After 12 years of Republican control it seems like the reins of both Houses of Congress are passing to the Democrats. The Associated Press has called the Senate race in Virginia for Democratic challenger Jim Webb while a counting of canvass votes in Virginia was still underway. Halfway through the canvass, the count showed incumbent George Allen trailing Webb by about 7.200 votes, leading the AP to call the race in Webb’s favour.
While George Allen’s camp has yet to respond to this news, a source close to the Senator has told CNN that Allen “has no intention of dragging this out.” Nevertheless, Fox reports that both parties have sent lawyers to the Commonwealth of Virginia and that legal action is likely to be forthcoming regardless of the outcome of tonight’s count. Jim Webb, meanwhile, has called a press conference for Thursday morning, where he is expected to declare victory.
The State Board of Elections in Virginia has declared that it would not certify any results in the Senate race until November 27th, after which recounts could begin if called for by Senator Allen. Senior Republican advisor Ed Gillespie has stated that the party would await the official result of tonight’s counting, meant to look for “mathematical mistakes, tabulation errors, juxtaposition of numbers” and other human error, before deciding which steps the party would undertake.
Personally, I understand why the GOP would be hesitant to start procedures for a recount with slim chances of success. Dragging this thing out would make them appear to be sore losers and casts the party in a bad light. President Bush did all he could today to seem like a good and noble loser, extending an olive branch to the Democratic leadership, offering extensive cooperation and even quipping about giving soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “a few numbers of interior decorators” for her new office.
Still, I would urge Republican analysts to really crunch the numbers on this one. I find it hard to believe that a recount would come up with the 7.200 votes needed for Allen to remain in office, but if the GOP believes it’s possible then a little bit of bad publicity is a small price to pay to retain control of the Senate.
Popularity: 42% [?]
0 Responses to “AP Calls Virginia and Senate for Democrats”