More thoughts tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, but here are a few "first impressions" based on the election results in Virginia today. *Having chalked up more than 140,000 votes, Jerry Kilgore scored an impressive victory today, no doubt about it (and I as much as I hate to admit it). With 96% of the votes counted, Kilgore has 82% to George Fitch's 18%.
*In the Democratic Lt. Governor race, the two liberal women beat the two moderate/conservative men in the race, with Leslie Byrne coming out on top by about 10 points to win the nomination. This should set up a classic race with arch-conservative Bill Bolling this fall.
*What happened to Steve Baril? He didn't just lose to Bob McDonnell, he got absolutely annhilated -- 68% to 32%. Could it have been RaisingKaine's endorsement of McDonnell, or perhaps Russ Potts' endorsement of Baril? Is McDonnell really that strong a candidate? I am highly skeptical, but McDonnell will face a tough test from a strong Democratic Attorney General nominee, Creigh Deeds. This should be interesting.
*The anti-tax forces took on several Republican incumbents, in large part for their votes on the Mark Warner budget deal last year, and they lost in almost every case. People like Mark Jarvis, Chris Oprison, Jim Kaplan, Steve Chapman, and Shaun Kenney all got creamed. (One exception to this trend was Chris Craddock, who crushed Gary Reese).
*David Bulova scored an impressive victory over Janet Oleszek in the 37th House district (Chap Petersen's old seat), after certain analysts had claimed the race was a dead heat. The general election contest with John Mason should be a barn burner.
*The overall turnout for Republicans was significantly higher than for Democrats, no question. However, before the media or Republicans get too excited, they should keep in mind this was the obvious result of contested races at all levels for Republicans -- Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and several hot house showdowns. Any claims by Republicans or the media to any greater significance for these numbers need to be taken with a huge grain of salt.
*The exciting, inspirational victory by David Englin, as discussed below.