Much of what we've been talking about around here recently has to do with the legacy of recent Republican control of the General Assembly and whether continuing that control would be a good or bad thing for the Republican party in general.

However, elections are not just about what you've done, but also about what you are going to do. Unfortunately, the Democrats in this election are not at all interested in providing voters with a positive vision for the future. What they are interested in is bashing President Bush, bashing Congressional Republicans, and trying to convince Virginia voters that the Republicans are mean and nasty guys who are going to steal your lunch money. If you ask me, the main reason for this strategy is simply that the Democrats do not WANT Virginians to know what they are for because they know that if their extreme liberal agenda were exposed, they would never win.

To put it simply, these are not your father's Democrats and to elect them would be to approve of, among other things, a higher tax burden on all Virginians, a rollback of Virginia's right-to-work and gun rights laws, a vast expansion of state bureaucracy, providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants, and a fiscally irresponsible raid of the Commonwealth's rainy day fund at a time of economic growth.

On the other hand, the Republicans currently running for state office are putting forth a positive vision for Virginia's future and working to accomplish real governmental reform, rather than simply throw wrenches in the system for political gain. Like it or not, these Republicans worked hard to find a compromise solution on transportation funding without the statewide tax increase that Governor Kaine desired. While the legislation wasn't perfect, I'd much rather have Republicans than Democrats doing the tweaking next year that's needed to make it better.

As for what else the GOP hopes to accomplish, there is still a great deal left to do in terms of regulatory reform, improving Virginia's ability to help enforce federal immigration laws, meeting our school construction needs, improving access to quality health care, improving mental health services, and enforcing fiscal responsibility by protecting the Rainy Day Fund and reforming the property tax assessment process. These are just a few of the more than 20 proposals that GOP legislators have rolled out as priorities for the next legislative session.

Of course, the best way to derail these positive agenda items is to give control of one or both houses of the General Assembly to the liberal Democrats. All of us are frustrated by a lot of the things going on in Washington these days, but this election is about Richmond, not Washington. That's why, when you go to the polls this Election Day, it is important to ask yourself what the candidates are FOR, not just who they're against. I have no doubt that if the voters of Virginia ask themselves this question, the Republicans will still be in control come Wednesday morning.