Hi George,

Last week I received an interesting mail solicitation from the Virginia Democratic Caucus telling me that "Virginia deserves better" than Republican control with whom "fiscal responsibility has taken a back seat to moral benchmarking and political posturing."

The letter repeatedly laid our current fiscal crisis at the door of irresponsible Republican governors and legislators. Claiming that democrats are returning "fiscal responsibility, civility, and honest intellectual debate" to Virginia, it asked for my financial support to help elect democrats in two special elections. The letter repeated mentioned several times how fiscally irresponsible the republicans are and how fiscally responsible the Democrats are.

Turning to the reply card enclosed, I was surprised to see the line at top the read "I'LL HELP THE VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS RETIRE THEIR DEBT TO INSURE A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS!"

Do you suppose they put the wrong reply card in my letter?

Maggie Unsworth (electronic mail, October 18, 2002)