Davis to keynote Warner conference in Fairfax

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D) is touting a special guest speaker at a government contracting conference he's hosting Wednesday in Fairfax County. Keynote remarks will be delivered by former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis. Yes, Republican Tom Davis.

Davis is a reasonable guy to talk at such a shindig. During his seven terms in Congress, he served as chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on technology and procurement policy.

But in this day and age, it's kind of unusual to see bipartisan participation in, well, just about anything. It wasn't too long ago that Davis contemplated running against Warner for the seat in 2008.

Warner's office reports that more than 700 people have signed up to attend the conference -- in hopes of snagging more government contracts, one presumes. Representatives from 13 civilian and military government agencies will be on hand as well.

The conference is also a good example of the importance of federal spending in the Northern Virginia economy. Politicians might rail against federal spending, but put on a government contracting event and hundreds of local businesspeople come calling with their cards.