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.

The Washington lobbying firm that sent forged letters to U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and at least two other congressmen was working on behalf of a coal industry advocacy group. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity said its longtime grass-roots contractor, the Hawthorn Group, hired Bonner & Associates to do “limited outreach” in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the cap-and-trade bill.

Former Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. will not run for the 5th District congressional seat that he lost last year. In a news release, Goode gave no reason for why he chose not to run in 2010 but said he hopes Republicans will nominate a conservative to run for the seat. Democrat Tom Perriello of Albemarle County upset Goode last year in a tight contest. Perriello won by 727 votes out of more than 300,000 cast.

If the public is clamoring for health-care reform, it wasn’t evident at a rally yesterday across from St. John’s Church in Richmond. About 50 people attended the rally to urge three on-the-fence members of the Virginia congressional delegation to get behind a health-care bill that has been adopted by a House of Representatives committee.

An effort to combat climate change and its effects on the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet has attracted support from an unusual coalition of religious and retired military leaders. While they view the issue from different perspectives, be it protecting God’s creation or bolstering national security, they all want climate-change legislation being negotiated on Capitol Hill to provide protections for the less fortunate.

Two Democrats recently elected to Congress in Virginia did not support the budget plan that endorses President Barack Obama’s goals. Rep. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, was one of 17 House Democrats who voted against the budget blueprint yesterday. Nye, who defeated Republican Thelma Drake in November, last month became one of two new members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition of 51 moderate and conservative Democrats.

Rep. Tom Perriello made his first stop during Congress’ Easter break yesterday at Gladys Elementary School, which faced the possibility of being closed until federal stimulus money eased Campbell County’s fiscal crunch. The 210 pupils were ready for his visit. Fourth-graders said “Tom Perriello” in unison when Lacy Webb, the school’s principal, ushered the congressman into their classroom.

University of Virginia employees were among the top contributors to freshman Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. U.Va. employees gave Perriello $26,679 for his campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. in the 5th District, according to data compiled by the center. Perriello, who was a lecturer for one seminar at U.Va.‘s law school in 2007, had a victory margin of 727 votes after a recount.