Richmond’s new Mayor–our former colleague Dwight Jones–has announced that Suzette Denslow, formerly Governor Kaine’s Legislative Director, will be his chief of staff.

He couldn’t have made a better choice. We have worked together on many legislative issues. She’s smart, she works hard, and she really masters the details.

She pointed out to me that her new office in City Hall will actually be CLOSER to the General Assembly Building than her former office.

It didn’t work. We’re still going to miss her, even while we wish her (and our friend the new Mayor) all the best.

The folks over at Blue Commonwealth have come up with a nifty new tool. It’s an interactive House of Delegates map. With a quick click, you can get basic information about the district.

Currently, the map tells viewers where the district is located, who represents it, and 2008 voting data. But Blue Commonwealth plans to update it by linking to blog posts about that district or the person who represents it.

Might as well just bookmark this right now.

Here are the best political ones. The #1 entry on “Top 10 Political Sketches From Saturday Night Live” may be my favorite for the year.

Yesterday Virginia’s Presidential Electors met in Richmond for the ceremony officially bestowing our 13 electoral votes on President-elect Obama. As Governor Kaine noted, December 15 is Bill of Rights Day — the day Virginia ratified the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. He also observed that the Capitol, the scene of this historic event, earlier was the Capitol of the Confederacy and the place where Massive Resistance was hatched as a legislative strategy to thwart integration. It also was where in 1970 a newly sworn-in Governor (a Republican, his father-in-law Linwood Holton) pledged to make Virginia a model for race relations in the United States, and where 20 years later the grandson of slaves (L. Douglas Wilder) became the first black to be elected Governor in the U.S.

In case you had any doubt there was a website for every interest, Logo Design Love shows the alternatives that were considered in coming up with the now-iconic Obama Campaign logo. This is my favorite second choice:

Not so much this one — it would invite a trademark infringement suit from Playboy:

Let’s face it (and present company absolutely included), most of us in this line of work don’t even pretend to be rocket scientists.

But boy, isn’t it nice to know that the person overseeing the response to the energy crisis and global warming actually IS? And a Nobel prize winner to boot.

That Americans for Prosperity and I agree. But today the group (usually known for its strong position against any taxes) has taken on the practice of killing bills in subcommittee without a recorded vote.

“Open government is good no matter what party you’re in,” said Ben Marchi, the group’s state director.

The issue became important only when subcommittees were given the right to kill legislation. That has meant that as few as three legislators (subcommittees can be as small as five) can kill a bill.

AFP joins good government advocates (such as the League of Women Voters), the business community, and House Democrats in advocating for this rules change.

As I have noted earlier, I have come (quite) late to Facebook. But today I began to see some of the benefits.

It is, ahem, a date of some significance in my life – the 30th anniversary of my 29th birthday. And largely because of Facebook, it’s been memorable – I heard from friends all over the country.

Not sure I’m going to become an obsessive Facebook reader. But this was pretty great.

UPDATE: All this and a 35-point Carolina win? What a gift!

Barack Obama won Virginia because of a lot of people who made up their minds late (in some cases, not until they were in the voting booth).

So what do they want their new President to do? Slate reports on a focus group conducted by Pollster Peter Hart.

Their goals are realistic–none expects the economy to get fixed tomorrow. But they are insistent that they want the new President to change the tone in Washington. They want a pragmatic approach to solving the enormous problems facing the country.

They also reveal that they share one of the new President’s goals. Just as he is worrying about how he can stay in touch with the things that make him feel like a “normal” person, these voters are worried about the same thing. “Just don’t forget what life was like when your car had that hole,” one advised.