A fortnightly MY FINAL rant, FL-S style.

Outahere!

And how great was that Viking Funeral?

YES FOLKS, Chris Guy and I have decided that the time has come to for us to leave our little village of Anatevka F2B.

You read that right. We’re outahere!

A certain Snarktress Supreme has been given the right-of-refusal to take over F2B. If she accepts the offer, then GREAT…F2B will begin anew. If not, that’s fine too and we’ll keep the site live for an extended period of time, then shut it down.

For the most part, authoring F2B has been a lot of fun. But two years is a long time to do any one thing, especially a blog. Plus, the process of coming up with Fortnightly Rant topics that are interesting (okay, that amuse me) has gotten harder and harder. Sometime over the past couple of months, writing them started to feel like…like…WORK.

Chris and I are moving on to new interests and involvements. Not sure what Chris will be doing, but sometime between mid-February and late March of 2010 I will publish my first book: it’s a green business executive career development book entitled Tailoring The Green Suit. Information about the book launch will be posted to my Sturdy Roots Blog and my company website.

Whether or not F2B continues, there will be from time-to-time another former Dem chair venting his spleen. Our friend Marc Broklawski has launched his new blog Leaving My Marc which I know will be a very good read. I encourage you all to bookmark it.

UPDATE Sunday 11/29: Marc has announced that Chris will be contributing blog posts to Leaving My Marc. THAT IS FANTASTIC NEWS!

Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can’t put it off another day
I don’t care what others say
They say we don’t listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I’m thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)

I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
Now the time has come (Time)

There are things to realize (Time)

Time has come today (Time)

Time has come today (Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
(Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

So that’s it.

No parting shots. No bon mot.

I thank you all for your support and readership. F2B has been the hippest trip!

Now, to bring things full circle, a final h/t to Monty Python:

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
but she doesn’t have a lot to say;

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
but she changes from day to day;

I want to tell her that I love her a lot,
but I gotta get a bellyful of wine;

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
someday I’m going to make her mine (oh, yeah);

Someday I’m going to make her mine.

Right now I’m hearing that Bob McDonnell will push very hard to convince Sen. Edd Houck to leave the Senate for a job in his upcoming administration, and Houck is seriously considering it. This means that control of the Senate probably hinges on either Democrats holding onto this seat or picking up Cuccinelli’s seat in upcoming special elections.

We now know that Del. Dave Marsden will likely be the Democratic nominee in the Fairfax race against one of 3 Republicans. Marsden narrowly won reelection to the House this year, but lost in the area located within Cuccinelli’s Senate district. Democrats could do better, but they could have done a lot worse.

Hap endorsed Terry McAuliffe for Governor this year. So, yes, he's a Democrat

In Houck’s Senate district, Spotsylvania Co. Board of Supervisors Chairman Hap Connors is the Democrats best hope of retaining this seat. Spotsy is a GOP stronghold in statewide races, but Republicans don’t have a great track record in local races these days. Connors, like a lot of other local “Democrats,” likes to run as an Independent, and it’s worked out pretty well for them (while tarnishing the party’s brand for everyone else).

In 2007, then Spotsylvania Co. Board Chairman Chris Yakabouski ran against Sen. Houck and lost badly. This year, Yak tried for his old seat in the Battlefield district and lost to incumbent Supervisor Benjamin Pitts. He really wants that Senate seat…but can Spotsy Republicans count on him to actually win for a change?

Sen. Edd Houck told The Washington Post that he’d be “willing” to talk to Bob McDonnell about a place in his administration, likely as Secretary of Education. Since the Democrats hold a one vote majority in the State Senate, this proposed move could potentially swing control of the entire General Assembly over to the Republicans.

But before Democrats (and Independents who believe in checks and balances) freak out, there is no offer on the table. This is merely speculation. Houck is an educator by trade and McDonnell wouldn’t be the first to consider him for this position. Sen. Houck has gained more seniority in the Senate since the last time we elected the new Governor, making him less likely to accept now – if he hasn’t in the past. If Chuck Colgan doesn’t run for reelection in 2011, as some have speculated, Houck would be next in line to chair the all-powerful Finance Committee in 2012. Who would walk away from that?

But even if Houck does leave, it’s no guarantee Democrats lose control of the Senate. That’s because there will be two special elections to fill the seats of Sens. Ken Cuccinelli and Ken Stolle. Fortunately the Democrats have a deep bench in Fairfax Co. and Virginia Beach, giving them a fair shot at one or both of those races. If Houck did resign, a strong candidate like Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors Chairman Hap Connors would give the Democrats a good shot at holding onto that seat.

Likeliest scenario? Houck waits for the outcome of those races before making a decision, so it’s a moot point.

Considering what could have happened, I’m actually pretty happy about tonight. If you’d have told me that the Democrats would only lose 5 or 6 seats in the House of Delegates after this better than expected performance by the GOP ticket statewide, I’d think you were insane.

Republican candidates for Supervisor in Spotsylvania County, including former Board Chairman and Senate candidate Chris Yakawhateverthehellitis, went down in defeat despite a dominant performance by the GOP ticket in Spotsy. They ran against the VRE, and it cost them.

Republicans candidates for Supervisor in Stafford County all won, giving control of the Board back to the GOP. Inmate #283921, I mean Paul Milde, got just over 50% of the vote with Irene Egan and Paul Ortiz splitting the rest, swell. Mark Osborne made things a little interesting in Falmouth, but this was always Susan Stimpson’s race to lose.

Commonwealth’s Attorney LaBravia Jenkins was reelected in Fredericksburg despite a rough performance from the Democratic ticket in the city.

Albert Pollard survived despite a challenger that inspired people to go around the 99th district stealing signs and yelling in people’s face. The closeness of this race will no doubt lead to teabaggers* patting themselves on the back, but Catherine Crabill performed far, FAR worse than other Republicans on the ballot in this district (Pollard will probably increase his lead when the rest of the precincts report in).

* also, thank you teabaggers for helping Democrats win a congressional seat in upstate NY for the first time since the mid-1800’s!