ELECTION UPDATE!! VIRGINIA AND ACROSS THE NATION!

With 94.77% of the votes counted, Jim Webb is ahead by .31% The vote breaks down like this:

Jim Webb - 1,173,756 - 49.55%
George Allen - 1,166,410 - 49.24%
Gail Parker - 26,227 - 1.11%
Write Ins - 2,364 - 0.10%

Allen has NOT conceded but Jim Webb did declare victory late last night. Webb has also begun to assemble a transition team and is almost certainly the winner.

Elsewhere yesterday the Democrats won 5 (pickup) Senate seats in Montana, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Ohio, and will most certainly take over a 51-49 seat majority in the Senate pending a definitive outcome in Virginia. The Democrats also picked up 29 seats in the house, without losing a single seat. There are 10 seats still undecided. The Democrats picked up 6 governor seats last night for a total of 28 compared to the Republicans who have 21. There is still one undecided seat in Minnesota, but right now that seat is leaning Republican.

Donald Rumsfeld RESIGNED today following the outcome last night, and George Bush tapped Robert M. Gates, a long time Bush family friend and President of Texas A&M University to replace Rumsfeld.