Straightforward, unscripted and watchful of every word, Virginia’s junior senator dropped by Culpeper Thursday to stick up for the president’s stimulus program, challenge the minority party and promote an idea of finding common ground in Congress.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner faced immediate dissent upon arriving at the Depot after 1 p.m., but he looked relaxed as a dozen local protesters affiliated with the national Tea Party movement greeted him with signs stating “Just say no to socialism” and “Sick of being soaked.”

The former Virginia governor shook hands with the local Tea Party leader, Rita Grace of Culpeper, a former educator, and exchanged a few words before taking the podium inside before about 100 members of the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce. Warner received a standing ovation.

“It’s been a wild first 13 months,” he said of his time in Congress since being elected in 2008. “I ran as a bipartisan radical centrist,” Warner said, chuckling, adding, “It’s still needed. A lot of things about Congress have proven to be quite frustrating.”

Warner, expressing disappointment about Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh’s recent decision not to seek re-election because of partisanship issues, said, “I’m not ready to throw in the towel that the Senate has become dysfunctional.”

Generally known for his attempt to be politically middle of the road, Warner said Thursday that those in Congress attempting to do the same have found themselves “under enormous pressure” from their parties, especially Republicans. Then he addressed the Tea Party protesters.

“The folks outside said, ‘You voted for that horrible stimulus,’” Warner said, acknowledging it was “one of the worst marketed pieces of legislation in modern history. But it’s important to think where we were a year ago and where we are today.”

A year ago, he said, the country was losing 700,000 jobs per month, the DOW was at 6,500 and the gross domestic product had decreased 6.5 percent. A year later, Warner said, unemployment is flat, the DOW is at 10,000 and the GDP has experienced 5 percent growth.

Placing blame solely on the government for the economy is not fair, he said. “How we got there? (You) have to look at yourself in the mirror. Everybody got overleveraged.”

Washington “has not taken on many issues in the past 12 years,” Warner said, listing health care and the deficit among unresolved issues.

“We started two wars — and not a penny of them was paid for. We spent a trillion dollars on a drug benefit for seniors — not paid for. Am I happy where we are? No,” he said, and yet without the Democratic-backed stimulus, “Virginia’s budget would look like California’s.”

While it didn’t create “a ton of new jobs,” Warner said, it did “prevent catastrophic cuts at the state level.”

One-third of the $860 billion stimulus went to the states, he said, $220 billion was in tax cuts and the rest, much of it still unspent, was allocated for “policy goals” like high-speed rail, health care IT and developing a smart energy grid.

While Culpeper’s congressman, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, continues to blast the stimulus, Cantor also wants a piece of funding for the rail project, Warner told the audience. Saying he could support using unspent stimulus funds to help alleviate more immediate needs, Warner said it is dishonest to say that the stimulus has not played some positive part in keeping “a tough economy from being exponentially worse.”

“Things are looking better,” he said, shifting into a discussion about what Congress can do to help boost small businesses, largely neglected in the stimulus.

Warner, like Cantor did Wednesday in Orange, recognized a major issue for small businesses is the lack of access to small business loans.

It’s not hard to understand why banks are not lending, said Warner, a former high tech businessman who co-founded Nextel. Most of them have bad real estate loans still on the books, and more commercial real estate loans are soon coming due.

Warner, like other Democrats, said he supports taking $30 billion of unspent bank bailout funds and giving it to community banks “to jumpstart small business lending.”

He also spoke of a plan to reduce the deficit by “putting everything on the table” and working in a bipartisan way to look at spending, revenues and entitlements.

Warner said he wants to find common ground with Republicans on key issues like health care and the future of energy in America.

He noted that the political climate in Washington is as challenging as he’s ever seen it, saying, “It’s time to check the D’s and R’s at the door and put our country first. I will continue to try to do that.”

Questions from the crowd

Referring to the president’s creation Thursday of a national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform, attendee Mary Jo Browning asked Warner if he felt the commission would be successful.

He said he just “prayed” both parties would appoint members who are willing to find common ground, adding, “We don’t want people who are going to go in with iron clad positions.”

Small businessman Dave Lochridge, also present at Cantor’s event Wednesday, asked Warner about allowing credit unions to loan at a higher level to small businesses, a prospect banks are lobbying against.

“Talk about a hot issue,” Warner replied, saying he didn’t think the credit union lending threshold would go as high as 25 percent, like some have supported, but called it an issue the banking committee is considering.

“You might see some action on it.”

Alaphia Thomas of In-Home Support Services said one of her main issues with Congress is “the partisan conflict, the bickering.”

“It appears to me they are not in the interest of improving America but about me, me, me,” she said.

Thomas supported more media access to congressional meetings and hearings as way to effect change.

Traci Dippert, chairwoman of the Culpeper County Democratic Committee, asked about saving education jobs while others in attendance asked about health care, hospice care, Medicaid reimbursements and domestic energy production.

Warner exchanged a few animated words with a local businesswoman who proposed funding a payroll tax holiday for small businesses by holding back on stimulus funding. He also lamented the bank bailout, but said the alternative would have been much worse.

Speaking for more than an hour and pausing often to formulate his responses, Warner met with local government leaders in the library after the Depot gathering. The opposition

Not everyone was so enthusiastic about his appearance in Culpeper or the senator’s centrist views.

“Warner says he is a centrist, but he’s consistently voting with Obama and Obama is not a centrist,” said Kurt Christensen, a tree farmer from Richardsville, outside protesting with the Tea Partiers. “We don’t need a government takeover of health care. Free market solves most problems.”

Grace, the group’s leader, said they want their voices heard.

“Warner has voted yes for a lot of unconstitutional legislation,” she said. “It’s about conservatism,” Grace added of the group’s purpose.

Not everyone was so enthusiastic about the Tea Partier’s presence either; many of those entering the Depot refusing to interact with them.

“I have a good idea — let’s just polarize the whole country,” local builder Chris Hamilton said, walking away in disgust.

Jessica Hall, owner of nearby Raven’s Nest coffee shop, where some protesters gathered before congregating outside the Depot, wasn’t bothered by the demonstration.

“That’s what is so great about this country,” she said. “We support the right of all voices.”