers to call wavering senators. “The truth is, passage of card check would be a massive expansion of union bosses’ power over workers at the expense of their privacy and freedom,“ Dennis Fusaro, executive director of the committee, said during a news conference at the Doubletree Hotel Historic Richmond.