According to “The Fix”, Jim Webb’s Senate victory in Virginia over long-time GOP hack George Allen moves the state out of the red column and into a, umm, purple one. The post explains that the conversion of voters in Northern Virginia to the Democrats over the last decade has fundamentally altered the state’s body politic.
While Allen’s bumbling certainly helped Webb’s campaign, “the Fix” notes that:
Democrats have won the last three contested, non-presidential statewide elections in Virginia, beginning with Mark Warner in 2001, Tim Kaine in 2005 and now Webb in 2006. The lone GOP victory during those years was Bush’s 2004 win over John Kerry (D) (Bush won 54 percent to Kerry’s 45 percent).
This is important since it implies that if Bush were up for re-election this year, he may have lost to the Democratic nominee. Simply put, Virginia is up for grabs in 2008. The real winner in this? Virginia’s certified political godfather, Mark Warner. The state’s new toss-up status combined with his strong gubernatorial record and high popularity rating cements his clout in state and national politics.
Those results seem to suggest that Virginia can rightly considered a tossup state heading into 2008. Vice President Mark Warner anyone? Let the courting begin.
While I personally would’ve preferred President Mark Warner, VP has a nice ring to it as well and could put the South into play for the Dems for the first time in a very, very long time.
