Gail Parker, a retired Air Force Reservist and Defense Department budget analyst who has run for office several times in Virginia in recent years, has filed papers to run for U.S. Senate in November.

Parker is still collecting signatures from some areas of the state to appear on the ballot, along with Republican James S. Gilmore III and Democrat Mark R. Warner.

Parker, whose radio jingle in the 2006 Senate campaign (Let's vote for Gail! She's for light rail!) drew jabs from Stephen Colbert on his late-night Comedy Central show, garnered more than one percent of the vote in the razor tight race between Republican George Allen and Democrat James Webb.

Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, still hasn't moved past the "exploratory" phase of his bid for Congress. But his committee very proudly shared some early fundraising numbers to make the point that Connolly has the ability to run a well-financed campaign.

According to James Walkinshaw, who runs Connolly's exploratory committee, Connolly has raised $161,000 since the beginning of January, when he announced the formation of the committee to pursue a bid in the 11th Congressional District. By contrast, fellow Democrat Leslie L. Byrne will report at the end of the month that she raised $115,000 between the November elections and the new year, she said in an interview yesterday.

"That's in just three and a half weeks," Walkinshaw said.

The results of today's House Republican leadership vote are in. And House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) will be keeping his job.

At a closed door meeting in Richmond, GOP delegates decided by acclamation to reelect Howell as speaker, a job he's held since 2002.

The delegation also decided to keep the rest of its current leadership team in place. Del. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) will continue to serve as majority leader and Del. M. Kirkland "Kirk" Cox (R-Colonial Heights) will remain as majority whip, according to GOP officials.

Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) also won another term as chairman of the House Republican Caucus.

Gerald E. Connolly, (D) with more than a few dollars to spare in his Fairfax Board Chairman's race against Republican Gary H. Baise, wrote a $125,000 check to the Virginia Democratic Party last week, according to new campaign finance reports.
Connolly has enjoyed an overwhelming cash advantage from the get-go, raising $1.2 million since 2004 and spending only slightly more than half of it so far against the little-known Baise. He continues to pound the Falls Church trial lawyer financially, raising $195,358 in the Oct. 1-24 period, compared to $22,745 for Baise.

The pollster for Fairfax County Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) says his re-election campaign provides an example of how illegal immigration can be turned into "a second-tier issue" by candidates who emphasize problem-solving and leadership.

There is talk that if he wins re-election as expected Tuesday, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) may try to expand his regional influence by grabbing the Virginia seat on the Metro board of directors. The current Virginia member, Fairfax Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), did not seek re-election to the Fairfax board this year and is retiring.

There's a bit more to the story of the Lyndon Johnson photos in the conference room of Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D).

As The Post mentioned in its Monday morning piece on Connolly's four year record as chairman, the series of photos, known as "The Johnson Treatment," show the then-Senate Majority Leader strongarming a committee chairman.

A standard feature of candidate debates are cue cards, usually held up by an intrepid volunteer stationed in the front row, to tell candidates how much time they have left to speak. Organizers of Thursday's McLean Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum came up with an unusual prod for folks to finish up. After cards reading "1 minute," "30 seconds" and "Time," those still orating saw one that read, "Blah Blah."
Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) liked it so much he asked if he could have it. "Maybe I'll bring it to future debates," he quipped.
Or perhaps bring it to flash at windy constituents in public hearings.

Republican Gary H. Baise says that if elected Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors he would halt the planned Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport unless the elevated segment through Tysons Corner was built below ground.

"My first action would be to stop that project until we get it right," Baise said at a Thursday breakfast forum sponsored by the McLean Chamber of Commerce.

Baise, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gerald E. Connolly, is on record supporting a Tysons tunnel. But this morning's pledge was his most explicit of the campaign on the Dulles project, which he has also criticized for its mushrooming cost, dearth of transparency and lack of competitive bidding on aspects of the contract. His vow drew applause from the audience at the Westin Tysons.

Baise also trashed Dulles Transit Partners, the private construction consortium headed by Bechtel and Washington Group International that would build the 11.6 mile first phase of the project from Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. Bechtel was lead contractor on the notorious "Big Dig" highway project in Boston.

"I don't think these are two companies you can trust with the people' money," Baise said.

It's not completely clear what Baise could do about Dulles rail as chairman. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) heads the project. He could try to pull the county's share of the funding, which is in the form of revenue from a special taxing district comprised of land owners and businesses in the Dulles corridor. But he would need five four other votes on the nine-member board.

With apologies to H.L. Mencken, there are lies, damn lies and debates.
In their series of joint appearances across Fairfax County this fall, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) and challenger Gary H. Baise (R) each rely their own menu of "facts" to animate their basic message. For Connolly, Fairfax is the "envy of the nation," the land of high SAT scores and low crime rates. For Baise, it is county at risk, choking on traffic and profligate government spending.
The casualties are context, nuance and the truth.
Connolly is proud of the crime rate, which in 2006 reached lows not seen since the 1970s. There were about 1700 crimes per 100,000 residents, representing an overall drop of about 6.9 percent over 2005. What he fails to mention is the significant increases in robbery and burglary, up 18.4 percent and 17.6 percent respectively.
SAT scores are another favorite note. The combined verbal and match score of 1108 is nearly 100 points above national averages--- just as they have been for years before Connolly took office in Fairfax. What does he have to do with it, other than sending a large county check to the school district every year? He doesn't say.

Some Fairfax County Democrats are still buzzing about Gary H. Baise's likening of illegal immigration to the heroin trade at his Sept. 18 Chamber of Commerce debate with Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D).