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November 09, 2005

Final results?

Though Tim Kaine won and many significant gains occurred for Democrats state-wide, Republicans can still take solace in a few things.
1 - Bill Bolling posted a win over Leslie Byrne, preventing the most liberal and out-of-touch-with-Virginia candidate from going to Richmond.
2 - The Virginia General Assembly is still very much in Republican hands.
3 - Assuming it holds up (the race is close), Bob McDonnell will be our next Attorney General.

Where does this leave Tim Kaine? He will, essentially, be alone in Richmond. So do not call gloom and doom yet.

And for the Democrats claiming progress for national Democrats, do not be so hasty. Virginia still holds both of its Senators and most of its Representatives as Republicans, George Bush won here last year despite high ratings for Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine's win was, at least in part due to Mark Warner's coattails. Until a Virginia Democrat can win a major national election (or the House of Representatives starts to show a leftward shift from Virginia), calling a a national victory is inaccurate.

Later, I will post where I feel the Jerry Kilgore campaign made its mistakes in this race.

UPDATE 10:50 AM: J.R. at Bearing Drift echoes this sentiment, also including an in-depth look at why Tim Kaine won.

EDIT 7:50 PM: I fixed the issue described here.