Miss Virginia Strikes Back at GOP Slight

Miss Virginia has entered the fray. Former crown wearer Kristi Lauren Glakas takes exception to the division of her state by a top McCain adviser into the "real Virginia" of the conservative South and the urban northern suburbs of DC. Glakas, an honor student at UVA who's won three state crowns, tells the political website FiveThirtyEight that the comments are divisive and insulting.

"We have every class, every race, an amazing immigrant population," said Glakas. "To say that part of Virginia is not part of the real America is just offensive." She also had a jab for Sarah Palin, saying that the candidate's hiding from the press gives beauty queens a bad name. "Even I've been interviewed by Chris Matthews." (More Election 2008 stories.)