Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Early Returns Show Kaine Leading in Gubernatorial Race

This is from the Washington Post:

Democrat Timothy M. Kaine took an early lead tonight in Virginia's election for governor over his Republican rival, Jerry W. Kilgore, according to unofficial returns from the State Board of Elections.

Kaine, the state's lieutenant governor, was leading Kilgore, the former Virginia attorney general, by 52 percent to 46 percent, with nearly 40 percent of precincts reporting. Independent candidate H. Russell Potts Jr. was running a distant third, with 2 percent.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties said turnout was the key to victory in an off-year election, and both sides worked feverishly all day to get their supporters among Virginia's 4.4 million registered voters to the state's 2,230 precincts to cast their ballots. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.

Going into today's gubernatorial election, Kaine held a narrow lead in several polls over Kilgore. A Washington Post poll conducted late last month showed Kaine, 47, leading Kilgore, 44, by three percentage points. Potts, a Republican state senator from Winchester, was supported by 4 percent of the voters, according to that poll.

Let's hope Kaine's lead stays up there.

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