■ 12 February 2009 | 1:55 PM
GOP leader to announce election plans
State Republican Party Chairman Jeff Frederick plans to make a floor speech in the House of Delegates Friday about his "involvement in the future of my seat."
Frederick, a Republican Delegate who has represented Prince William County since 2004, has said that he would not seek re-election to his House seat after he was voted chairman of the state GOP last year.
Asked if his wife, Amy, would run to succeed him in the House, Frederick said "all options are on the table" but declined to give further specifics.
If Amy Frederick runs, it could reignite a simmering intra-party feud that dates back to Frederick's election as party chairman last spring, in which he unseated past party chair, former Lt. Gov. John Hager.
One example of that bad blood are the remaining sore feelings over two letters, one sent by House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, and another penned by Amy Frederick, in connection to the party contest.
Howell, in the letter sent to party faithful at the time, made his support of Hager known. In response, Amy Frederick fired off a letter critical of Howell's missive.
Because of that, a highly placed Republican source said, the House Republican Campaign Committee would not invest resources in Amy Frederick's campaign if she runs for the seat.
Jeff Frederick said he hadn't heard of that possible political maneuver, but said it would be an "unwise" strategy. "How can you keep a majority if you're abandoning seats," Frederick said.
And one member of the campaign committee board, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said as far as he is concerned, the GOP nominee for that seat will have party backing, whomever it is.
All 100 House of Delegates seats, including the one Frederick currently holds, are up for election this November.
-Julian Walker
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Record Turnout
While extreme Reps may have stayed away in 2008, record numbers for the rest of the party turned out to vote for McCain.
While the party could not find enough distractions to keep turnout of their opponents low, record numbers of independents sealed the deal for Progressives in all parties.
So you can blame Bush and three moderates, but you won't be winning anything until your party loses the lockstep march of intolerance.
Republican Party.
Actually there is no Republican Party any more; it has been destroyed by previous administration and RINO'S that will compromise until there is no integrity left in the party.
We just saw 3 that made the front page.
That is just what has happened in my estimation.
Bush was the final nail that killed it for Core Republicans that believed in the real Republican Values that were lost and also the reason the Core stayed away in the last Election.
It was abundantly clear that Republican candidates in the last Election did not want Bush anywhere near them.
We probably need a new Party with conservative Constitutional Values.
YMMV