Campaign Diaries

We somewhat lost sight of VA-05 over the past few weeks. While thousands of ballots remain to be counted in other remaining House races, election officials finished tallying all the ballots in Virginia shortly after Election Day, leaving both camps with nothing to do but wait for the state’s Board of Election to certify the results.

That happened today, leaving Democratic nominee Tom Perriello with a 745 vote lead over Republican incumbent Virgil Goode and allowing him to claim the title of Representative-elect. However, Perriello’s edge of 0.23% is well within the recount margin, which means that Goode is entitled to ask for a recount that would be paid by localities, potentially delaying the resolution of the race.

Goode has not issued recent public comments on his plans and 10 days to make a decision. However, CBS 9 is reporting that Goode is planning to seek a recount. Of course, Goode would face an uphill climb: Perriello’s lead might look small, but it is more than 20 times superior to the size of Coleman’s in Minnesota when we account for the number of ballots cast. (A recount in VA-05 would make this race only the second one to undergo a recount this year, with CA-04 and OH-15 possibly to follow.)

—

In CA-04, the McClintock camp is pressing forward and claiming victory after ballots tallied two days ago gave them a seemingly insurmountable lead. The AP has not called the race, but McClintock’s campaign is even dispensing fat lady metaphors: “The votes are almost all in and the result is no longer in doubt,” said McClintock’s communication directors today.

Brown’s campaign is not admitting defeat, however, and is hoping that the remaining ballots, while probably too few for Brown to take the lead, will be enough for the gap to close to within 0.5% and trigger an automatic but partial recount. (10% of the district’s precinct would be recounted to test for discrepancies.)