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.

Double-digit victories by Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli, the party’s nominee for attorney general, reversed a recent string of defeats for Republicans.

Virginia has elected Republican Ken Cuccinelli as its next attorney general, overwhelmingly favoring the state senator from Fairfax County who has pledged to protect the Virginia Constitution and the state’s right-to-work law. As polls had predicted, Cuccinelli won a crushing defeat over his Democratic opponent—and friend—Del. Stephen C. Shannon of Fairfax.

Virginians cast ballots for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates. Virginia, N.J. are the only states electing governors today.

Things are looking up for the Republicans’ down-ticket candidates, according to the latest poll for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

McDonnell Deeds The Republican statewide ticket rolled into the GOP heartland yesterday exuding confidence but urging stepped-up get-out-the-vote efforts. “Put up the last sign, talk to someone at the water cooler, send out another e-mail,“ gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell told about 75 Republicans crowded into the Homemades by Suzanne catering shop in Ashland.

Candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general struggle for attention in a scene dominated by the gubernatorial race. The down-ticket nominees run as members of a team yet manage their own campaigns. The frustration is compounded by the point that neither the lieutenant governor nor the attorney general ought to be subject to direct popular vote.

Attorney general hopeful Ken Cuccinelli stepped offstage last week after a particularly heated debate with rival Stephen C. Shannon and quipped that people never would believe they are friends. They do get along and in some respects have moved in similar circles. Both attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. Both attended the University of Virginia, though years apart.

Cuccinelli Shannon The final debate in the campaign for attorney general took on racial overtones yesterday as Democrat Stephen C. Shannon accused Republican Ken Cuccinelli of being “an ideological crusader” who favors states’ rights. Shannon, a delegate from Fairfax County, likened it to an agenda that produced some of Virginia’s worst movements, such as secession and the fight to maintain segregation.

The candidates for Virginia attorney general will meet today in a debate.

Television viewers can expect a large onslaught of political-campaign commercials over the next 16 days. In the race for governor, Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell each raised more than $3.5 million in September, with McDonnell taking in $3.8 million and Deeds $3.5 million. But, for the final weeks of the campaign, McDonnell had cash on hand of $4.5 million, compared with Deeds’ $2.7 million.

Virginia’s Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general hold sizable leads over their Democratic opponents, but large swaths of voters remain undecided, according to a poll conducted for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is seeking re-election, led Democrat Jody Wagner 44 percent to 31 percent, with 25 percent undecided, in the survey conducted Tuesday to Thursday by Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain are coming to Virginia to help their parties’ candidates for governor. The Democratic vice president will help R. Creigh Deeds at a private fundraiser in Alexandria tomorrow. McCain, a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona, will help rally veterans to support Bob McDonnell at an Oct. 17 rally in Hampton Roads, which has a large population of veterans.

McDonnell Deeds TV ad wars between the candidates for governor escalated yesterday with pointed spots from both sides joining the rotation. Meantime, the state’s attorney general candidates engaged in a feisty morning radio debate. Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell’s campaign repackaged 60 seconds of a Web video showing his Democratic rival R. Creigh Deeds struggling to explain his position on raising taxes for transportation.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds picked up the endorsement yesterday of two environmental groups, while Republican Bob McDonnell won the support of a high-tech organization. The Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters endorsed Deeds, saying his voting record on environmental matters was far superior to that of McDonnell.