VA SEN: Former Navy Secretary Jim Webb defied political gravity by winning the Democratic Senate nomination, defeating high-tech executive and long-time Democratic activist Harris Miller 53 percent to 47 percent.
This was an especially difficult primary to handicap. There were no public polls and neither candidate is very well known. Without any other marquee races on the ballot, it was difficult to assess who would vote. And, as it turns out, very few voters found their way to the polls yesterday. According to the Virginia Board of Elections, turnout was 3.44 percent and much of that came from Northern Virginia.
Some would argue that the percentage of turnout is not a fair measure of voter interest in a race. Virginia does not have party registration so the turnout number reflects a percentage of all registered voters; in this case, 155,532 out of 4.5 million. Even in past years when there were higher-profile races on the ballot, the turnout percentage was in single digits. In addition, statewide primaries are fairly new in Virginia. In the past, statewide nominees were decided at
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