At the moment (Wednesday morning), election results show Mark Warner re-elected with 49.1 percent of the vote to Ed Gillespie's 48.5%. Mr. Sarvis, the Libertarian, got a bit more than 2%.

For a very long time this past year, Warner was shown in most polls as having a ten or eleven point lead over Gillespie. In the Real Clear Politics aggregate of polls on November first, Warner was projected to win 48.5% of the vote, and he actually did slightly better.

But in that polling data from last Saturday, Gillespie was projected to win 38.8% of the vote. He did ten points better than that, and very nearly won the election.

How can the polling have been so wrong?

Also, many speculated that Gillespie's purpose in running a hopeless race for the Senate was to build credibility for a run for Governor next time. He has certainly done that. Ed Gillespie seems to be a man of moderation compared with Ken Cuccinelli. Maybe this will be the new face of the Republican Party in Virginia.

Dave Sagarin (Electronic mail, November 5, 2014)