Prediction Time

By: Eric
Published On: 11/3/2006 11:23:56 AM

Make your picks here and brag (or hide) Wednesday morning.  Feel free to elaborate your reasoning or just make your picks.  Pick one or all races and, if you want, tackle the "hate" amendment.

I'll kick things off with my calls on the closer races and my district.

2nd - Kellam (D) vs Drake (R)
Like the Senate race, polls have fluctuated in this race, making it difficult to get a solid grasp on where voters stand.  Combining a recent poll showing Drake ahead and my gut feeling Democrats won't take everything they could in Virginia, I'm going to give this one to Drake.

Drake wins 52% to 47%

10th - Feder (D) vs Wolf (R)
Feder has done very well outraising Wolf in the funds department and more importantly is in a Red District that is rapidly turning Blue.  Especially in this time of great discontent with Republican leadership.

Feder wins in a close upset 50.5% to 49.5%
11th - Hurst (D) vs Davis (R)
Has the Davis camp lost it's mind?  Regardless of what we know about the real Tom Davis, he is still widely regarded as a moderate in the 11th.  But instead of running a moderate positive campaign highlighting his resume he has gone on a wacky smear campaign against Hurst.  Did they decide being a moderate in NOVA is a bad thing?

Despite their best efforts to Kilgore themselves, I ultimately feel that Davis will retain his seat.  But he will have taken himself down a notch or two by running an idiotic campaign when he didn't have to. 

Furthermore, state Republican party officials will probably have more doubts about him after he wins by a much smaller margin than expected.  In previous races (backwards from 2004 - 1996) Davis has beat his competitors by 22, 66 (midterm), 24, 66(midterm), 28.  I'm picking Davis by 10 - A comfortable margin in the real world but a massive drop off from his previous victories.

Davis wins 55% to 45%

Senate - Webb (D) vs Allen (R)
There's too much here to go over it all.  The short version: Allen has run a horrible campaign, he can't keep himself or his people under control, and he is up to his eyeballs in the misleadership of the Republicans in power.  People are looking for a positive change and Webb is it.  Despite the outlook of a close election for many weeks, I see a stronger than expected Webb win, ala Kaine.

Webb wins 52% to 47%


Comments



All go Red except the Senate (DanG - 11/3/2006 11:26:45 AM)
Webb will beat Allen, but Virginia won't pick up any house seats this year.  That's my bet.


About Hurst... (Eric - 11/3/2006 11:46:44 AM)
I should also add that I have a great admiration for Hurst and think he would make a great Congressman.  It's too bad that he had such an uphill battle against Davis.  My pick certainly isn't based on anything positive for Davis or negative for Hurst, just that Hurst has too much to overcome this time around.

I really hope that Andy decides to give it another try next time.  He's begun to build a name for himself and whenever people see him in person, they like him.  Building enough support to overcome someone like Davis can't be done quickly and this year's campaign lays a solid foundation for Hurst to have a good shot at winning next time - whether Davis runs or not.

And finally, I'd really like to sheepishly approach Andy after the election and say "Congressman-elect, I blew that one".  So here's to hoping, even though I don't think it will happen this year.



Matt (doctormatt06 - 11/3/2006 12:28:35 PM)
Hurst/Davis... a surprising 52 - 46 Davis Win...that scares Davis a lot, that he makes it clear this is his last term.

Feder/Wolf...a very close 50.1 to 48.8 Wolf win, that sets Feder up for a strong rematch in 2008.

Kellam/Drake...a very narrow Kellam victory, brought along by Webb's coattails 50.5/49.5

Webb/Allen...Allen is shut out, Webb 54...Allen 44...Gail Parker 2

Ballot Amendment Narrowly loses 50.01 to 49.99 (just my hope)



Rs win congressional races... (va.walter - 11/3/2006 12:39:54 PM)
Senate most likely Webb.

Goode breaks 60% v. Weed.
Wolfe wins by 4.
Davis wins by 10.
Drake wins by 4.

Right now I'll say Webb 50.5 - Allen 48.5 - Parker/other - 1.0.  Long time still to go though.



i don't think... (littlepunk - 11/3/2006 3:40:50 PM)
...this is going to be a great year for the Dems in virginia.

wolf wins 56-44.
davis wins 56-42.
drake wins 52-48.
allen wins 52-48.

sure, i'm a republican.  but i think those are all realistic numbers at this point - but who knows, anything can happen.  drake is easily the closest congressional race here of the three.  allen, i just think at the end of the day the conservative voters will come home for him.  although i wouldn't be surprised one bit if webb pulls the upset.

as for davis/wolf...i think everybody here thinks the wolf race is closer than it's going to end up.  and people are going to misconstrue davis only getting 55 as a sign of his weakness, which is anything but the case.

i saw on another thread somebody mentioned how webb needs to win by 10 (but he hopes 13) in nova to win the state.  yeah right - try doubling those numbers.  and, it's a stark possibility that he'll meet them.

regardless, i'm very interested to see how things unfold on tuesday.



Undecideds (DanG - 11/3/2006 10:27:00 PM)
You're predicting that not only will undecideds go heavily for Allen, but that Webb voters won't turn out.