Former President Bill Clinton during his last visit to Roanoke, in 2009 during the gubernatorial primary on behalf of Terry McAuliffe.

As expected, former President Bill Clinton will visit Roanoke for a grassroots rally Saturday before heading north to meet up with President Barack Obama for a big event in Prince William County.

He’s appearing at Patrick Henry High School, at 2102 Grandin Rd, SW. Doors open at 6 p.m.

For tickets, go to this page on the Obama campaign’s website.

There’s more about the Clinton event, along with the same-day visit by 2008 Republican presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. John McCain, in this story on the front page of the roanoke.com.

– Mason Adams

We’ve already told you about the two international journalists, Reem Yousuf Al-Harami, from Qatar, and Elham Mustafa A.Salih, from Sudan, who are covering the presidential election from the Roanoke Times newsroom as part of a program funded by the International Center for Journalists.

The two accompanied a team of Roanoke Times staffers on Thursday to cover Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s rally in Bonsack. (My story on the rally is here.)

Today, Elham brought us a copy of the front page of her newspaper in Sudan, which includes a photo (by RT photo Jeanna Duerscherl) and her story on the rally in Roanoke County.

No word yet on whether the Sudanese version of the story included a Bonsack dateline. (UPDATE: I’m told the story bears a Roanoke dateline.)

– Mason Adams

Mitt Romney

A fired-up Mitt Romney rallied a crowd of thousands in Roanoke County this morning on the first of three stops in Virginia.

Romney played off one of President Barack Obama’s slogans of four years ago –“Hope and change” — by arguing that he offers “real change.”

After a few days of relative political truce for Hurricane Sandy and its fallout, Romney was back on the offensive, contrasting what he sees as two different paths for the American people.

If Obama is re-elected, he said, American debt will reach $20 trillion in four years. Romney said the United States will follow a “road to crisis” similar to that that has affected debt-stricken European countries like Greece and Spain. And he predicted that seniors will have trouble getting Medicare coverage for specialists, as it will be cut to fund the health care reform law, or Obamacare.

But Romney said he will create 12 million jobs by cutting taxes, streamlining government regulations and freeing “below-the-ground” energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas.

“Just under 3,000″ people attended the rally, according to a Romney campaign official.

Romney spoke for about 24 minutes, with U.S. Senate candidate George Allen standing beside him and a banner reading “Real Change on Day One” behind him.

You can read more about the visit in a story on the front page. You can also read my live tweets (they drop out when George Allen took the stage, as I took to pen and paper to take notes on his and Romney’s speeches) or the live tweets of Roanoke County reporter Annie McCallum, who covered the whole thing at the Roanoke Times LIVE twitter account.

– Mason Adams

Updated at 11:10 a.m. with more information about Romney’s visits to other Virginia localities.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will return to Roanoke for a rally this Thursday.

According to Virginia Sen. Ralph Smith, Romney will hold an event at Integrity Windows at 4050 Integrity Drive out in the Bonsack area of Roanoke County.

Doors will open at 7:30 a.m. and the event will begin at 9:30 a.m. Tickets will be available online and in GOP Victory offices in Roanoke, Lynchburg and Blacksburg.

The campaign is also collecting donations for storm relief efforts, including bottled water and non-perishable items.

The event is the first of three that Romney will hold in Virginia on Thursday.

The other two:

- 1:45 P.M.: Victory Event with Mitt Romney in Doswell, Va., Meadow Event Park, 13111 Dawn Blvd., Doswell, Va. 23047
- 6:30 P.M.: Victory Event with Mitt Romney in Virginia Beach, Va., Farm Bureau Live Amphitheater, 3550 Cellar Door Way, Virginia Beach, Va. 23456

– Mason Adams

Jeb Bush

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush — brother of one former president and son of another — will speak at Bluefield College on October 30.

Here’s a release from the college with the details: Read more »

(C-SPAN photo)

Take note, politics junkies. The C-SPAN Campaign 2012 Bus is coming to the Roanoke Valley on Tuesday as it makes a four-day tour of colleges and universities in the state.

The bus will make stops at Hollins University and Virginia Western Community College on Tuesday. At both stops, C-SPAN representatives will encourage students and the general public to share their thoughts about the presidential and Senate elections. Their responses will be captured in short smartphone videos that will be uploaded onto C-SPAN’s various media platforms.

The C-SPAN bus will be parked outside Moody Student Center at Hollins from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and at Parking Lot 7 near Webber Hall at VWCC from 11 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m.

There’s more in this news release from C-SPAN: Read more »

Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican candidate for vice president, will make a campaign stop in Southwest Roanoke County on Wednesday — specifically, at Northwest Hardware on Brambleton Avenue.

Earlier, it had been announced than Ryan would make an appearance somewhere in the Roanoke Valley.

This evening, state Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Roanoke County, sent out an announcement with the particulars. Smith advises that doors open at 7 a.m., with Ryan’s appearance at 8:30 a.m.

Smith’s email says:
“Parking Information and Details will be available at
http://www.mittromney.com/states/virginia”

The American Association of Retired Persons AARP will hold a discussion on the future of the Social Security entitlement from 10:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the South County Library.

The group says more than 140 people have signed up to attend.

You can find out more, including a list of who’s speaking, by reading the group’s release after the jump:

Read more »

Rep. Bob Goodlatte.

Rep. Robert Hurt

Correction: The job fair will take place on Aug. 6. This post initially listed the wrong date.

If you’re on the eastern side of our coverage area, and are looking for work, here’s news you can use: Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, and Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, are hosting a job fair in Lynchburg on August 6.

Here are particulars, from Goodlatte’s office: Read more »

Bill Stanley

State Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, will read the Declaration of Independence from the back porch at Thomas Jefferson’s summer retreat in Poplar Forest on Wednesday.

Here’s what the folks at Poplar Forest tell us: Read more »