"With all the speculation over whether Virginia would go red or blue in the November election, a ticket of a different color has crashed the party. The Independent Green Party of Virginia has secured 70,000 signatures (seven times the requisite 10,000) to put their dream presidential ticket on the ballot: New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) with Texas congressman and one-time presidential hopeful Ron Paul (R) as his running-mate. The New Republic reports the campaign happened without Bloomberg’s knowledge or consent, though the CEO-turned-politician has so far refrained from doing anything to prevent others from campaigning on his behalf.

Who’s that just down the Indy Green ticket from Bloomberg and Paul? That would be Glenda “Gail for Rail” Parker, who’s making a second run for the U.S. Senate on a platform of bringing light rail transportation to the Commonwealth. In 2006, faux-conservative blowhard Stephen Colbert posited on his show The Colbert Report that Parker’s campaign was responsible for handing that year’s Senate race Jim Webb (D) by way of her catchy radio jingle." (Lindsay Barnes, The Hook, August 21, 2008)