Its Official: Webb By 9329

Yesterday the Virginia Board of Elections officially certified the results of the race between Jim Webb and George Allen. Webb won with 1,175,606 votes to Allen's 1,166,277, a margin of 9329 votes.

We only note this because it's just what we predicted on election night and the following day as the media speculated about a testy recount leaving control of the Senate up in the air for weeks on end. In the wee hours of election night, we forecast that Webb's slim 1500 vote margin would expand as the remaining precincts reported, and by daylight Webb's lead was around 6000 votes.

We also explained Virginia's process for conducting a canvass of votes and certifying a final total, and predicted that Webb's lead would not only hold up, but probably increase by a bit. Over the next day, as it became clear that Allen was not cutting into Webb's lead--indeed he was gradually falling slightly further behind--Allen wisely conceded, sparing us the expense of a recount that, based on past experience in Virginia, would not have budged more than a handful of votes.

It will be interesting to see how Webb does as a freshman.