The Virginia buy is part of a month-long $25 million effort that will span 10 states, as Crossroads attempts to match the money being spent by President Obama’s reelection campaign.

It is a brunette in the Virginia Senate, who showed up Monday for what could be a marathon day with her 18-day-old daughter in tow.

Back when the race for president was about abortion, birth control and an alleged “war on women,” Virginia’s General Assembly was right there in the mix, with a bunch of bills related to abortion.

Now that same-sex marriage has become the presidential issue of the moment, the Old Dominion is again on topic. A conservative state delegate is vowing to fight the appointment of an openly gay man as a General District Court judge in Richmond.

Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is running for U.S. Senate, said he will seek to remove the name of  “homosexual activist” Tracy Thorne-Begland from the list of 41 nominees for judgeships that the General Assembly will consider appointing Monday afternoon.

Thorne-Begland, Richmond prosecutor for the past 12 years, came out as a gay Naval officer on national TV 20 years ago to challenge the military’s now-abandoned “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. A former board member of the gay rights group Equality Virginia, he has since spoken out in favor of same-sex marriage. He and his partner, a Richmond lawyer, are raising twins.

Marshall called him “an aggressive activist for the pro-homosexual agenda.”

Now his gay rights activism is complicating his efforts to land another job — this time, that of state judge.

Cain and U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) will speak at the Second District Republican Convention in Virginia Beach on Saturday.

The debate will take place at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach at 6:30 p.m., and will be aired live on the Republican Party of Virginia’s Web site. Allen, the former governor and senator, will be joined on stage by Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson, Del. Robert Marshall (Prince William) and former Virginia Tea Party Patriots head Jamie Radtke.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who presides over the Senate, will be able to break tie votes on amendments to the budget.

On Wednesday, the American Conservative Union announced it was backing Allen, who faces three opponents in the June 12 Republican primary, with the winner to face former governor Timothy M. Kaine (D) in November. On Thursday, it was the National Rifle Association’s turn.