The chairman of the Danville TEA Party Patriots said yesterday that he was unsure about whether the group will continue with its planned effigy burning of Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at a bonfire rally Saturday in Blairs. Hours after news of the bonfire hit the Internet on Friday, at least one national news outlet had the story on its Web site, as did dozens of bloggers.

The chairman of the Danville TEA Party Patriots said yesterday he was unsure about whether the group will continue with its planned effigy burning of Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a bonfire rally Saturday in Blairs. Hours after news of the bonfire hit the Internet on Friday, at least one national news outlet had the story on its Web site, among dozens of bloggers. Chairman Nigel Coleman said coverage of and public reaction to the event was “kinda strange.“

Members of the Danville TEA Party reportedly plan to burn Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in effigy at a Nov. 21 rally. Last Saturday, Perriello was one of four Virginia Democrats who voted in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul. Two Virginia Democrats and all five Republicans voted against the bill.

The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford will remain open for the winter despite its financial struggles, said William McIntosh, president of the memorial foundation. The memorial would operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the winter season except during bad weather and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. It will close at 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

WEEK’S END The rains proved prolonged but not persistently heavy. Many drivers put their windshield wipers on intermittent. Many also failed to turn on their headlights. Regardless of the intensity of rain, it is prudent to drive with the lights. When the wipers are working, the law says the lights must be on. Weather such as this week’s tends to turn all vehicles into a hard-to-see gray. Friends, turn on the headlights. We want to run into you in the coffee shop—not in the turn lane.

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, last night held a telephone town hall with more than 8,000 participants to explain his vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul. Meanwhile, Rep. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, took heat from the left as a progressive group launched an online ad campaign accusing him of “betraying” the Democratic Party by voting against the health-care bill.

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and supporters yesterday defended his vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul, while an anti-tax group picketed his offices in Martinsville, Danville and Farmville. “I thought it was important to solve this problem because families are being crushed under the cost of skyrocketing premiums,“ Perriello said during an afternoon conference call with reporters.

Two of the six Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation last night voted against President Barack Obama’s 10-year, $1.2 trillion health-care reform plan. Reps. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, and Rick Boucher, D-9th, were the only Virginia lawmakers to break ranks with their parties. Nye, who serves Hampton Roads, said in a statement that the bill does not sufficiently cut health-care costs that are harming families and small businesses.

Three of the six Democrats in Virginia’s U.S. House delegation remain undecided heading into this weekend’s pivotal vote on President Barack Obama’s 10-year, $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul. A fourth, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, wants to listen to the debate but is leaning toward supporting the bill, his spokesman said. The Virginians conferred with constituents yesterday as House Democratic leaders acknowledged that they don’t yet have the 218 votes they need to pass the health-care package. House Democrats signaled that they might delay the vote until tomorrow or early next week.

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.

By his ninth town hall meeting this week — in a sweltering middle school auditorium — freshman Rep. Tom Perriello is no longer fazed by angry crowds mobilized for and against health care reform.

Two more Republicans have announced their intention to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, in next year’s mid-term congressional election. Fluvanna County resident Feda Kidd Morton, a high school biology teacher and longtime GOP activist, said she decided to run after she was encouraged by former Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., a Republican who was unseated by Perriello after serving six terms in Congress.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—More than 1,300 residents packed Charlottesville High School’s auditorium last night to deliver their views on health-care reform to U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello. Unlike similar town-hall meetings held by other Democratic lawmakers, Perriello’s forum was not disrupted by opponents of the health-care proposals under consideration by Congress.

Officials receive letters from individuals and groups imploring them to vote this way or that. Some of them are well-written and convey reasonable arguments. Then there are the other kind. Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello (D-5th) received a letter recently and something struck the staff as strange. A search of previous mail found several letters that said pretty much the same thing. All of the letters came from organizations representing minority groups; all urged Perriello to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, commonly known as cap-and-trade. They were forgeries, intended to suggest that groups generally affiliated with Democrats opposed the party’s energy program.

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.