The Dawn Treader

Hugh Hewitt has a great article in World called Virginia Real.  George Allen -vs- James Webb.  Two good guys.  A senate seat in Virginia is at stake.  Virginia in 2006 should be a great place to observe how politics is supposed to work : idea against idea.

Hewitt says,

"This will be a race of issues, not personalities, and both men would be well advised to treat it as such. If ever we had an opportunity for an updated set of Lincoln-Douglas debates, it is in Virginia in 2006."

Mr. Dawn Treader will have a front row seat for this race, and I will bring it to you at the speed of blog.

I watched the State of the Union speech with my 14 year old.

Here is my thin slicing of the speech and of my governor's response.

The next chapter of the Robert McDonnell for AG in Virginia is complete.  The State Board has declared McDonnell the new Attorney General for Virginia.  He won by 323 votes out of 1.94 million cast.  The final tally : Republican McDonnell 970,886 votes, Democrat Deeds 970,563 votes.  Interestingly, there were 1,801 write-in votes cast.  Those write-in votes were greater than the margin of victory.

The Virginia Governor, Mark Warner, has allowed both campaigns to have a transitional office in Richmond.  Our tax dollars are being spent on those offices.  The loser better reimburse the state for the wasted money. 

By law, Virginia will pay for this recount since the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percent.  Both Deeds and McDonnell are raising money for legal teams to oversee the recount.  The recount is expected to be completed by Christmas.

The main difference between these candidates is their stance on abortion.  McDonnell is pro-life and Deeds is pro-abortion.

Deeds continues to show no class in his latest broadside at McDonnell.

"Anybody who proclaims great confidence in these results and claims to know what's going to happen is just being foolish," Deeds said in an interview. Without specifically referring to McDonnell, he said people who declare the race over are "either lying or they are crooked or they're just puffing."

Is that kind of attitude really necessary?

I will post the results of the recount.  Let's just hope that this does not happen.

In the closest race ever post I speculated that we might see the closest contest in Virginia's history.  Turns out I might be right.  But it was not the governor's race, it was the race for attorney general.  This neck and neck race was between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds.

In a photo finish squeaker, McDonnell won by a nose hair.  McDonnell claimed victory, made his acceptance speech, and has begun to assemble his transition team.  His margin of victory?  Out of 1.9 million votes cast, McDonnell won by a scant 1,480 votes!  That would be 8 hundredths of a percentage point.

In a stunning development, the Deed's camp is claiming voting irregularities ... in Roanoke!  That is right ... my own voting precinct.

Deeds said yesterday that he had "anecdotal evidence" that voting machines in the Roanoke area had malfunctioned. He stopped short of alleging fraud but said there were reports that some votes intended for him were recorded for McDonnell.

"People pushed the touch screen for my name, and on the final page they had voted for Bob McDonnell," he said. The irregularity was noticed, and "it finally cleared up," he said.

Let me think back.  We had touch screens.  I can confirm that part.  I pressed McDonnell.  A big red "X" marked the spot.  I clicked the Next button.  Two clicks later I got to the review page.  Kilgore - Bolling - McDonnell - Noble were all marked.  My nine year old son pressed the Confirm button for me.  A big "Vote Counted" message came up.  Hmm... nope, I can't confirm any voting irregularities ;)

The only voting irregularity I can confirm is that the election official in my precinct ran out of "I voted" stickers.  My sons and I were disappointed.  We voiced a brief verbal complaint with Virginia voting officials.

I will keep my ear to the ground on this important developing story.  I will listen carefully to the scuttle butt down at the Krogers check out line when I buy some milk tonight, and also to the chit chat down at Ed's Barber Shop.  Those guys at Ed's know everything that goes on in Roanoke.

Reporting from ground zero of the latest election controversy in American politics,  Mr. Dawn Treader.

My phone was literally ringing off the hook last night.  One automated call after another ... all reminding me to vote.  I got it already ;)

The Kilgore -vs- Kaine race is a thriller and promises to have a photo finish.  The word I have heard most often in this campaign ... taxes.

My votes are for Jerry Kilgore for Governor, Bill Bolling for Lt Gov, and Bob McDonnell for Attorney Gen.  I especially hope McDonnell trounces Deeds in the race for Attorney Gen.  The Deeds campaign reached a low point in its recent attack on McDonnell's religious faith as intolerant.  McDonnell is a conservative evangelical Christian.