RICHMOND Democrat Barack Obama toppled Virginia’s 40-year tradition of voting Republican in presidential elections Tuesday on his way to a resounding national victory for the White House.

ALEXANDRIA Virginia “turned a significant page” with Tuesday’s vote for Barack Obama, but it would be a mistake for the new president or his Democratic allies in Congress to interpret the election results as signaling a political re-alignment in the state or nation, Sen.-elect Mark Warner said today.

RICHMOND Democrat Mark Warner holds a commanding 2-to-1 lead over Republican Jim Gilmore in Virginia's U.S. Senate race, according to a new poll. Warner led Gilmore 61 percent to 32 percent, in a telephone survey of 625 likely Virginia voters conducted Wednesday and Thursday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

VIRGINIA BEACH U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner and congressional hopeful Glenn Nye stumped together Wednesday, hitting notes of optimism about the economy and calling for investment in aging roadways and alternative energy. They spoke in the morning to about 200 employees at Geico Insurance in the Corporate Landing office park.

RICHMOND Democrat Mark Warner continues to hold a prodigious lead over Republican Jim Gilmore in Virginia's race for the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll. Warner led Gilmore 58 percent to 33 percent in a telephone survey of 625 likely state voters conducted Monday and Tuesday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

Jim Gilmore

Party: Republican
Residence: Henrico County
Occupation: Attorney, businessman
Personal: Born in Richmond; age 59; married to Roxane Gatling, two sons.

By Ben Smith and Avi Zenilman, Politico.com 

While the two campaigns Tuesday accused one another of trying to steal or suppress votes, experts in election administration are focusing on the old standbys: Faulty machines, questionable voter lists, last-minute litigation.

The likely trouble spots, the experts say, include two familiar election reprobates: Ohio and Florida.

By Dale Eisman The Virginian-Pilot washington Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gilmore looked Tuesday to burnish his credentials as a guardian of taxpayer dollars, signing a pledge to oppose special appropriations, or earmarks, that routinely are inserted into federal spending bills.

ALEXANDRIA It can't be easy being Jim Gilmore these days. Republican leaders in Washington long ago wrote off his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Political action groups have closed their checkbooks. Some Virginia GOP elders have endorsed his opponent. Pollsters have him trailing by 25 percentage points - or worse. So what keeps him going?