100% Reporting: Jim Webb(D) 1,143,144 over George Allen(R) 1,140,879

[jern]

Webb defeats Allen by 2,200 votes

[Moose4]

Don't panic, guys. It'll take a miracle, but he's not dead *quite* yet.

According to the State Board of Elections website, absentee ballots still need to be counted in:

Arlington County (70% Webb, big)
Fairfax County (59% Webb, biggest county in VA)
Halifax County (59% Allen, but small)
James City County (55% Allen, small)
Loudoun County (50% Webb, big)
Prince William County (51% Webb, big)
City of Fairfax (56% Webb, small)
City of Richmond (73% Webb, big)
City of Virginia Beach (52% Allen, big)

There are also a few precincts still out, two in Loudoun, two in Richmond, and one over in Isle of Wight County.

I don't know if military ballots are included anywhere in there or not. The absentees tend to trend the same as the county they're filed in, meaning that they're more than likely going to widen Webb's lead, as they're in predominantly Webb-friendly areas. It's going to come down to the military ballots, and I wish I had a clue how those fit in.

}:-)4

[meandog]

If this holds up, Allen has two years to rest, heal, regroup, and prepare to win the Republican nomination for President in '08. After all, who else is there? Or should the conservative Republican (used to be) base just vote for Hillary and hasten the inevitable destruction of the old order?

Horse LOL! Stick a fork in Felix 'cause he's done and good riddance to the Bush clone clown! McCain in '08 is GOP's only course now.

[Gabz]

As Flora likes to say, "Stand the Storm!"

She's right - and we will!!!!

[misterrob]

Barone said this.

[justshutupandtakeit]

You are delusional Allen has ZERO chance for the nomination even if he manages a slim win. He would not likely even be the VP nominee. His apologizing for everything shows he is not ready for a larger stage.

[KavMan]

yea i see he's leading but i heard the big rat cities haven't been counted yet

[misterrob]

Yup!!!

[wouldntbprudent]

Yes, an alternate reality.

But what about all the absentee ballots? There were apparently tons of them in VA. How can they call a 2,200 margin a win in these circumstances?

[wouldntbprudent]

What is the procedure for counting the absentee votes?

[HardStarboard]

>>>Cantwell was down by about 4000 votes in 2000 and ended up winnning by 2500 a week later !<<<

We have a penchant for come-backs like this in Washington. Christine Gregiore, our current Democrat Governor, was down by 250+/- votes 2 years ago, and won over Republican Dino Rossi after the 2nd (or was it third?) recount by 160+/- votes.

Bundles of votes kept turning up in odd places for several weeks after the election....all with a plurality for Chrissy.

[misterrob]

They had a lot of people stay home this year. And, don't forget that:

1) The state has elected Democrats in the last 2 Gov. races

2) Webb has a ton of support in NOVA which is right next to DC and received the benefit of the WAPO campaigning for him.

[Slings and Arrows]

Not even CNN has called VA for Webb.

I'm going to sleep. I'll panic in the morning.

[ItsForTheChildren]

I think tonight has a lot to do with Frist, Hastert, et al. not being able to govern worth a damn.

[GraniteStateConservative]

It'll be tough. Claire is running better in areas than she did in 2004, when she narrowly won.

[1035rep]

"Something is wrong here. The numbers do not match up with the offical Virginia results website. Don't panic yet - there will be plenty of time to panic later if we need to."

AP said something about the numbers being inverted and numbers different from the officials. I'm still trying to find out what's going on. Do you have any more information?

[Go_Raiders]

"Not a freakin one of them was able to frame the debate and make it about the issues."

Exactly. Do you know when I realized that the GOP would lose the Senate? The moment I saw the GOP "campaign" to reform Social Security. They had 60 years to come up with an approach to the issue and the best they could do was along the lines of "well, maybe we should think about doing something before it's, you know, like too late, or something."

The GOP better go home, and think about how to sell the people on what's good for the Country, and they sure as H&!! better remember to act like they care about the Country the next time they stumble their way into a majority.

[misterrob]

I'd vote for her....

[Big Horn]

The absentees will put Allen up. They were like 2-1 for the repubs.

I agree mostly military votes.

[Corin Stormhands]

They had a lot of people stay home this year.

???

We had near record turn out for a mid-year election.

[MaxFlint]

If this holds up, Allen has two years to rest, heal, regroup, and prepare to win the Republican nomination for President in '08. After all, who else is there?

It's too early to say who else there is. I don't think Allen is coming back any more than Kerry is. Both were promoted as electable and both lost. It's too bad, I liked Allen. But he showed bad judgement heckling that Democratic hack. One slip up like that in the presidential race could hand the White House to a raving liberal.

No thanks.