Election Inspection

Virginia

• Status: Open Seat
• Ranking: Solid Democratic (Pick-up)

Democrat running: Mark Warner (former governor)

• Money raised Quarter 4: $2.7 million
• Cash on Hand as of 2007: $2.9 million

Republican running: Jim Gilmore (former governor)

• Money raised Quarter 4: $343,000
• Cash on Hand as of 2007: $183,000

Election Inspection Analysis: This is probably going to be the most lop-sided victory by the challenging party in the entire season. What’s really ironic is that this race could’ve been a lot more competitive had the Republicans rallied behind Northern Virginia Congressman Tom Davis, who not only had a base of support in Democratic-leaning Northern Virginia, but could actually fundraise effectively. Instead the Republicans rallied behind decidedly unpopular former governor Jim Gilmore (who was forced to drop out of the presidential race because of, you guessed it, lack of funds). The only possible way to describe Gilmore is with what Senate2008Guru has said “Jim Gilmore… hahahahahahahahaha”  The real irony of this particular race is that Mark Warner was also considering a presidential run this time around, but one of the more interesting rumors I’ve heard is that he decided against running because many of the donors who would’ve given to his campaign had already pledged themselves to Barack Obama (this hasn’t generated bad blood though, since Warner is, behind the scenes, rooting for Obama). So what we are left with is a race with a top-tier Democratic candidate who could’ve easily run a fifty-state strategy against a third-tier candidate who no one knows or likes. You can see why I rank this race Solid Democratic.

General Election polls