Gerry Connolly has the distinction, rare among his colleagues, of being able to open up any number of newspapers in Northern Virginia on just about any given day and see his own name.

Entering his fourth year as chairman of Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors, the blustery, Irish Catholic Democrat drives headlines in ways others local politicians can only dream of. Of the 10 members on the board, his face is the most ubiquitous, hisvoice the loudest, his words the most quoted. If any one man represents metropolitan Northern Virginia to the rest of the predominately conservative, rural state, it’s Gerry Connolly.