Va. Gubernatorial Candidates in Dead Heat

[Judi Lynn]

Va. Gubernatorial Candidates in Dead Heat

By LARRY O'DELL
Associated Press Writer

October 8, 2005, 6:20 AM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, locked in a statistical dead heat, will go head-to-head Sunday night in their final debate.

The statewide televised debate provides Republican Jerry Kilgore, a former attorney general, and Democrat Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine an opportunity to break open a tight race.

"This is the closest election we've seen perhaps since 1989," said George Mason University political analyst Mark Rozell. "If one candidate is widely viewed as the victor, it could have a snowball effect. I give a little more importance to this debate than most."

Although the final debate is on TV, it faces some stiff competition for viewers. The 7 p.m. start could conflict with the end of the Washington Redskins' game and the major league baseball playoffs.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-virginia-governor,0,5266432.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Algorem]

1. Easily stolen,then?Guess who's going to "win".

[autorank]

2. Gee thanks...I'm working for Kaine...but you're right.

We'll see how it works out. This is one of the few states where Republicans joined Democrats in protesting "the machines." It happened in Fairfax County several years ago and there was a huge mistake. Nobody fixed anything, the machine just screwed up.

Kaine will pull ahead significantly soon. Why? He'll spank Kilgore again in this debate. And Warner is rolling out a big campaign to get Kaine elected. Warner is at 70% and has been working hard for Kaine. When Warner turns on the media, watch this puppy get out of "theft" range.

But very good point.

On edit: here's the info. This is good stuff.

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA GOP CALLS FOR VVPT

Fairfax County, Virginia. A January 9, 2004 report by a county GOP committee declares that the touch screen voting machines used in the November election were a "failure." The investigation was prompted by the electoral board's removal of 10 malfunctioning machines during the election - an action the Republican party claims is illegal. "The Republican report cited dozens of e-mails and letters from precinct workers and voters who described problems such as machines that repeatedly crashed, screens that balked at registering votes and delays in tallying votes." One of the citizens reporting machine breakdowns was Delegate J. Chapman Petersen (D-Fairfax).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4790-2004Jan9.html

The report calls on the Virginia legislature to pass a law requiring disclosed source code, a voter-verifiable paper trail, and surprise recounts in 0.5% of all precincts. The report is here:

http://www.fairfaxco-gop.org/download/ballot_integrity.pdf