Photo by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Former U.S. Attorney John Brownlee announces Tuesday in Roanoke that he will seek the Republican nomination to be state attorney general. Like another conservative candidate, he opposes abortion rights.

John Brownlee, the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, announced Tuesday that he plans to run as a Republican for Virginia attorney general in 2009.

"I am a conservative Republican, and I am running to be Virginia's next attorney general," said Brownlee, who made his announcement before a crowd of supporters at the Roanoke County Administration Center.

Brownlee was appointed as a U.S. attorney by President Bush in 2001 and resigned from office last week.

Brownlee faces at least one other conservative Republican for the GOP nomination. Virginia Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County announced his candidacy for the position last month.

Cuccinelli is known largely for his strong stance against abortion, and while Brownlee declined to address questions about his likely opponent, he did discuss abortion as part of his "Justice For All" platform.

"I believe that life begins at conception, and I believe that our state and our government have an obligation to protect and respect all innocent human life," Brownlee said. "As attorney general, I will speak out on the life issue, and I will do everything in my power to teach the next generation about human life, about when it begins and about our government's obligation and our humanity's obligation to protect and respect all innocent human life."

Brownlee's platform also addresses a number of social and public safety issues: Protecting children from Internet predators; taking measures to enhance school safety, particularly in the wake of last year's shootings at Virginia Tech; cracking down on drugs, particularly methamphetamine; addressing violent crime and gangs; supporting the death penalty; punishing polluters; and supporting tort reform, especially with regard to laws that allow lawyers to view insurance limits for those involved in automobile wrecks.

Brownlee also stated his opposition to gun control, saying his years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., taught him that laws restricting guns do not cut down on crime.

He cited illegal immigration as another part of his platform.

"As United States attorney, I will be the only candidate in this race who's ever convicted, sentenced and ultimately deported an illegal alien," Brownlee said.

And he talked about cracking down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud as a way to provide more money for health care: "Every dollar taken out of these citizens is a dollar that can't go to our moms and dads and grandparents to give them the health care that they need," Brownlee said.

Aside from his platform, it appears Brownlee will run largely on his experience in the U.S. Army and as a federal prosecutor.

"I believe that my experience as the top federal law enforcement officer, my experiences in managing and running an office similar to the attorney general's office, makes me uniquely qualified to step forward and be Virginia's top state law enforcement officer," he said.

Brownlee, who lives in Roanoke County, also has connections around the state. He was raised in Northern Virginia before attending Washington and Lee University in Lexington. After serving four years of active duty in the Army, Brownlee attended law school in eastern Virginia before going to work as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Sam Wilson in Roanoke and Abingdon. Brownlee then spent four years working as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.

His name briefly appeared on the controversial attorney firing list that embroiled the Bush administration in battles with Congress. Last year, he was considered a candidate for a federal judgeship but fell from the running when statewide bar associations began the process of evaluation.

Cuccinelli, who is also running for the Republican nomination for the attorney general, has emerged over the last several years as an outspoken conservative in the Virginia Senate. Last year he garnered statewide notice within the state Republican Party by staving off a Democratic challenger in an increasingly left-leaning Northern Virginia district.

Cuccinelli is well-known among the Republican base for his support of social issues, but Ed Lynch, a Republican strategist and associate professor of political science at Hollins University, said Brownlee essentially removed the question of abortion from debate by addressing it early.

To make abortion an issue, Cuccinelli would have to "prove John is not pro-life somehow," Lynch said. "Unless he can do that, that takes that issue off the table."

Instead, Lynch said, a race between Cuccinelli and Brownlee will likely boil down to a question of experience -- particularly Cuccinelli's time in the General Assembly versus Brownlee's work as a prosecutor.