McAuliffe loses in Virginia primary

Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial dream is dashed as he loses to Creigh Deeds in the Democratic primary. McAuliffe's campaign was well funded and endorsed by party heavyweights such as former President Bill Clinton, and this defeat may signal the diminishing influence of the Clintons in the Democrat Party.

Deeds' victory means a rematch against Bob McDonnell (R). They both ran for state attorney general four years ago with McDonnell winning by a margin of only 323 votes.

This is one of the major 2010 races to keep an eye on.

Did McAuliffe try to bribe Ralph Nader?

Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader is accusing former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe of trying to push him out of the 2004 race:

Nader said that McAuliffe offered him an unspecified amount of money to campaign in 31 states if Nader would agree to pull his campaign in 19 battleground states.

Interestingly,

McAuliffe isn't denying the charge. His spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said in a statement McAuliffe "was concerned that Ralph Nader would cost John Kerry the election as he did Al Gore in 2000 and give us another four years of George W. Bush."

McAuliffe is now vying to run for the governor of Virginia in a hotly contested 3-way Democratic primary. Looks like some skeletons are being dug up already.

Virginia goes to Obama

FOX News just called the battleground state of Virginia for Obama. Well done, as Virginia hasn't turn blue in decades. He now has 220 electoral votes as of this posting.

Unfortunately, with the loss of Ohio and Virginia, it's unlikely for McCain to obtain 270 electoral votes to win the race. The next wave of poll closings come from the west coast, and it's almost certain that states like California, Oregon, and Washington would not flip to red.

GOP loses several senators

The Democrats make gains in the Senate as the GOP candidates Elizabeth Dole (NC), John Sununu (NH), and Gilmore (VA) lost.