Va. candidates for attorney general dig in

[brooklynite]

Source: WTOP

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's nearly knotted race for attorney general is showing no signs of coming to a conclusive end anytime soon.

Trailing by 164 votes, Republican Mark Obenshain met reporters in Richmond on Wednesday and announced his transition team. He did so hours after Democrat Mark Herring announced his own transition team.

Herring declared himself Virginia's next attorney general Tuesday night after local election boards certified results from the Nov. 5 general election.

Obenshain called that move by Herring premature, noting that the State Board of Elections won't certify Virginia's voting until Nov. 25 and the razor-thin margin could change after that.

Read more: http://wtop.com/120/3504089/Democrat-Herring-announces-Va-AG-transition-team

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Obenshain should probably start planning his inaugural Party as well. No sense wasting time...

[DFW]

1. A 164 vote margin out of TWO MILLION CAST???

I think the planning of a transition team by either one, if anything other than posturing, is rather optimistic before the official recount is done.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

2. This is wild!

I voted D in this race and I feel like one of those 164 is mine. Knowing how the Repubes can act, I am happy our guy is posturing. Enough of this feel good stuff. I want to rub their noses in it.

[DFW]

4. If Herring's lead holds up

There will be MUCH rubbing, believe me!!!

My brother and his wife are also two of those "164." It's ironic--when his wife came to live with him in Virginia, all she wanted was a green card so she could stay with him (she is from Japan). But to maintain and raise his security clearance, he was required to be married to an American citizen, so she became one. This was during the Reagan era. So they created one more Democratic vote in Virginia they wouldn't otherwise have had.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. There were just over 5 million voters registered in Virginia in 2010

so if there were 2 million votes cast for Herring, Obenshain, and a few write-in candidates, the turnout was about 40%.

http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/statistics_polling_places/registration_statistics/voting_statistics.html

[fierywoman]

5. what? no fireworks?

I assume Mr Obenshain is also readying the fireworks, a la Mitt and Ann...

[AldebTX]

6. Boy We have had a lot of these type of elections lately

How many elections have we had lately decided by so few votes.....seems like landslides are a thing of the past.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. Genuine landslides are rare

the term is much misused.

Much is made of the Regan "landslide" in 1980, but his win was momentous only in electoral vote terms, where he won 489-49. In the popular vote Reagan won 51%-41%, which is viewed a blow-out until you consider that slightly better than half the country voted for Reagan, and slightly under half voted for Carter/Anderson/Clark.

To put it in another context, of the 113 million registered voters, only 86.5 million voted. The population of the U.S. at the time was 226.5 million people, so 19% of the population chose a leader for the other 81%. While 44 million people voted FOR Reagan, 182.5 million didn't/couldn't vote, or voted AGAINST him.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't play.

[nomorenomore08]

9. Those are some striking (and angering) numbers, I must say...

"Democracy doesn't work when people don't play." Well said.

[yeoman6987]

8. VA AG Election

Did I just seriously hear on the news (CNN) that Fairfax and Richmond have counted all provisionals and now only the rest of the state need to be counted? That doesn't necessarily sound good to me.

[pinboy3niner]

10. Counting of all provisional votes has been completed statewide.

Fairfax County was the last to finish counting provisionals last night. The final statewide results, showing Herring won the election by 164 votes, were posted by the State Board of Elections Wednesday:



http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=SWR&map=CTY

These results will become official when the SBE certifies them at its meeting Nov. 25. Obenshain may then request a recount, but that is unlikely to to change the results.