The Morning After: As Goes Virginia, So Goes The Nation?

Where we stand is, well, pretty much where we stood last night.

The Democrats control the House of Representatives, with a significant majority. The Senate is tied right now, with final control depending on the outcome of the race in Virginia, which may not be decided for weeks. All signs indicate that Sen. Allen and the GOP are not going down without a fight. Expect them to throw the Democrats' 2000 status back at us-- calls for recounts, claims of voter fraud, etc... Talking Points Memo reader 'DH', however, brings up a good point as to why a recount battle might not be what the Republicans want-

The Republicans have backed themselves into a corner in Virginia. If you're going to go to the mat with dirty tricks and voter suppression, your counting on staying under the rader and that once the election is over, folks will move on. If Allen contests the results of the election it changes the election from a single day event into a 3 or 4 week event, plenty of time to chase down those callerid numbers and phone bank contractors. Virginia isn't Ohio. It doesn't have Ken Blackwell to cover up the GOP shenanigans, and the state has already requested the FBI to look into them. The Allen campaign is going to have to make the choice of whether contesting the results is worth the chance of exposing criminal activity. Let's hope they choose to contest. It's our best hope of fully exposing the shenanigans of the GOP to the light of day and getting the mechanisms in place to prevent their use in the next election cycle.

A good point. Bottom line- Jim Webb has the majority of the votes and the uncounted votes are supposedly a lock for him (via no less a source than the National Review). I don't wanna jinx it, but the Senate is in the bag.

Sen. Allen, just save yourself what little dignity you have left. Concede already.

It's my birthday, I demand it.