Political Notebook: Obama Re-elect, Allen Flip-flops and the Race to Succeed Mary Margaret Whipple

Welcome to the beginning of what I hope will be a regular feature on this Patch: a political notebook, a collection of news and notes from Arlington and across the commonwealth.

Full disclosure: I'm a novice when it comes to Virginia politics. I spent the last six years covering South Carolina politics, which is a bit of a different animal — not to mention the political culture is a 180-degree shift from Northern Virginia.

But I'm eager to learn — not just about the issues and the elected officials, but the political operatives, the bloggers, the activists. Feel free to email tips, links or event notices to jason.spencer@patch.com, or call me at (571) 480-0624.

We'll start with three items of interest:

* The Obama campaign blanketed Virginia this weekend with volunteers hosting voter-registration drives.

While Obama carried Virginia by about six points in 2008, the next year the commonwealth sent Republican Bob McDonnell to the Governor's Office and in 2010 much of Virginia rode the Republican wave that swept the country.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Obama campaign is banking on solid-blue areas like Arlington County stay true to help offset potential losses in other parts of the state.

* Blue Virginia has interviews up with Arlington County Board Member Barbara Favola and Jaime Areizaga-Soto, an attorney and lieutenant colonel in the National Guard's JAG Corps.

Favola and Areizaga-Soto are fighting for the Democratic nod for the state Senate seat being vacated by Mary Margaret Whipple. The primary winner will face Republican Caren Merrick in November.

Areizaga-Soto calls on Favola to either resign or return campaign money she has taken from a developer. Favola says she will not resign, and that she is not taking money from any developer who has business before the Arlington County Board for the next six months.

Favola also said the county board has had an "informal policy" of not taking contributions from developers.

* Finally, the Washington Post reports on the changing position of one-time (and possibly future) Sen. George Allen regarding ethanol subsidies.

Allen, a Republican, is taking heat from tea party candidate Jamie Radtke, who is also seeking the GOP nomination.

While it remains to be seen how formidable Radtke will ultimately be as a candidate, the strict financial conservatism tea party activists have (re?)infused into the Republican base could make this a sticking point.

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The Arlington County Republican Committee meets at 7:30 p.m. June 29 at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association building, 4301 Wilson Blvd. A half-hour social time precedes the meeting.

The Arlington County Democratic Committee's general membership meeting is 7 to 9 p.m. July 6, also at the NRECA.