Looks like Republicans in Virginia are in trouble

With 67% of the vote in at roughly 9 PM EST, Republican Kilgore is down by 3% to Democrat Tim Kaine in my home state's gubernatorial race.

Kilgore did not impress me much during the campaign, one earmarked by lots of negative campaigning.

I frankly think he'll lose this election.  Let's see what happens.

UPDATE: 9:05 EST - 72% reporting, Kilgore now down by 4% (50-46).  Bill Bolling, the Republican in the Lieutenant Governor's race is ahead by 3% and in the Attorney General's race, Republican Bob McDonnell leads by 1%.

MORE: 9:11 EST - That didn't take long. AP declares Tim Kaine the winner.

AND MORE: 9:23 EST - McDonnell holding to a 1% lead with 76% of precincts reporting, Bolling still up by 3%.  For you die-hards, Kaine up by 3%.  Independent H. Russ Potts is getting 2% of the vote and as a Republican turned Independent for this race, is likely this year's spoiler for Kilgore.

MORE CUBED: 9:44 EST - McDonnell lead still a very slim 1% with 89% of the vote in.  Less than 5k votes separate him from Creigh Deeds, his Democrat opponent.  Bolling lead now down to 1%.  This could be an ugly night for Republicans in the Commonwealth.

LAST UPDATE FROM BRUTALLY HONEST:  10:16 EST - Commonwealth Conservative is calling it a win for Bolling.  I think it still a tad early but late enough for this early riser to call it a night. 

WEDNESDAY MORNING: I wake to the news that Bolling has indeed been declared the winner of the Lieutenant Governor's race by 1% however the more interesting news is that we haven't a winner yet in the Attorney General race with lots of talk about a recount:

Speaking to reporters after the speech, McDonnell said, "Well, I guess I know how the president felt about five years ago," referring to President Bush's razor-thin victory over Al Gore in the 2000 election.

The results were close enough to allow the losing candidate to seek a recount; state law allows for a recount when the margin of victory is less than one percent. When the margin is within one half of one percent, local governments are required to pay for a recount.

McDonnell's margin was less than 3,500, or less than two votes for each of Virginia's 2,400 precincts.

"This race is not over," Democratic Gov. Mark Warner said late Tuesday night with Deeds at his side as the final votes were being counted. "This race is too close to call. All we ask -- all we demand -- is that every vote is fairly counted."

FINAL UPDATE: The folks at Townhall.com are using this somewhat over the top graphic to tout Republican losses yesterday and Michelle links to the PoliPundit who offers this analysis of Virginia's races:

1. First, it shouldn’t have been close. Kilgore won a landslide in 2001. Kaine barely edged his Republican opponent. And that wasn’t a good year for the Republican Party in Virginia. It was badly divided over budget issues. The party was ostensibly united this year.
2. Second, Warner at least made the pretense of being a moderate. Kaine is much less of a moderate in rhetoric and in philosophy.
3. Third, Kilgore ran what had to be one of the most incompetent campaigns in recent memory. A campaign ad inferring that your opponent would not execute Adolf Hitler is not only patently absurd, but genuinely stupid.
4. Fourth, granted, recent months have not been kind to the Republican Party or the President. However, Virginia was not a mandate on the President or national issues. Blaming Bush’s low approval ratings for the debacle here will not serve any useful purpose.

Comments

[Sam Basso]

There is a good reason why the Republicans were routed in yesterday's elections...

Do Any Of You Remember The Sharon Statement?

The Republicans are losing because they don't preach a conservative message any more. They have become the party of "everybody"...

It's pretty bad... they preached a strong conservative message to get in power, then abandoned that when they got the power.

Here's the Sharon Statement.

This proceeded Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, etc.... The Republicans need to get back to their roots:

"Adopted in Conference, at Sharon, Connecticut, on September 11, 1960."

IN THIS TIME of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.

WE, as young conservatives believe:

THAT foremost among the transcendent values is the individual's use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;

THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;

THAT the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;

THAT when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty;

THAT the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;

THAT the genius of the Constitution - the division of powers - is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government;

THAT the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;

THAT when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation, that when it takes from one to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;

THAT we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies…

THAT the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;

THAT the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with this menace; and

THAT American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?

It was the Sharon Statement which summed up the principles which led the Republicans to power. By FORGETTING OR FOREGOING these principles, the GOP will go back to being a minority party.