Week 3-Election Post

• While the presidential election is certainly the most-talked about event in politics these days there are also many other local and state elections going on right now, including the Virginia Seat in the Senate Election. The two candidates for this election are Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Jim Gilmore. Both are former governors of Virginia, Mark Warner being the most recent having left office in 2006. Mark Warner became the Democratic candidate largely uncontested, while Jim Gilmore had considerable contest from Tom Davis until the convention selected Gilmore.
• Energy has been a major topic of this election as well, with Warner siding with the firm belief in funding research for alternative energy sources and Gilmore favoring offshore drilling. This issue has been extremely important due to the once-rising price of gasoline, though now the lower price of gasoline barrels has caused a lowered focus on the immediate effect of continued reliance on foreign oil. Recent polls from pollsters such as Public Policy Polling, Survey USA, and Rasmussen Reports have shown Warner to currently have a 24-27 % lead on Gilmore.