Webb, Allen Race Too Close to Call
Same-Sex Marriage Ban Wins Approval by Substantial Margin

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 2:30 AM

Democratic challenger James H. Webb and Republican incumbent George F. Allen were locked in a dead heat in the race to represent Virginia in the U.S. Senate. The race remains too close to call and appears headed for a recount.

At 2 a.m., according to unofficial results tallied by the state of Virginia, Webb had a lead of 4,745 votes over Allen. With 2,433 out of 2,443 precincts reporting Webb had 1,162,004 votes and Allen had 1,157,259 votes.

The race may be decided by absentee ballots. More than 130,000 absentee ballots were requested in the state and some of those votes were still being counted early this morning.

Just after 1 a.m., Webb claimed victory. "The votes are in and we won," he told his supporters. Webb had appeared before his supportes about two hours earlier and predicted he would win.

"We've been following this in great detail," Webb said, "It looks very, very good for our side." He said he expected to pick up votes in the 11th Congressional District in Northern Virginia and that his campaign was confident that he'd do very well when the absentee ballots were counted.

"It's going to take a while, but at some point soon, I think we are going to be on top," Webb said.

Allen spoke to his supporters just after 12:30 a.m. and told them that the outcome of the election would not be known until later today. He said some precincts in the state had shut down for the night and would resumed counting votes after the sun comes up.

"This has been an interesting election and the election continues," Allen said. "I know the counting will continue through the night and on through tomorrow."

The ban on same-sex marriage won approval by a substantial margin. With 87.3 percent of the precincts reporting, the amendment had the support of 58.4 percent of voters.

Exit polls conducted for the Associated Press found that Allen drew strong support from religious voters, those who served in the armed forces and from voters who said terrorism was extremely important. Webb was favored by traditional Democratic voting blocs such as women and blacks and by those who believe the Iraq war is an important issue.

The exit polls also showed that the majority of voters disapproved of the war in Iraq and that the U.S. should withdraw some or all troops. Of those voters, the majority favored Webb. Webb also was supported by those who said the war in Iraq was extremely important in their choice for Senate.

The majority of voters said in exit polls that they disapproved of the way President Bush is running the country, and of those, eight of 10 voted for Webb. Four out of 10 voters said Bush was not a factor in how they voted, and the majority of those chose Allen.

Voters who said the economy was an important factor in their vote were split between Webb and Allen, but six out of 10 voters who said the issue of taxes was extremely important favored Allen. Webb and Allen ended their race neck and neck. Allen, 54, the former popular governor and, until two months ago a potential presidential aspirant, was trying not only to win re-election but to save his political life.

Allen went into the campaign a heavy favorite. While Webb slogged his way through a tough primary campaign, Allen was traveling around the country laying the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2008.

But the campaign took a dramatic turn on Aug. 11 when Allen was caught on camera calling one of Webb's volunteers, a Fairfax County native of Indian descent, "macaca." The video went world-wide on the Web overnight, putting Allen on the defensive and his campaign into a spiral, which he had trouble reversing.

Allen's campaign sputtered again when he was confronted by questions about his Jewish heritage and then he had to answer charges from several former college friends who said he used racial epithets. Allen denied that a slur offensive to African Americans was part of his vocabulary. The son of former Redskins coach George Allen found himself playing defense all the time, which gave Webb and Democratic Party an opening for victory in their effort to take control of the Senate and House.

Webb, 60, who touted his experience as a Vietnam war veteran, climbed steadily in the polls. Republicans ran TV spots attacking Webb, a best-selling novelist, for sex scenes he had written in his books. One TV spot told voters that Webb refused "to be ashamed" of the passages.

Allen also attacked Webb, a former secretary of the Navy, for an article he wrote for Washingtonian magazine in 1979 saying that women should not be admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy.

The war in Iraq was a central issue in the campaign with Webb trying to portray Allen as a rubber-stamp senator for President Bush's war strategy. As the campaign went on Allen moderated his stance on the war somewhat, saying that "mistakes have been made."

A handful of voters in at least eight areas of the state, including Arlington and Fairfax counties, complained that they received phone calls warning them not to vote or incorrectly telling them their polling place had changed, said Jean Jensen, secretary of the state Board of Elections. Most of the voters received phone calls incorrectly telling them their polling place had changed.

It was unclear whether anyone from the Webb or Allen campaigns was involved, Jensen said. A Virginia election official said the FBI was investigating allegations of voter intimidation.

Virginians also faced a ballot measure about whether to ban same-sex marriages. Supporters said the amendment was needed to protect traditional marriage. Opponents said they were concerned that the amendment would reach into the private lives of Virginians and that the measure wasn't necessary because same-sex marriage was already illegal in Virginia.

Most of the incumbent congressmen in Northern Virginia were winning their seats by comfortable margins.

Democrat James P. Moran was handily beating Republican Tom M. O'Donoghue in the 8th Congressional District. With 94-percent of the votes counted, Moran was ahead of O'Donoghue by 66.4- to 30.6-percent.

In the 10th District, Republican Frank Wolf, who was first elected to the House in 1981, was well ahead of his Democratic opponent, Judy M. Feder, by 57.4 to 40.6-percent with 63.6-percent of the votes counted.

Thomas M. Davis was in front of his opponent, Democrat Andrew L. Hurst, by a comfortable margin. With 74-percent of the votes counted, Davis was ahead by 55.1 to 43.9 percent.

Davis, a long-time Fairfax County Republican, who has easily won past elections, did not take his race against Hurst for granted. Hurst joked during the election that every time he made a campaign stop Davis seemed to have just been there handing out literature and candy. In Prince William County residents voted in a special election for a new chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

Corey A. Stewart, a Republican who has represented Occoquan on the board since he first won office in 2003, beat Sharon E. Pandak, a Democrat who served as county attorney for 15 years before leaving in 2004. Stewart has worked to make the race a referendum on growth. Stewart said during the campaign that the county must force developers to pay more for the public services that new housing requires.