The results stayed the same, but the turnout grew after a certification of the Nov. 3 elections by the State Board of Elections yesterday. A total of 2,168,574 Virginians voted, or 43.76 percent of the registered voters. Early reports showed the turnout at about 40 percent. The turnout was slightly less than the 45 percent in 2005, but because more people are registered, about 168,000 more people voted than four years ago.

Possibly as remarkable as the political pairing in support of a tax-code change to renovate old schools is the range of good it would do, former Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen told the Richmond Crusade for Voters last night. It would be good for students, job creation, energy efficiency and taxpayers, he said. “I have yet to see an idea that covers so many bases—all bases” Allen said. “It’s a home run of an idea.“

WASHINGTON Bob McDonnell’s decisive victory is even more impressive if one stops to acknowledge that it came in the face of incredibly daunting opposition, misleading and low-brow campaign commer cials, and a “news” organization which often advocates for left-of-center candidates and causes. To win the election, McDonnell had to defeat not only the Deeds campaign, but the DNC, the White House, and The Washington Post.

Former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman says that potential developers who could renovate old schools under a proposed change in the law would also agree to donate 10 percent of their profits to a scholarship fund.

You wouldn’t expect former Virginia Democratic Party chairman Paul Goldman and former GOP governor and senator George Allen to team up on too many projects. But then few might have expected Goldman and former GOP Rep. Tom Bliley to make common cause, either. Yet the Bliley-Goldman combo (with a big assist from Doug Wilder) helped shepherd Richmond’s new mayoral system to passage.

Former Gov. George Allen and former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman say they’ve come up with a way to address the state’s crumbling public school infrastructure and the need to put people back to work in the construction industry. All it takes, they said, is a common-sense fix in the federal tax code that would allow application of a historic-rehabilitation tax credit to the renovation of the nation’s aging school buildings—28 percent of which were built more than 50 years ago.

An outspoken Democrat and former Republican governor of Virginia are advocating a public-private approach to paying for costly school renovations and say they already have financial commitments for what would be Virginia’s largest local school modernization program. Paul Goldman, a former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, and George Allen, a Republican who served as governor from 1994 to 1998, promote in an op-ed article in today’s New York Times the creation of a School Modernization and Revitalization Credit they dub a “Smart Credit.“

In case you’re wondering why Democrat R. Creigh Deeds’ TV ads feature Sen. Mark R. Warner and not Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, here’s your answer. Warner, who served as Virginia’s chief executive from 2002 to 2006, is Virginia’s most popular governor of the last 20 years, according to a survey by Public Policy Polling. Warner was the choice of 40 percent of respondents, followed by another governor-turned senator, Republican George Allen, at 31 percent.

America is at its best when it is a land of equal opportunity for all. The United States of America should be a level playing field for everyone to achieve to the best of his or her talent, hard work, and creativity, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or gender—a meritocracy. Common sense—and indeed history—shows that people and countries prosper with the promotion of initiative, personal empowerment, and individual and family responsibility, rather than sapping dependence on a nanny government. Clearly, the best social program is a job.

Former Gov. George Allen, whose administration played the essential role in establishing the SOLs, wrote a letter in support of the history test to Mark Emblidge, president of the Virginia Board of Education. While the third-grade history test appears safe, at least for the moment, we decided to publish Allen’s June 19 letter, with his permission, because it is such an eloquent reminder of both the value of SOLs and the importance of teaching history to even—perhaps especially—the youngest Virginians.

Former Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen has launched an organization, the American Energy Freedom Center, to try to influence the public debate about energy. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Allen said coal, oil and natural gas are the solution to the nation’s energy problem. “The sun doesn’t shine all the time; the wind doesn’t blow all the time,“ he said, referring to alternative energy sources of wind and solar power.

Robert T. Skunda has no training in biosciences, technology or medicine. The 62-year-old does have a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s in urban planning.

As the truly honorable John Warner packs up a fascinating lifetime of mementos, photographs, and furniture in his U.S. Senate office, there will be many stories and accolades published for my colleague’s legislative accomplishments and lifetime of service to our country.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, is urging Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to name a blue-ribbon commission on transportation to be led by two former Virginia governors, Democrat Gerald L. Baliles and Republican George Allen. Kaine said yesterday that the idea is “intriguing” but that a solution to the commonwealth’s transportation troubles does not necessarily require another panel.

Five-year-old Elsie cried when her older brother went to school because she couldn’t go, too. She went anyway, unenrolled, though she was younger than the minimum starting age by a few months. She credited the head start with her graduation from Dinwiddie Training School, an all-black high school, at age 15 and college at 19. Dr. Elsie Goodwyn Holland was born in 1935 in McKenney in rural Dinwiddie County, the daughter of a school janitor. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Virginia State College (now a university) in 1955 and her master’s there in 1969. She was 37 when she moved to an apartment in Charlottesville to earn her doctorate in elementary education from the University of Virginia, graduating in 1975. Her husband continued to live and work in Richmond.