I rarely blog about politics in my own backyard (i.e., Virginia), principally because the political scene here has been pretty demoralizing for Republicans over the last few years (see: Mark Warner (x2), Tim Kaine and Jim Webb wins, not to mention Democratic poaching of various Republican congressional and state Senate seats). However, today I'm going to make an exception. This is not as a result of any big, hot, sexy news pertaining to the gubernatorial race. In all honesty, I'd expected to be writing about that more, but Creigh Deeds has proven to be so utterly incompetent that he's made what should have been a "must watch" race into nothing short of a gigantic snooze fest that seems to have Bob McDonnell walking at a steady pace towards the finish line while Deeds whimpers, limps and yells in the background, incomprehensibly. The most I'll say on that is that this bumper sticker (H/T Mason Conservative) is extremely indicative of what seems to be going on, on the VA-Gov front.

No, the purpose of this post is to highlight a rather different indicator of a possible demonstrable improvement in Republican fortunes-- in Arlington County, of all places....

From the AP:

Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries - businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

Well, this seems like a victory for federalism, and frankly for common sense. Indeed, it is not a good use of law enforcement time to go after state law-compliant pot smokers....

From Crain's:

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful David Hoffman late Thursday released copies of his federal income tax returns for the past five years and, with a sharp shot at competitor Alexi Giannoulias, challenged him to do the same.

[...]

Mr. Hoffman also repeated his pledge to place his assets in a blind trust if he's elected to the Senate, and challenged Mr. Giannoulias to match him.

"The personal finances of each candidate should be of interest to voters, especially given the serious concerns that have been raised about the shareholders of Broadway Bank -- 100% owned by the Giannoulias family-- who pulled $70 million in dividends out of the bank just as increased loan defaults put the family's bank on shaky financial ground, according to a recently published report" in Crain's Chicago Business, Mr. Hoffman said in a statement.

"It's a simple request -- full and complete transparency of personal tax returns," the statement added.

A simple request, maybe, but one to which it's doubtful Giannoulias will succumb, given that transparency, especially with regard to Broadway Bank-connected matters, would seem to run directly counter to Giannoulias' interests. ...