General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEd Gillespie, George Bush's Florida svengali,
was trailing Mark Warner in the Virginia senate race by 11 points on Halloween night. Now, after the votes have been counted, they are tied and there will be a recount. Shades of Florida 2000.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)The outstanding votes will add some to his margin. He has won.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)onenote
(42,660 posts)Warner has upped his lead to around 14,000 votes. Gillespie could ask for a recount (not automatic) and he faces the prospect of having to pay for it. If you recall (assuming you follow Virginia elections), Mark Herring held a miniscule lead of a few hundred votes (out of 2.2 million) for state attorney general last year. It went to a recount and Herring's victory was confirmed. If the repubs couldn't overturn a couple of hundred vote margin in the Herring recount, they aren't overturning Warner's 14,000 vote margin and while they may decide to demand a recount, i'm betting against it since they won't want to spend the money.
As for the polling, Warner's poll numbers for the past month have shown him with a decent lead, but also have shown him barely getting 50 percent during that period -- on October 31, he was, averaging the most recent polls, below 49 percent. That means that a lot of voters were undecided and that there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm for the incumbent. Anytime an incumbent can't break 50 percent in the pre-election polling, you can expect a closer race than what a superficial glance at the polls might suggest.
FSogol
(45,466 posts)Bob "Felon" McDonnell over Creigh Deeds: 323 vote difference
Mark Herring over Mark Obenshain: 907 vote difference
There is another one, but I don't remember it.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)Granted, it was much tighter than expected. But Virginia has a dependable pattern in reporting votes. The Democratic strongholds come in last. Gillespie was never far enough ahead to trigger an actual lead.
I don't follow politics as closely as years ago when I bet many races but I still remember most of the numerical guidelines from state to state.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)Thanks for the schooling.