Delegate Kenneth "Ken" R. Plum, Reston Democrat, helped open the House of Delegates today by sharing with House Speaker William J. Howell, Stafford County Republican, his new state-issued license plate.

"Maybe you can help me interpret it," Plum said, holding up the plate. "These are the plates that came from DMV."

The plate featured the number 5 and the following: "Speaker of the House of Delegates."

"Are you throwing in the towel?" he asked Howell, generating hoots and howls from the 100-member body. “Do you want me to be co-Speaker?”

Hinting at the Democratic pickups in recent elections that have cut into the Republican majority in the House, he asked, "Or could it be, Mr. Speaker, that it is a prediction of things to come?"

To which the quick-witted Howell responded, "You need to save that — it may become a collector's item."

— Seth McLaughlin, Virginia politics reporter, The Washington Times