All Eyes on Virginia

 

Mirror mirror on the wall: Who’s the "fairest" new Virginia Senator of them all?

 

During these couple years in America, I found that political race is in fact a far more suspensive drama than sports or anything else. In less than six years, people have witnessed perhaps two of the most controversial Presidential Campaigns in U.S. history. Florida gained most of the spotlight for being the largest swing state in the past. Now for the congressional campaign in 2006, Virginia, where I am currently residing, becomes the media darling!

 

Since the beginning of this week, the nation’s eyes are all on Virginia: VA is the final and the key battlefield to decide whether the Democrats or the Republicans will take control of the U.S. Senate. Earlier this week, the Democrats easily dispatched GOP in the House of Representatives. But the Senate race is still too close to call. With Dem and GOP tying at 49-49 (two Independents caucus with Dem), Virginia and Montana are the two last states to fight for both parties. Since MT already goes the Democrats’ way and the Vice President, Dick Chenny comes from Republican, either party winning VA will win the Senate. Especially for the Democrats, winning Senate means taking total control of the whole Congress, which is a feat that the Democrats haven’t been able to do in the past 12 years!! More importantly, this congressional election has huge ramifications to the Democrats for regaining the White House for the first time since Clinton’s administration.

 

Preliminary results shows in yesterday that Dem. Sen. candidate Jim Webb is leading the Rep. Sen. candidate George Allen by a razor thin margin: only 7000 votes separate the candidtes, which accounts for less than one-third of a percent. The Senate race is still up in the air, but some news sources are already calling it for Webb. In fact, Webb has already claimed the win, but Allen said he wouldn’t concede until the official count comes in, and will probably call for a recount. Under the law of the state of Virginia, a margin of less than a half-percent is eligible for a recount in which the state pays. Plus, the election results do not become official until Nov. 27 when they are certified by the state Board of Elections. So, unless Allen gives up his fight for re-election in Virginia, people will still have to wait for two more weeks, or probably more if Allen opts for a recount.

 

Aha… perhaps we Virginian can enjoy the vanity of being a media darling for a little while. 🙂 I am not sure anything would change if the Democrats win both houses of the Congress. But one thing is for sure: if the Democrats gain the majority of the Congress, President George W. Bush will definitely need to learn how to deal with the challenge that he has never faced in the first six years of his presidency. The Congress will no longer be his "rubber stamp". It is said that in politics campaigns in U.S., people vote not for the better one, but for the less evil one. Virginia is used to be considered as a very conservative state where the Republicans are more favored. But seeing the divided results in Campaign 2006 in VA, it seems like people in here are also tired and sick of the unproductive Iraq War and the sloppy economy. Perhaps just like the Democrats’ campaign slogan put, people need "A New Direction for America".

 

Anyway, I will enjoy the political drama although being a Virginian who has no right to vote. 😛 The bottom line is, the show should not last too long and people are smart enough to put the country into the right direction.

 

P.S. My newly developed interests in politics are all due to the fantastic TV drama "The West Wing", which is, to me, an eye openner.