Because of a cranky economy and cantankerous electorate, Bob McDonnell probably can’t expect much of a honeymoon. But barely 50 days into his term, the state’s first Republican governor in nearly a decade may be losing a bit of his luster. Among the reasons: McDonnell is becoming part of the dailiness of political life, the routine that is accelerated, and segmented, by Twitter and twaddle. Unanticipated events notwithstanding, a Virginia governor—the last in the nation prohibited from seeking a second consecutive term—begins the fade to black upon completing his oath of office.

A Republican-controlled House of Delegates subcommittee effectively killed a bipartisan redistricting proposal early this morning.

The Chesterfield County School Board gave initial approval last night to a revised school budget that saves about 100 jobs and lowers employee pay cuts from what first was proposed. The $548.3 million plan for 2010-2011 still includes $26.5 million in cuts initially proposed last month by Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome. But based on staff and community input, the cuts were revised.

Chesterfield County school administrators now want to remove all current students from Chester Middle School instead of allowing rising eighth-graders to complete the 2010-2011 school year there. This marks a change from the plan approved by the School Board last month, under which the rising eighth-graders would be allowed to stay at Chester Middle while sixthand seventh-graders there would be sent to Carver and Elizabeth Davis middle schools.

The Chesterfield County School Board will hold a public hearing tonight on a redistricting proposal for Carver and Elizabeth Davis middle schools to accommodate Chester Middle School students. Last month, the board approved a plan to turn Chester Middle into a ninth-grade facility for Thomas Dale High School students in the fall.

For 45 years, we have lived in the same neighborhood. We have been in three congressional districts—the 3rd, primarily Richmond back in the ‘60s and ‘70s; the 5th, which extended to Danville; and the 7th, that reaches to Rappahannock County in the Shenandoah Valley. In the 5th, our representative was the late Congressman Dan Daniel, who was from Danville.

School redistricting in Henrico County has ended, but the discussion hasn’t. In the Foxhall area, neighbors feeling blindsided by a last-minute switch to new school zones were planning to meet this weekend to explore their options, including legal action. Other parents already have applied for variances so that rising sixthor ninth-graders could start middle school or high school this fall in the location where they will be assigned one year later.

After about 16,000 e-mails on redistricting proposals in the past six months and online comments from 1,600 people last weekend, Henrico County has a school redistricting plan. The School Board voted last night to adopt the revised third pairing, an option drawn up to meet complaints about the first two redistricting options. “We cannot address all the concerns,“ Linda McBride, the School Board representative for the Brookland District, said during an afternoon work session. “With the revisions to Pairing 3, I think we have done as much as we can for as many areas of the county as we can.“

Bob McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor, is reversing himself and now wants to reduce politics in legislative redistricting. Meanwhile, Brian J. Moran, one of the Democrats angling to oppose McDonnell, is pitching for traditionally GOP military votes by promising tax relief for military personnel overseas. As part of a good-government package with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, McDonnell on Thursday endorsed bipartisan redistricting—an idea he opposed as a legislator.

The gymnasium at Godwin High School has seen plenty of pep rallies through the years. Last night’s school redistricting hearing was as fervent at times, but with a lack of unity in support of one cause. About 400 parents, students and community members gathered to proclaim their wishes for school boundaries as Henrico County undergoes the largest school redistricting project in its history.

Henrico County has entered the final phase of the largest school-redistricting project in the district’s history. All three proposed scenarios are online, and staff members and the School Board are preparing for an onslaught of speakers at upcoming public hearings. After six months of work to come up with two options, staff members this week revealed a third option to redraw school boundaries.

Henrico County’s school redistricting isn’t a done deal yet. Within minutes of a presentation by a community committee that has spent six months preparing two proposals for the largest school redistricting in the county’s history, the School Board asked its staff to develop a third option. Since October, the 70-member volunteer committee has spent hundreds of hours creating options that take into account necessary enrollment numbers and redistricting guidelines, while considering about 11,000 e-mails, comments and letters from the public. Henrico will open a new high school and middle school in 2010.

Nothing matters more to some Henrico County parents than where their children attend school. In the past six months, neighborhoods have organized and rallied to try to influence a 70-member redistricting committee to send their children to specific schools. They’ve sent thousands of e-mails, printed T-shirts, set up Web sites and organized community meetings to make their wishes known.

The House Privileges and Elections Committee has killed a bill to create a bipartisan redistricting commission. The vote ranks as the most deplorable of the session. Legislation banning smoking in bars tramples on the property rights of restaurant and bar owners, but at least there is a principled argument to be made for such a ban: It protects the public well-being, in the same way that other health and safety regulations protect customers and employees. (The analogy doesn’t fly, but that’s a subject for another day.)