In August, we brought you the story of Chris Ann Cleland, a real estate agent from Prince William County whose buyer's remorse over voting for President Obama last fall was coloring her view of the Virginia governor's race. Obama was not the change agent he promised to be, Cleland said. "I feel like I've been punked."

The quote so resonated that it got picked up by New York Times columnist Frank Rich and scored Cleland an interview on Fox News. But two months later, we wondered what she had finally decided about the governor's race.

Well, she settled on Democrat R. Creigh Deeds. The reason, she said, came down to two words: liquor stores.

A few weeks ago, Cleland was so busy with her work and so tired of what she perceived as politics as usual that she thought she might not even vote in the election this year. But then she learned that Republican gubernatorial nominee Robert F. McDonnell had proposed privatizing state liquor stores to collect $500 million for road improvements, an idea that suggested a transformation of her community from tranquil to "trashy."

"While his plan may be thought out very well, I'll take my chances with the other guy, Deeds, because I don't want to feel like I live in Maryland or D.C.," she told us in a phone interview. "I like the way Virginia handles the liquor stores."

And how does she feel about Obama these days?

"I feel worse about him now," she said, citing what she viewed as his failure to adequately push for a public health care option and his deferential attitude toward misbehaving banks. "He just seems to be very self-interested and just continuing a run of bad choices, in my opinion."

The video we shot of Cleland back in August is below.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) paid a visit to Northern Virginia today in the hopes that his appeal among suburban voters might rub off on four fellow Democrats running for the House of Delegates: Incumbents Paul Nichols (Prince William) and Chuck Caputo (Fairfax/Loudoun), and newcomers John Bell (Loudoun/Prince William) and Mark Keam (Fairfax).

If you'll recall, Kaine won the 2005 gubernatorial race in part by emphasizing the issues that mattered to suburbanites: traffic, development and education. He became the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate in two decades to win Loudoun and Prince William counties, and he still enjoys a 71 percent approval rate in Northern Virginia, according to a recent Washington Post poll -- despite Republican efforts to paint him as a part-time governor because of his second job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

At least three Northern Virginia Democratic candidates for House of Delegates have asked their Republican opponents to condemn the views espoused by gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell (R) in his much-discussed 1989 graduate school thesis.

It's unlikely that Greg Werkheiser and John Bell, who are respectively challenging Republican delegates Dave Albo and Bob Marshall, and Scott A. Surovell, who is up against Jay McConville (R) for the seat being vacated by Kris Amundson (D), actually expected a response. But one of them got one today.

Albo said in a phone interview that he did not know of Werkheiser's demand, but called the past assertion by McDonnell that working mothers are detrimental to the family "ridiculous."

"I think what Bob said [in the thesis] was ridiculous, but I know Bob McDonnell the legislator now and he's one of the best legislators who has ever served in Virginia," Albo said.

Jeffrey M. Frederick promised to fight for the Virginia Republican party chairmanship. Signs of his public campaign surfaced this afternoon when the party faithful received robo calls urging them to stick with him.

The calls, which appear to be sent to people who attended the party convention, say Richmond elitists are behind the effort to oust him. The culprits are pro-tax, anti-gun and pro-choice, according to the recorded message. And it explicitly calls out GOP gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell, who waded into battle over Frederick's fitness to serve.

Earlier this month the state party's governing body asked Del. Frederick (R-Prince William) to resign after a series of missteps, internal squabbles and the party's election losses last year. Frederick faces a vote to remove him at an emergency state central committee meeting next month.

Frederick campaigned for the job of chairman last year as a young, energetic leader who blamed his predecessor for failures at the ballot box. But many now consider his short tenure a failure, citing his lackluster fundraising, his disputes with Sen. John McCain's campaign team and his ill-timed remark comparing Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden.

The Virginia Republican party's governing body has asked state chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick to resign after a series of missteps, internal disagreements and the party's election losses last year.

Frederick (R-Prince William) has not said whether he will resign or face a vote to remove him at an emergency state central committee meeting next month. He and his spokesman did not return phone calls today.

Frederick campaigned for the job of chairman last year as a young, energetic leader who blamed his predecessor for failures at the polls. But many now consider his short tenure a failure.

In November, Republicans lost a U.S. Senate seat, three U.S. House seats and their 44-year-old hold on Virginia's 13 presidential electoral votes.

Frederick's critics said his lackluster fundraising, his disputes with Sen. John McCain's campaign team and his ill-timed remark comparing Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden did nothing to help.

Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (R-Prince William), chairman of the state GOP, is keeping his pledge to not seek re-election in November, but is trying to convince his wife, Amy, to run for his seat.

In a letter this morning, Frederick asks supporters to help urge his wife to run by visiting www.VoteAmy.com.

"While Amy hasn't yet made a final decision yet, she is leaning towards running but could use some extra convincing,'' he wrote. "As a mom and someone who has spent her career and life working for those less fortunate and providing a voice to those that needed one, I think she'd make a great delegate."

Fredrerick is completing his third two-year term. He vowed not to run for a fourth term if elected chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. His wife is a frequent visitor to Richmond and is often seen on the House floor with the couple's two young daughters.

Text of the full letter is below:

Barack Obama brought his 21-month campaign to a close tonight before what was called one of the largest gatherings in Prince William County history.

Tonight's "Change We Need" rally in Manassas was the Democrat's final campaign appearance before Tuesday's election.

Obama ended his general election campaign where it started -- in Virginia. After winning the Democratic nomination in June, Obama held rallies in Bristol and at Nissan Pavilion in Bristow in Prince William County.

"Despite what our opponents may say, there are no real or fake parts of Virginia, any more then there are real or fake parts of America," Obama said. "Virginia, your voice can change the world tomorrow."

Prince William County Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) made his third appearance before members of Congress today.

This time Stewart provided testimony to Republican members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration. The subject on tap this Sept. 11 was, "Unnecessary Crimes: The Toll of Illegal Alien Criminal on American Families."

The hearing was stacked with a sympathetic audience. Tears interrupted the emotional testimony of the victims' families.

But by the time the hearing turned to Stewart and a Houston Police Officers Union representative, the tears were substituted with applause.

"Local leadership alone cannot get the job done," Stewart said, after citing crime rate statistics and telling stories about crimes committed in Prince William.

When he spoke to the subcommittee a year ago, all its members were there. This time, only the GOP members heard what he had to say.

"I am disappointed to see that the majority party no longer considers this issue a priority," Stewart said. "Unfortunately, at the local level, we don't have the luxury to ignore it."

Looks like Sean T. Connaughton won't be returning to elected office anytime soon.

President Bush announced today that he intends to nominate Connaughton to be Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission for the remainder of a five-year term, through June 2012.

Connaughton has served as Administrator of the Maritime Administration at the Department of Transportation for the last two years.

Connaughton, who resigned as Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to accept the Bush administration appointment, lost a bid to be the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor in 2005.

There has long been talk he would run for statewide office again when the Bush administration ended, but he's apparently put those plans on hold. . . for now.

A month after the Democratic candidate dropped out of the race to challenge U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R), the party has found someone else to run in Virginia's 1st Congressional District, which includes part of Prince William County.

Bill Day, a mental health counselor from Warrenton who lost to Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, (R-Prince William) in 2007, will run for the seat in November.

"With Bill Day responding to the call to service, we now have a Democratic candidate who can join with Barack Obama and Mark Warner to bring change to our district, to our Commonwealth and to our country,'' said Suzette Matthews, chairwoman of the First Congressional District.

It's a little early, but former U.S. Marine and retired Secret Service veteran Mike Hodge, has filed for the House of Delegates 52nd District. The seat isn't up until 2009.

Hodge, a Democrat, apparently wants to stake his claim on the seat while the plans of Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (R-Prince William) are still up in the air. Frederick, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, initially vowed not to seek re-election next year if he was elected chair. But last month he said he may reconsider that pledge.

Hodge, who lives in Montclair, is touting his military and law enforcement background. He oversees the corporate security department at Washington Gas.

With Virginia shaping up as a battleground in the presidential contest between Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.),a few counties and cities will be key in deciding whether the state goes blue this year for the first time since 1964.

Just as the national map can be sliced into blue, red and purple states, so, too, can Virginia's 134 counties and cities.

In Northern Virginia, political analysts say, Obama will probably win in Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax counties, given recent voting patterns. Democrats also usually rack up big wins in Richmond, Norfolk and Charlottesville. McCain will probably have a strong advantage in rural counties in western and southern Virginia.

What follows is a list of 10 Virginia locations that could be up for grabs.

Prince William County Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) testified before the House Republican Policy Committee on immigration enforcement this afternoon.

Not sure exactly what he had to say, since he spoke "extemporaneously" -- his office sent out a release announcing his appearance after the hearing started. The last time Stewart testified before Congress, he veered from the county-prepared text, upsetting some supervisors.

On his way into the Board of Supervisors meeting, which started before he made it back to Prince William, he said he spoke about the "remarkable success of the crackdown on illegal immigration," citing a 19.3 percent decrease in the crime rate.

U.S Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) penned a hot letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon requesting he not send a human rights official to Prince William County to inspect the treatment of immigrant workers here.

Earlier this week, Jorge A. Bustamante, a U.N. special rapporteur for human rights of migrants, called off a visit planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. The immigrant advocate group Mexicans Without Borders welcomed the scrutiny, saying the county's illegal immigration crackdown has "created a climate where suspicion and terror thrive."

Wolf countered that the U.N. has "consistently failed to protect the human rights," of people in the Darfur region of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in his letter to Ban-Ki Moon.

"Rather than planning visits to communities in America, the UNÖ should be putting its energy toward responding to this and other human rights abuses around the globe," Wolf wrote. "I respectfully request that you ensure that UN Special Rapporteur Bustamante does not reschedule his visit to Prince William County."

Bustamante technically postponed his trip. No word yet on when he will reschedule.

Democrat Gerald E. Connolly of Fairfax County, the top elected official of the region's largest jurisdiction, won a decisive primary victory yesterday in Northern Virginia's 11th Congressional District against former representative Leslie L. Byrne.

But with less than 6 percent of registered voters participating in the election, the results don't say a whole lot about what could happen come November.

Connolly beat Byrne with nearly 58 percent of the vote to her 33 percent. In raw numbers, however, he won by just over 6,000 votes -- little more than 1 percent of the 11th Congressional District's 446,000 active registered voters.

Jeffrey Frederick, a conservative state delegate from Prince William, was elected chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia today at the state convention, defeating incument John H. Hager.

The vote tally was not announced this afternoon. Instead, Hager asked that Frederick be elected by acclamation after it became evident the incumbent had lost.

"The Republican Party is strong in many places around our great Virginia, but statewide we've got some issues," Frederick said.

Prince William County supervisors continue to deal with the aftermath of budget cuts.

Several citizens showed up at today's board meeting to lament cuts to the county's budget, including the Manassas senior day program.

One of the people who spoke was the wife of Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is locked in a tight race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate with James S. Gilmore.

Cathy Marshall said her 80-year-old father, Edward Fonseca, uses the senior day program several times a week. She implored the board to reconsider its decision.

A week after the Prince William Board of County Supervisors changed its hallmark illegal immigration enforcement, supervisors continue to argue over whether it was rolled back or expanded.

The board voted unanimously last Tuesday to direct police officers to question criminal suspects about their immigration status after an arrest is made. The policy the board approved in October ordered officers to check the legal status of all suspects, no matter how minor the offense, if they had reason to believe the person might be in the country unlawfully.

Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) has raised $52,000 for his U.S. Senate bid in the first three months of this year, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that were due this week.

His Republican rival, former governor James S. Gilmore III (R) raised $396,000. Probable Democratic nominee Mark R. Warner, also a former governor, raised $2.5-million.

Prince William County Supervisors can't seem to agree on much of anything lately.

For more than a year they put off making a decision about what to do with 230 acres of parkland in the western end of Prince William County. After a late night meeting earlier this week, the board put it off again.

This time supervisors asked County Executive Craig S.Gerhart to fix it.

Nearly 100 people spoke at a hearing last night on the Prince William County budget. Although many people thought the county's illegal immigration policy would dominate the testimony, the crackdown took a back seat to firefighters, who showed up in droves.

Several firefighters implored the Board of County Supervisors to fully fund this year's proposed budget, which upgrades the department to regional and national standards. The updates were prompted in large part by the death of firefighter Kyle R. Wilson last year.

"This budget was driven by one priority and that was safety," said Adam Mowry, a career firefighter. "We need to catch up. Funding anything less would be nothing short of irresponsible."