Last night, the AP called Virginia’s Senate race for Jim [tag]Webb[/tag] (D) and all indications are Dems will be able to officially declare a Senate majority sometime today.
The question of which party will control the Senate could be cleared up as early as Thursday, with an ongoing canvass of votes in Virginia showing no significant changes in the razor-thin lead held by Democratic challenger Jim Webb, sources tell CNN.
A source close to Webb’s Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George Allen, said the senator “has no intention of dragging this out.”
Wednesday night, with Webb leading Allen by about 7,200 votes and the canvass about half complete, The Associated Press declared Webb the winner.
At this point, indications are that [tag]Allen[/tag] is slowly but surely prepared to face facts. The AP quoted an Allen advisor saying the senator is “disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night,” and may formally concede by tonight.
Given the results, Allen will probably find no benefits to digging in his cowboy boots on this one — the votes just don’t appear to be there — and political forces are already applying pressure, with varying degrees of subtlety.
RedState.com, for example, a leading far-right blog, has already called on Allen to forgo a recount effort.
At some point, there must ultimately be a winner and a loser – the stability of Democracy depends upon it. Which is why, when I hear that the RNC is mobilizing lawyers and publicists and whatnot to fight a protracted battle down in Virginia, I have to cringe. […]
Senator Allen, you ran a truly horrendous campaign for which you are largely responsible. If you lose, this will be the reason for your loss. Please accept it graciously.
For that matter, OpinionJournal’s James Taranto, another leading conservative voice, said an Allen recount request would be unbecoming and futile.
The sentiments appears to generally capture the feeling in the conservative movement — they lost the Senate; just rip the band-aid off quickly to get the pain over with. Given this and the rumors, I suspect Harry Reid will officially be the Senate Majority Leader in-waiting by nightfall.
One other big-picture thought to consider: Dems have taken back the Senate in a year in which few thought it was possible, but two races in particular — Montana and Virginia — were exceedingly close. Sen-elect Jon Tester (D) won by about 3,000 votes, while Webb appears to have won by about 7,000 votes.
In other words, the difference between a 51-seat majority and a 49-seat minority was about 10,000 people. All of us who are engaged in the political process should try and remember this in future campaign cycles — every campaign stop, door knock, phone call, postcard, blog post, and yard sign can, cumulatively, have a real impact.