Delegate Robert G. Marshall, a candidate for U.S. Senate, today accused one of his Republicans rivals of "peddling fudge."

Countering a claim Monday from former Gov. Jim Gilmore's camp that Gilmore had "a clear majority of the convention delegates" in the nomination contest for the Senate seat that will be decided May 30-21 at the party's convention in Richmond, Marshall's spokesman Bill Kling dubbed it "more fudge than fact."

Kling says a lot of delegates will not be selected until this weekend, the race is "too close to call," and even "' President Dewey learned in 1948 that voters decide elections, not Republican pollsters peddling fudge."

Here is the remainder of the release:

"Finally, there's a troubling bit of history involving a political campaign trick.

The Gilmore campaign is directed by long-time Gilmore confidante Dick Leggitt, who testified in a Colorado court in 2006 that he fabricated polling data for a gubernatorial campaign he was managing there and gave it to a Denver Post reporter, a violation of state law. Leggitt resigned from that campaign 'one week after [he] admitted under oath that he sent false polling numbers to a reporter,' according to a May 6, 2006, article in the Rocky Mountain News.

'Leggitt said he sent bogus numbers to the Denver Post but called it ‘spin,’ ” the newspaper reported, 'and implied that it's a common practice among political operatives.'

No, Mr. Leggitt, not 'spin.' Fudge.

Webster's dictionary defines the non-sweet term as 'put together dishonestly or carelessly; fake.' We agree. Fudge. Completely baloney."

Marshall, Gilmore, and political newcomer Bob Berry will fight for the Republican nomination next month at a convention.

The winner will face popular former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat.

Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, will make two campaign stops tomorrow in Pennsylvania for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

The 'get-out-the-vote' events, in advance of the state's Democratic primary next week, will be in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, according to the governor's office.

Last year, Kaine, national co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign, became the first governor outside of a presidential candidates home state to throw support behind a White House hopeful.

Since then, he has campaigned for or with Obama in Iowa, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas. Kaine also helped the Obama easily win Virginia's Feb. 12 primary .

Here Kaine cranks up the crowd at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner.

State Sen. Mark Obenshain today made it official that he will not run for attorney general next year, clearing a potential obstacle in front of state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli's pursuit of the Republican nomination.

"Over the past several months I have been encouraged to run for Attorney General of Virginia," Obsenshain, Rockingham County Republican, said in an e-mail to supporters. "After great consideration and deliberation, I have decided that I will not be a candidate for that office in 2009."

In announcing his bid late last month, Cuccinelli, Fairfax Republican, said Obenshain would endorse his candidacy.

Other Republicans interested in the job include Delegate Rob Bell, of Albermarle County, and Paul Harris, a constituent of Cuccinelli and the first black Republican elected to the Virginia legislature since reconstruction.

Obenshain said he is "well suited" for the job, but it was too much to ask of his family.

"My family is the abiding consideration for me in deciding to forego a run at this time," he said. "I have two children in high school, and I am very proud of them. I understand the sacrifices my family would have to make in order for me to seek statewide office at this time, and they are too great."

In the testy race for state party chairman, incumbent John Hager today said his opponent, Delegate Jeffrey M. Frederick, has a "warped sense of reality."

Hager, who routinely criticized by Frederick for being on watch while Republicans lost seats in the state House and control of the state Senate, tried to set the record straight by releasing a letter from Lee Anne Washington, the Republican who lost in the February special election for the 99th House Seat against Democrat Albert Pollard.

"Rather than put words in her mouth as the opposition does, I would like to share a letter Lee Anne sent me regarding our efforts," he said in an e-mail blast to supporters.

In the April 3 letter, Washington states she: "greatly appreciate all the support you and [the Republican Party of Virginia] gave me during the extremely short campaign period" and thanked him for sharing "precious nuggets of campaign wisdom.

"I especially appreciate the personal telephone calls you made to prominent Republicans in the area who had not yet made up their minds about the election. Even though we did not win this time, the campaign was a success— taking a relatively unknown candidate to 42 percent of the vote in just five weeks. I look forward to working with RPV in the '09 race for the House of Delegates seat in my district."

Here is more from Hager's e-mail:

"Let me be clear: No matter what my opponent wants to say, he just does not get his facts straight. He is more concerned with tearing down our party — and me personally — than he is with building our party.

"This is a critical year for Republicans in Virginia. John McCain needs to be able to count on Virginia, our Senate nominee must beat Mark Warner, and we must defend our eight Congressional seats. This will only happen with all of us working together to grow our party, deliver our message, energize and get our people to the polls. Rewriting history and tearing down Republicans is not the way for us to succeed."

The race for party chairman will be decided at the Republican convention in May.

Doug Denneny, a Democrat running for Congress in Virginia's 11th Congressional District, today released some uncut flight footage of his March 2003 involvement in the "first non-stealth strike" of Baghdad during the "Shock and Awe" phase of the Iraq war.

The video includes refueling footage, the flash from cruise missile strikes, and commentary from Denneny.

Denneny, a retired commander, said he won the Distinguished Flying Cross with a 'V' for valor because of his role in leading the strike.

"Overall it was a heck of a night," he says.

Denneny is considered a long shot in his bid to secure his party's nomination in the 11th district against Democratic heavyweights Gerry Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne.

The Citizens for Government Waste this week released the "Pig Book," an annual compilation of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget.

"When Congress adopted earmark reforms last year, there was hope that the number and cost of earmarks would be cut in half. By any measure, that has not occurred," said group President Tom Schatz

The 2008 Pig Book identified 11,610 projects (the second highest total ever) at a cost of $17.2 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2008.

It awarded Rep. Virgil Goode, 5th District Republican, with one of the group's "Oinker" awards for $98,000 that was earmarked to develop a walking tour of Boydton.

"The town has a population of 474, and covers .82 square miles," the report states. "That's a lot of money for a short walk."

The trophy title
was pretty self explanatory: "This Pork Was Made for Walking Award."

Under the seven criteria the group uses to pinpoint waste, Virginia's $326 million in pork projects ranked 23rd out of the 50 states and the District in pork projects. The District ranked No. 10. Maryland ranked 22nd.

Here is a breakdown of projects for Virginia lawmakers, which included no money for Rep. Eric Cantor, 7th District Republican, who apparently made no earmarks requests for the second year in a row

Sen. Jim Webb (D) 121 projects: $254 million
Sen. John Warner (R) 122 projects: $251.2 million
Jo Ann Davis (R-1st) 12 projects: $18.7 million
Thelma Drake (R-2nd) 23 projects: $30.4 million
Bobby Scott (D-3rd) 31 projects: $69.1 million
Randy Forbes (R-4th) 18 projects: $18.5 million
Virgil Goode (R-5th) 41 projects: $21.7 million
Bob Goodlatte (R-6th) 11 projects: $2.3 million
Eric Cantor (R-7th) zero
Jim Moran (D-8th) 66 projects: $64.5 million
Rick Boucher (D-9th) 19 projects: $14.6 million
Frank Wolf (R-10) 17 projects: $47.6 million
Tom Davis (R-11) 29 projects: $54.9 million

A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Mark R. Warner still holds a solid lead over former Gov. Jim Gilmore in their expected U.S. Senate showdown.

The telephone survey found Warner, a Democrat, with a 55 to 39 percent lead against Gilmore, down slightly from February when he led 57 percent to 37 percent.

The poll summary states: "The economy is the most important issue for 38 percent of Virginia voters. Just 17 percent give the economy a good or excellent rating, while 37 percent give it a poor rating. Seventy-percent percent think the economy is getting worse, while just 9 percent say it's getting better.

The War in Iraq is the most important issue for 21 percent of voters. Forty-percent percent of Virginia voters say the situation in Iraq will improve in the next six months, while 31 percent believe it will worsen."

Another recent Rasmussen Reports survey also found that Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, "holds significant leads over both potential democratic candidates in general election match-ups in the Old Dominion."

The poll can be found here

— Seth McLaughlin, Virginia politics reporter, The Washington Times

Paul C. Harris, the first black Republican elected to the Virginia legislature since reconstruction, told me today that Sen. Ken Cuccinelli's decision to run for attorney general next year influences his potential bid only "in a sense that I tend to favor competition."

Mr. Harris, who celebrated his 44th birthday yesterday, repeated: "I like competition. I think for the party competition is healthy. I hope to make a decision to run by the end of the month."

As reported in my story today, Cuccinelli became the first Republican to enter the race next year, announcing his intentions at a news conference yesterday at the Fairfax government center.

Harris, a lawyer raised by a single mother in a Charlottesville housing project, became the first black Republican elected to the Virginia legislature in more than a century when he won the seat once held by Thomas Jefferson in 1997.

He is a graduate of Hampton University, where he was president of the student body and an Army ROTC member, and graduated from George Washington University's law school in 1995. Mr. Harris served in the Albemarle County seat from 1998 to 2001.

Lately, as chairman of the Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Harris has been traveling the state to promote entrepreneurship and free enterprise.

Though he considers Cuccinelli "a strong candidate," Harris said he still has the "itch" to work in public service that started when he was 12.

"The inch is really to be a servant leader," he said.

"I am carefully weighing the possibility of running for attorney general and continue to receive strong encouragement from party leaders and activists around the state," he said.

Asked which party leaders, he answered, "The names would be instantly recognized."

It is debatable whether they are as recognizable as his middle name: Clinton.