Speaking to a group of about 75 Twin City business and political leaders, Sen. Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor said he often gets frustrated by the emphasis on party politics.

BRISTOL, Va. – Partisan bickering often overshadows or stalls progress in Washington, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner lamented Friday.

Speaking to a group of about 75 Twin City business and political leaders, the former Virginia governor said he often gets frustrated by the emphasis on party politics.

“Many of my colleagues seem to wear their Democrat hat or their Republican hat when they ought to be wearing their American hat first and foremost,” Warner said during the event at the Bristol Public Library.

“I think folks are angry at most elected officials, whether Democrat or Republican, because they’d like us to stop bickering and spend more time actually trying to get our country’s problems solved,” Warner said.

One reason for the greater partisan emphasis is news coverage, because state newspapers no longer operate Washington D.C. bureaus – forcing readers to rely on national media outlets that often cater to political viewpoints, Warner said.

“All you read about, for the most part, is [Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy] Pelosi versus [Republican Rep. John] Boehner or [Democratic Sen. Harry] Reid versus [Kentucky Republican Mitch] McConnell, [President Barack] Obama versus this and that,” Warner said. “It’s disheartening, because it puts people harder into their camps.”

Warner, who stressed his own bi-partisan efforts both as governor and now in the Senate, discussed his work on bills designed to improve the economy, the recently passed federal health care bill and making the U.S. less dependant on foreign oil.

Attendee Archie Hubbard said he appreciates Warner’s stance.

“He tries to be a centrist, instead of a Democrat or a Republican, and tries to get people to come together in the middle,” Hubbard said. “Right now, the country is totally divided left and right and there’s not a whole lot of middle out there. We need that because neither party has all the answers. That’s one down and 99 [senators] to go.”

Acknowledging his proximity to the state line, Warner chronicled his work with Tennessee Republicans Bob Corker on financial reform and Lamar Alexander on efforts to assure nuclear power is an important part of the nation’s energy strategy.

“I’ve been working on a bill for six months to help small business lending,” Warner said. “While – at the macro level – the economy seems to be improving, an awful lot of small businesses are having a hard time getting credit or getting loans renewed. And 65 percent of the jobs coming out of a recession will come from small business.”

He also talked about a bill that would create tax credits for people who invest in energy-saving measures for their homes.

During the question and answer session, Warner praised the “audacious vision” of Bristol Virginia Utilities for its efforts to expand broadband telecommunications. He also seized the moment to remind attendees that BVU recently received $22 million of often controversial federal stimulus funding to continue that work.