“And that’s not vice president,” she said. “That’s vaginal probe.”

Lucas shared that tidbit Tuesday on a conference call with reporters organized by the Democratic National Committee. It was intended to highlight McDonnell’s trip to Wisconsin to help Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his recall battle — and to suggest that McDonnell and Walker (and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for that matter) want to “turn back the clock on women’s rights,” as the DNC put it. The call also featured U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin.

And it wasn’t because three former governors and two wanna-be governors were there.

It was a roast for the bowtie-wearing, professorial Richmond Times Dispatch columnist Jeff Schapiro, a longtime figure in the Virginia Capitol press corps whom polticians of both parties love to hate.

Earlier this month, just before Virginia’s General Assembly rejected a gay judicial nominee, the Republican governor said that homosexuality should not disqualify someone from serving as a judge. He reiterated that stance on a radio program Tuesday and said that’s always been his position.

Herrity (R-Springfield), in a May 25 letter to the Auditor of the Board, said county officials should specifically examine whether the Community Services Board’s decision a few years ago to handle private insurance reimbursements directly for its clients resulted in money wasted rather than saved. Herrity’s letter suggested that difficulties in Fairfax County obtaining reimbursement in the Infant and Toddler Connection program could account for as much as $400,000 to $900,000 of the agency’s $8 million budget gap.

But McDonnell, speaking on WTOP radio Tuesday, confirms that the Romney campaign has not asked him for documents to begin the vetting process.

About four dozen prisoners began a hunger strike last Tuesday morning, demanding an end to what they call poor conditions, ongoing abuse and the practice of solitary confinement, according to attorneys and groups that represent the inmates.

More than three days after inmates at Virginia’s only super-maximum prison began a hunger strike , state officials acknowledged the situation for the first time.

Timothy M. Kaine (D) has made clear he supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is designed to update the 1963 Equal Pay Act. Fellow former governor George Allen, the likely Republican nominee in the race to succeed retiring Sen. James Webb (D), won’t say how he would vote if he were in the Senate now, though his campaign says he is clearly the better choice for women.

McDonnell (R) submitted 17 amendments to the state’s current budget. The General Assembly acted on them last week.

The administration said that release of the proposed regulations, which would replace emergency rules that went into effect Dec. 31, has been pushed off until next week.

The front-runner, former senator and governor George Allen, is likely to take the most heat from his three distant rivals: Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), tea party activist Jamie Radtke and Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson.

Miller said she began thinking about it after supporters asked her to consider it, but that she won’t decide until she does some more research. “People have been pushing me for a while,’’ she said.

The City Council approved spending $65,000 on the initiative that offers sex education and birth control to teenagers.

Backers of the attorney general, running for governor next year, succeeded in winning a number of new spots on the state GOP’s governing board over the last few weeks.

In the ad, Romney says he will announce deficit reductions, end big government and stand up to China on trade on his first day in office. In an earlier ad, he said he would approve the Keystone pipeline, introduce tax cuts and start undoing the federal health care law.