Race and Virginia

Both Rasmussen and the Washington Post polls show the Virginia Senate race between Allen and Webb is a dead heat. Webb is way ahead in NoVa and Allen is way ahead in the rest of the state. Both sides are burning up the airwaves with negative ads as the race has turned decidedly nasty. This one is going to come down to turnout and money.

The most disappointing thing about the recent polling is that Allen’s palpable racism has not hurt him more. I look at this election as a litmus test of the progress the Commonwealth has made on matters of race and equality. So, is Virginia a (somewhat) progressive frontier of the New South or are we just Tennessee away from being Alabama? A few weeks from now we will know the answer.