Control of VA state Senate hinges on 86 votes

{mosads}The state Senate races were the focus of Republicans in Virginia for the past year, with popular Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) pulling out all the stops for his party and former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who is running for his old seat, holding numerous fundraisers for down-ticket Republicans. Democrats including former Gov. Tim Kaine, who is running against Allen, and Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) did events for their party as well.

But some of the Democrats on the ballot actively sought to distance themselves Obama — when he came through the Old Dominion a few weeks ago, they avoided his events.

Even if control of the state senate does not flip, Democrats should be nervous about the results there. They were able to redraw the state senate map’s lines in their favor in a redistricting compromise last year, and Republicans won the actual statewide raw vote by a significant margin.

The races should also make any Republican presidential candidate take a good, hard look at McDonnell as a possible vice presidential nominee. He is one of the most popular governors in the country in a key swing state, and clearly helped his party in his state Tuesday night.