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By JOHN GOOLRICK
My long years of political reporting convinced me that Virginians in the good old summertime want beaches and sun and picnics and cold beer and water sports.
But they most assuredly don’t want politics.
Trust me on this one. In the fall I could write incisive descriptions of battles on campaign trails between. Fairfax and Grundy with the expectation that many would then be paying attention.
I could also send dispatches from Richmond during winter months when the Virginia General Assembly was hotly debating the big issue of the moment and people would respond. Some even wrote letters to the editor expressing their opinions.
But except for those hopelessly hooked junkies who will read anything with the slightest political connection such stories written in the blistering months of July and August are about as welcome as a rainy weekend at the beach.
Even so because politicians don’t take the summer off, political reporters have to write stuff that nobody really want to read as the game is played out.
Within the past week I’ve seen four or five different stories on the campaign of Democrat Mark Warner for U.S. Senate and potshots taken at the Democrat by Republican incumbent John Warner.
I’ve seen articles about fund raising activities or campaigning by three GOP candidates for lieutenant governor in 1997? Does anybody seriously believe that the average Virginian
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