Terry McAuliffe is promoting economic security steps including protections on homeownership, retirement benefits, easing loan burdens for college graduates and a prohibition on pay day lending.

Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, urges a middle-of-the-road approach. But Del. Clarence Phillips, D-Castlewood, says restrictions are driven by politics not health policy.

Columnist Jeff Schapiro says payday lenders have already found a loophole in the state law passed last year to limit exhorbitant fees.

On Nov. 13, what remains of the House of Delegates Republican majority met—safe from the prying eyes of the press and always-open pocketbooks of lobbyists—at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen for a post-election, pre-General Assembly skull session.

If the federal government comes up with an economic-stimulus package for the nation’s transportation infrastructure, Virginia will be ready to take advantage of it.

It’s a good time to be a Democrat in Virginia. Come January, the state will have two Democratic U.S. senators—Jim Webb and the newly elected Mark R. Warner. Democrats could emerge with six of the state’s 11 seats in the House of Representatives—up from three—depending on two unresolved races. And, the state has a Democratic governor—Timothy M. Kaine—who happens to be buddies with the next president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Virginia’s U.S. Senate campaign is ending up pretty much as it began—under the radar. The contest to replace Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., was largely overshadowed by the historic presidential campaign. And from the beginning, former Gov. Mark R. Warner had lopsided advantages over former Gov. Jim Gilmore in support and in fundraising.

If you’re for limited government, a flat tax and getting the military out of Iraq, then William Redpath is your man. The Leesburg accountant and financial analyst is the Libertarian Party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate. In an interview, he acknowledged that few people know this. In a low-budget campaign, he has been driving his own car, relying on an unpaid campaign manager and getting free publicity when he can.

The candidate with the colorful nickname is running again. Glenda Gail “for rail” Parker is the Independent Green candidate for the U.S. Senate seat of Sen. John W. Warner, a Republican who is retiring after 30 years. In her previous run for the Senate in 2006, she fared the way most independent candidates do. Unable to raise money and get her message out, Parker got 1.2 percent of the vote.

As Barack Obama seeks to become the nation’s first black president, Virginia voters and experts reflect on race and what it means during this election As a young girl, Dorothy L. Holcomb wrote a poem about being president, “knowing that it wouldn’t materialize in my lifetime.“ The presidency was far from the church basement where Holcomb was tutored when her Prince Edward County school closed rather than open its classrooms to black students.

A spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama’s Virginia campaign issued this response to comments by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani today in Chesterfield County: “The reason Virginians are leaving John McCain’s campaign is because they hear the echo of Karl Rove’s negative, divisive politics and President Bush’s failed trickle down economics,“ said Kevin Griffis.

Virginia’s State Board of Elections is reporting a discrepancy between state and federal law that has led to the denial of 100 Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots. Military and overseas voters who have not yet received their regular absentee ballots use the provisional ballots. The voters can use the federal form to both apply for their ballots and cast them as long as they are signed by a witness and submitted to state officials by Oct. 30.

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is clearing a “pathway for victory” in battleground states, including Virginia, his campaign manager said yesterday. “One of the most significant moments in this elec tion is that both Virginia and Colorado have strengthened,“ David Plouffe said in a conference call with reporters from across the country.

Two special events are in store for the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond. Pierre Vimont, France’s ambassador to the United States, will speak at a special lunch Oct. 31. Charles S. Robb, former Virginia governor and U.S. senator, and John Adams, chairman and CEO of the Martin Agency, will be honored at the organization’s annual dinner Nov. 12.

Sen. Ted Stevens’ corruption trial all but ground to a halt yesterday morning as a judge tried to determine how to handle a grieving juror who had to leave town to attend her father’s funeral. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told jurors that “everyone needs a day off now and then” and sent them home for the day at 9:50 a.m. without telling them why their fellow juror had gone.