Miss a week, miss a lot...

I'm out of it for a little while and everyone gets delusions of grandeur. -- Han Solo

Faithful readers have no doubt noticed that this space hasn't been updated recently, at a time when news is flowing out of Capitol Square and Washington, D.C., by the bucketful. Yes, the Cheap Seats have been empty, but for a very good reason.

But now we're back and picking up the tidbits that fell through the cracks while I was otherwise detained. Like that attempted palace coup in the Virginia Senate...

Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, and his fellow members of the Commonwealth Caucus very nearly converted the state's upper legislative chamber from Democratic control to a two-party split. But the deal fell apart after some heavy arm twisting from Gov. Tim Kaine or, depending on who's answering the question, a premature Twitter tweet by GOP Chairman Jeff Frederick.

VA Blogger over at Too Conservative has a solid collection of news and notes from around the state's chattering class.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, explains what happened from his perspective here.

While all that was going on, there was also a dust-up over two bills that would require any auto manufacturers that go out of business to buy back stock from auto dealers. The bills are patroned by Del. Clay Athey, R-Front Royal, and Sen. Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg.

Supporters say it's only fair to auto dealers hurt by the Big Three's problems, but opponents say it's at best a subversion of the free market, and at worst a conflict of interest for Norment, who owns a minority stake in an auto dealership.

 Jim Hoeft over at Bearing Drift isn't a fan. Neither is Ben Tribbett over at Not Larry Sabato.

Athey explained his reasoning behind the bill as such...

            "My HB 1778 ensures that a small part of the Federal bailout money GM, Ford, and Chrysler received last month will be shared with Virginia car dealerships which may be forced to close their doors because the cars they sell and service will no longer be manufactured," Athey wrote.

"This bill provides them a way to attract other manufacturers to replace the Detroit Three saving local jobs. Protecting home town dealerships and their employees should be our top priority in this time of economic uncertainty not bailing out the corporate CEO's in Detroit whose bad decisions have brought the domestic auto industry to its knees," he wrote"

It's going to be a very long week in Richmond.