Here's the full text of Obama's statement on meeting with the GOP....

Just in case, the emphasis is added.

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  By the way, for those of you who are curious, we're using this room because we've got about a hundred volunteers decorating the White House.  So we're spending a little more time in the EEOB.

I just wrapped up a meeting with leaders from both parties. It was our first chance to get together face to face since the election to talk about how we can best work together to move the country forward. 

It’s no secret that we have had differences that have led us to part ways on many issues in the past.  But we are Americans first, and we share a responsibility for the stewardship of our nation.  The American people did not vote for gridlock.  They didn’t vote for unyielding partisanship.  They’re demanding cooperation and they’re demanding progress.  And they’ll hold all of us –- and I mean all of us –- accountable for it.  And I was very encouraged by the fact that there was broad recognition of that fact in the room. 

I just want to say I thought it was a productive meeting.  I thought that people came to it with a spirit of trying to work together.  And I think it’s a good start as we move forward.

I think everybody understands that the American people want us to focus on their jobs, not ours.  They want us to come together around strategies to accelerate the recovery and get Americans back to work.  They want us to confront the long-term deficits that cloud our future.  They want us to focus on their safety and security, and not allow matters of urgent importance to become locked up in the politics of Washington. 

Cantor hits CNN to talk about summit with GOP and Obama....

President Barack Obama met with the Republican leadership on Tuesday and tonight U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor is taking to CNN to discuss the meeting.

Cantor is the new House Majority leader in the House, and he'll wield a significant amount of power over the next two years as Republicans attempt to regain their footing in Congress and push back against Obama and Democrats.

Cantor's in a pretty precarious position though, because he and new House Speaker John Boehner are going to have to find a way to make policy headway - and reduce the deficit.

There is plenty of talk about how earmarks need to go - just look at the delgue today - but anyone with a good calculator knows that the problem goes much higher the the small amount of taxpayer money doled out through earmarks. And at least one Republican has already decided to ignore the idea of halting earmarks.

That said Obama's in a pretty precarious position right now too.

Here's an early report on the meeting which says they exchanged kind words but made no deals on the expiring Bush tax cuts.

The interview is expected sometime between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. with Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room. And Blitzer will have other guests as well.

Here's the announcement: Tonight CNN’s Wolf Blitzer will interview Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and senior adviser to President Obama David Axelrod on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer to discuss the White House meeting with Republican leaders, the aftermath of the WikiLeaks, goals of the lame-duck Congress and much more.

Sen. Norment to face GOP challenger Mark Frechette in 2011....

A local tea party activist appears set on challenging Sen. Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment for his seat in the Virginia Senate in 2011, even though it's unclear exactly what the district is going to look like.

Norment, the Senate Minority Leader, has been in the General Assembly for more than a decade and he's a tough campaigner who has survivied stiff challenges before - remember his knock down drag out race against Paul Jost?

But Norment represents a largely conservative district - check out how the folks voted in all the recent statewide elections and you get a sense that the only logical challenge is coming from the right.   

Enter Mark Frechette, a local tea party activists who has already set up to run against Norment. Frechette's name is up on the Virginia Public Access Project, the non-partisan campaign finance watchdog, and he also got a bit of mention in a recent Washington Post article on the tea party turning attention to state legislatures.

This snippet from the post includes quotes from Karen Hurd, one of the leaders of the Hampton Roads Tea Party.

Leading Republicans in the state Senate have repeatedly joined Democrats on budget issues, often clashing with more conservative members of the GOP who control the House of Delegates.

"The RINOs know who they are," Hurd said, referring to those she thinks are "Republicans in name only."

"Any Republican who's voted for tax increases or who's voted to restrict our rights under the Second Amendment," she said, "they should definitely be looking over their shoulders."

Already, a tea party-backed candidate has announced that he plans to challenge the Senate's leading Republican, Thomas K. Norment (James City County), for the GOP nomination.

By targeting sitting Republicans, the tea party will probably clash with the GOP establishment in some areas. Elsewhere, they would work with Republican leaders to back conservative candidates. Regardless, Hurd said, the goal will be to help tea party candidates win Republican nominations rather than to run third-party campaigns.

So Frechette didn't get him name in the Post yet - but you get the idea.

Frechette is not to be confused with the 1970's actor of the same name - so make sure you get specific about your Google search. According to VPAP's donation database Frechette hasn't given much cash ever to Virginia political candidates - Republican or Democrat. In fact this is the only Frechette we could find.

Frechette has set up a website, where he offers up his views which include ending legal abortion in Virginia, dropping the state's income tax rate to a flat 5% and setting up term limits for members of the Virginia House and Senate. According to his site he's a Army veteran who came to Hampton Road when he was stationed at Fort Eustis.

"As far as my politics are concerned, I am a conservative libertarian. That is, I hold to traditional family values, I think that we should stop trying to push God out of government (but not force Him on government either), and I think that the federal government should strictly adhere to the limitations laid out in the Constitution of the United States, especially to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

According to VPAP, Frechette lives in Hayes Virginia, across the water from Norment's James City base. So redistricting might get even more interesting around Hayes this year.

The funny thing is with census numbers not coming in until February, and the new state maps needing a sign off from the Department of Justice - there's no telling exactly what Norment's district is going to look like when the primary comes around.

Add in the fact that the primary is probably going to be delayed until the late summer - the set up is very different that traditional Virginia elections. VPAP has the early guess on the primaries - which usually hit in June - are going to be August 16, 2011. But that remains to be hashed out.

Either way it looks like arguably the most influential lawmaker in Hampton Roads is going to have to prepare to defend his seat in Richmond next year.  

 

Benefit throughout Hampton Roads Wed. for slain Norfolk officer Victor Decker...

There's an all day benefit in the middle of next week for the wife and daughter of slain Norfolk officer Victor Decker.

There have already been a handful of events for Decker's wife, Dawn, and the couple's young daughter Charlotte since the 25-year-old Decker was found shot in Virginia Beach in late October. This time around all nine of the A.J. Gators in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are pledging a cut of sales to go to Decker's family.

The focal point is the downtown Granby Street location - 244 Granby Street - which is a bar along where Decker used to walk a beat. That Gators location will be holding raffles and auctioning off gift certificates in honor of Decker, who made a host of friends in the various waterholes in Norfolk's nightlife district.

My wife works at the downtown location a couple nights a week, and Decker was a consistent, friendly face. He would walk workers to their cars if they worked the late shift just to be safe - gave out his cell phone number to folks just in case they saw anything or needed any help. He embodied the "protect and serve" spirit - always watching out for others, always willing to lend a hand.

The benefit starts at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday and runs until the bars close down at 2:00 a.m.   

Here are the locations - Norfolk - 244 Granby Street, 7544 Granby Street.

Chesapeake - 1245 F. Cedar Road, 1464 Mt. Pleasant Road, 4300 Portsmouth Boulevard.

Virginia Beach - 3908 Holand Road, 5218 Fairfield Shopping Center, 1637 Hilltop West Shopping Center, 2947 Shore Drive.  

The "Hack Thirty": Salon.com's no-holds-barred evaluations of the country's 30 worst political pundits

For those of you looking for a guilty pleasure while doing your pre-holiday baking, keep your recipe on one window of your laptop and this link to Salon.com on another.

It will take you to a feature that Salon "War Room" writer Alex Pareene has been running since Monday called the "Hack Thirty" and it will give you some chuckles -- or raise your hackles -- while you knead the dough.

Pareene lists the people he considers to be the 30 worst political commentators in the country -- "the most predictable, dishonest and just plain stupid pundits in the media" -- and explains why in glorious full-rant detail.

A few highlights to give you the flavor:

No. 30: David Brooks. "He is simply the laziest smart writer on the planet."

No. 26: Jeffrey Goldberg. "There's a special circle of hell for the journalist whose mendacity or incompetence directly leads to actual war."

No. 21: S.E. Cupp. "An atheist...S.E. Cupp is the sort of commentator who'll declare creationism legitimate solely because liberal scientists say it isn't."

No. 17: Bill Kristol. "His very first column misattributed a quote and he continued getting routine stuff wrong on a regular basis because he just didn't care."

No. 11: George Will. "The guy's as utterly amoral as the loudest talk radio shouter, and he's a living example of the truth that there's never any punishment for bad behavior in punditland."

No. 5: Marty Peretz. "Because Peretz fancies himself both the nation's foremost authority on Middle Eastern affairs and a scintillating writer, he has named himself editor in chief of the magazine (New Republic), and his work goes up before a grown-up can look it over."

Looking for the four worst of the worst? Go to that Salon link. Pareene is supposed to finish the list today.

Rove to speak at Chamber of Commerce economic summit

Karl Rove -- the senior adviser, deputy chief of staff and campaign strategist for President George W. Bush -- will be the featured speaker Dec. 2 at the Virginia Chamber of Commerce economic summit at the Kings Mill Resort in Williamsburg.

Tickets are $90 for members, $125 for non-members and seating is limited to somewhere around 400.

According to the chamber's announcement, "Rove will speak on 'Where Does America Go From Here,' discussing the repercussions of the 2010 national midterm elections and what our leaders in
Washington need to do to create prosperity in America."

Here's a link to the full chamber announcement.

To register, visit the chamber's website at www.vachamber.com.

The GOP Christmas store is open

Attention GOP shoppers!

Want to avoid the crush at black Friday and show your colors come Christmas? Looking for that stuffed elephant stocking stuffer?

The GOP Christmas store is now open at GOPStore.com.

Here's a quick look at a few featured items:

For the fighting spirit of Christmas...

The 2010 stuffed elephant is a "limited edition."

And the official 2010 RNC ornament.

Happy shopping!

 

 

Webb leads Allen by 4 points in "hypothetical" rematch of 2006 race...

It's a little early for the 2012 election cycle - as UVA's Larry Sabato showed everyone last week - but a new poll from the folks at Public Policy Polling suggests that Virginia U.S. Sen. Jim Webb remains ahead of the man everyone in the state expects to run against him - former U.S. Sen. George Allen.

Webb, a Democrat, has been the center of speculation recently that he might not even opt to run for re-election. But Webb never exactly warmed to the campaign trail, so it's no surprise that he's not quite ready to start up the re-match of a 2006 race that was decided by a nose.

Meanwhile, Allen continues to play coy, and considering how far of Election Day 2012 is that's probably a good strategy, because folks are always going to want to ask him if he's officially running - and that keeps his name in the papers and circulating on TV. If Allen makes it official folks won't have much to ask him about for another year or so.

Allen's number in the poll aren't going to WOW anybody on either side of the aisle, but it's interesting to note that he does better in polling then both Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a pair of Republicans that conservatives believe are bound for higher offices.

Cuccinelli, in fact, appears to have angered many folks on the left, a stat that he surely embraces given his firebrand nature - but one that doesn't bode well for another statewide contest.

Allen however trails former Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in a hypothetical matchup for the Senate seat, should Kaine need to step in for Webb. The detail is good for political wonks especially the folks who are trying to look down the bench for either party in search of new leaders.

Check out all the data here.  Or click below.

Rep.-elect Rigell's Chesapeake car dealership to close down.....

U.S. Rep.-elect Scott Rigell ran as an entrepreneur and a job creator, but just a few weeks after he beat U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye it appears that one of his Hampton Roads car dealerships is closing its doors by the end of the year is being sold off.

Rigell told the folks over at Wavy that he hopes to transfer most of the workforce to his other two dealerships from the Lincoln Mercury site in Chesapeake, and that the layoffs would primarily involve service and maintenance staffers - which they hope to help find jobs - by arranging interviews with with the new owners and other nearby dealers.

Rigell said that the closing came because Ford is poised to stop producing Mercury vehicles by the end of the year. Here's a link to the Wavy report.

You might remember this ad from the campaign trail.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott dissents on House Ethics investigation of Rep. Charlie Rangel....

U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott believes that some lawmakers are pushing for too strong a punishment for ethics violations brought against Harlem lawmaker U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel.

Scott, a Newport News Democrat, was on the investigatory subcommittee that wrote a bakers dozen of ethics violations against Rangel stemming from tax problems to a campaign office in a rent-controlled apartment and a villa in the Dominican Republic. 

Scott said that Rangel made mistakes and was sloppy, but he did not act in a corrupt or self-serving way, and the House of Representatives Ethics Committee should opt to serve Rangel with a "letter of reproval from the House."

Scott even authored a 65-page dissent that just became public this week. Here's a bit of Scott's defense.

"While representative Rangel engaged in serious and irresponsible conduct that violated House Rules and other applicable standeds, none of his conduct was done intentionally to circumvent the ethical guidelines or to use his official position for personal finacial gain. The investigative committee should have made this fact sufficiently clear in its now public Statement of Alleged Violation."

 The Hill has more on Scott's dissent here.

Here's a good breakdwon - scene setter for folks unfamiliar with Rangel's ethics problems.