Terry McAuliffe, who ran the Democratic Party and raised an absolute fortune for both Bill and Hillary Clinton’s political campaigns, is the next governor of Virginia.

McAuliffe, who fittingly outspent his opponent by a hefty margin, won by less than 2 percent of the vote with 98 percent of precincts reporting. In addition to the money gap, it helped that McAuliffe was running against tea party Republican Ken Cuccinelli II and a third candidate, Libertarian Robert Sarvis, who was able to win roughly 6 percent of the vote as of this posting.

Elections in Virginia are especially significant when one considers that politically and demographically, the state bears a striking resemblance to the country as a whole. With the midterm elections only a year off and an open presidential race to follow, tea-leaf peepers will make much of McAuliffe’s victory.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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