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Virginia doesn’t have much of a history of election blow-outs. If you consider the modern era of Virginia politics began in 1969, with the election of the state’s first Republican governor, the biggest margin we’ve had was in 1993, when Republican George Allen defeated Democrat Mary Sue Terry by a margin of 58 percent to 41 percent.
To find a bigger margin, you need to go back to 1961 -- which is really sort of pre-history in Virginia politics -- when Democrat Albertis Harrison took about 64 percent of the vote to Republican Clyde Pearson’s 36 percent.
Of course, our closest governor’s race was in 1989, when Democrat Doug Wilder squeaked by Republican Marshall Coleman by three-tenths of one percent -- and triggered a statewide recount.
So where will tonight’s results fall? We’ll know in a few hours.
Until then, here’s some history to ponder (and I'm indebted to news librarian Belinda Harris for tracking all these down):

1961
Democrat – Albertis Harrison – 63.8
Republican – Clyde Pearson – 36.1

1965
Democrat – Mills Godwin – 47.9
Republican – Linwood Holton – 37.7
Conservative –William Story – 13.4
White Constitutional Party– George Lincoln Rockwell – 1.0

1969
Democrat – William Battle – 45.5
Republican – Linwood Holton – 52.5
Conservative – Beverly McDowell - 1.2
A. I. P. – William Pennington – 0.8
Independent – George Walker – 0.1

1973
Democrat – no candidate
Republican – Mills Godwin – 50.7
Independent – Henry Howell – 49.3

1977
Democrat – Henry Howell – 43.3
Republican – John Dalton – 55.9
U. S. Labor – Alan Ogden – 0.8

1981
Democrat – Charles Robb – 53.5
Republican – Marshall Coleman – 46.4

1985
Democrat – Gerald Baililes – 55.2
Republican – Wyatt B. Durrette – 44.8

1989
Democrat – Douglas Wilder – 50.1
Republican – Marshall Coleman – 49.8

1993
Democrat – Mary Sue Terry – 40.9
Republican – George Allen – 58.3

1997
Democrat – Don Beyer – 42.6
Republican – Jim Gilmore – 55.8
Reform – Sue DeBauche – 1.5

2001
Democrat – Mark Warner – 52.16
Republican – Mark Earley – 47.03
Libertarian – William Redpath – 0.77

2005
Democrat – Tim Kaine – 51.72
Republican – Jerry Kilgore – 45.99
Independent – Russ Potts – 2.22

2009
Democrat – Creigh Deeds ???
Republican – Bob McDonnell ???

Coming up soon: The saddest sight I've seen in politics.

-- Dwayne Yancey, senior editor

OTHER ELECTION ANALYSIS:
* Analysis: The most expensive governor's race ever
* Analysis: Where we'll be looking tonight
* Analysis: How many House seats will change hands tonight?

Complete election coverage: Posts from precincts around the valley, candidate profiles, results and more.