A proposed constitutional amendment to strengthen property rights protections in Virginia cleared a major hurdle yesterday as the Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate approved the measure 35-5. But buried inside this lopsided vote are a couple of very surprising stories…including the central role played by Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds.

As I wrote last week,  it was Deeds who insisted on the bill being as strong as possible – a position he’d taken in past years, but was largely seen by property rights supporters as a ploy to keep any property rights measure from winning full Senate approval.