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Democratic challenger Jim Webb tells supporters that he believes late returns will boost him to a comeback victory in Senate race.
Linda Landers, of Alexandria, a Webb supporter, watches returns on election night in the Sheraton Premier in Vienna. Webb spoke to his supporters and expressed optimism.
Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and his wife, Susan (right), arrive
Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb, flanked by former Gov. Mark Warner (left) and Gov. Tim Kaine, watch election results.
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VIENNA--The ballroom in the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner alternately was filled with joyous cheers and nervous anticipation last night as supporters of Democrat Jim Webb waited for returns to come in for Virginia's U.S. Senate seat.
All eyes were trained on two large screens broadcasting CNN election results, which would elicit applause or boos, depending on the percentage precincts reporting.
Webb and Republican incumbent George Allen were in a neck-and-neck race, with returns too close to call at press time.
Webb and his wife, Hong Lee, went on the stage shortly after 11 p.m.
The crowd of several hundred erupted into chants of "We want Webb!"
"We've been following this with great detail upstairs, and when we look at where the votes are that have yet to be counted, it looks very, very good for our side," Webb said, prompting more cheers and shouts of "We want Webb." "This is the kind of spirit that encouraged me to get into this race. It's the kind of spirit that carried us through the primary. It's the kind of spirit that's kept me going for the past nine months."
"It's going to take awhile to count the rest of these votes," Webb said, many of which are absentee ballots or from the 11th District. "There have been a lot of fights in my life. This is nothing new. It's gonna take awhile, but at some point very soon, I think we're gonna be on top."
The candidates were within 2 percentage points of each other throughout the night in one of the nation's closest-watched midterm election races.
If the final count remains within 1 percentage point, Virginia law allows for recounts. Recounts are done at government expense if the difference is less than one-half of a percentage point.
A recount is a difficult but sometimes necessary process, said Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, who came out to support Webb last night.
"I honestly hope we don't get to that point," said Deeds, who narrowly lost Virginia's attorney general race against Republican Bob McDonnell last November. "It's a tough thing for any candidate to go through. You work so hard to get through an election, and in my case, went through six weeks of limbo before knowing what the result was going to be."
Webb awaited election returns come with his family, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner upstairs.
Kaine and Warner spoke with reporters earlier in the day.
Both Democrats said they were optimistic about Webb's chances, citing public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and government response to Hurricane Katrina.
"People don't want to stay the course--they want to change the course," Kaine said, citing the oft-quoted Republican mantra on the Iraq war. "If there's going to be change, there's got to be a Congress willing to stand up and ask questions."
Warner cited three reasons for Webb's campaign success: national dissatisfaction with Republican leadership, Allen's own campaign blunders--such as calling a Webb staffer "macaca"--and two bipartisan Democratic governors in Virginia.
"We showed Virginia that Democrats can govern in a way that gets results," Warner said.
The race was considered an easy re-election for Allen last summer.
A July poll put the first-term senator at a 16-point advantage over Webb, then relatively unknown in politics, especially among Democrats.
The former Marine used to be a Republican, serving as assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Webb narrowed Allen's lead and, according to some polls, even surged ahead in one of the closest-watched races in the nation.
His campaign success wasn't without challenges.
Opponents accused Webb of being sexist for a 1979 article titled "Women Can't Fight," in which he argued against women enrolling at the Naval Academy and serving in combat positions.
Allen's campaign also lambasted Webb for a series of fictional novels about the Vietnam War depicting sexually explicit scenes.
Stephen Farnsworth, associate professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, said unexpected campaign turns and high voter turnout changed the course of the race.
"The last few weeks, everyone expected this was going to be a close election," Farnsworth said in a telephone interview with The Free Lance-Star yesterday. "Webb had the problem of being outspent and Allen had the problem of a very bad year for Republican candidates. The absentee ballots were particularly numerous in this year's election, demonstrating that a lot of people wanted to make sure their vote counted. It's going to take a little while for Virginia to sort things out."
State Board of Elections officials estimated record turnout numbers yesterday.
Virginians also voted on 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Democrats defeated Republicans for key Senate seats in Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Democratic incumbent Robert Menendez defeated Republican challenger Thomas Kean in New Jersey and Democrat Ben Cardin defeated Republican Michael Steele in Maryland. Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island unseated Republican incumbents Mike DeWine, Rick Santorum and Lincoln Chafee, respectively.
To reach NATASHA ALTAMIRANO:
Email: naltamirano@freelancestar.com
