Fund claimed Democratic margin of victory shrunk in Virginia, when it actually grew

On the November 11 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund attempted to downplay the notion that the results of the November 8 elections are an indicator of what might happen in the 2006 elections when he falsely claimed that Virginia Governor-elect Timothy M. Kaine (D-VA) defeated his Republican opponent by a narrower margin than his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, did in 2001. In fact, though Virginia has not yet certified the November 8 results, unofficial results show that Kaine's margin of victory was greater than Warner's.

Speaking about the two Democratic gubernatorial victories on Tuesday, Fund said, "[L]et's put this election in context. It was a very bad night for Republicans. But if they do get their act together, they can recover. The Democrats won New Jersey and Virginia four years ago for governor by bigger margins than they won this week."

The unofficial results currently show that Kaine received 51.72 percent of the vote to Republican nominee Jerry W. Kilgore's 45.99 percent -- a 5.73 percentage-point margin of victory. In 2001, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections, Warner defeated Republican Mark Earley by 52.16 percent to 47.03 percent, a 5.13 percentage-point margin of victory. So if the unofficial results hold, the Democratic margin of victory for the Virginia gubernatorial election will have increased by nearly 12 percent from 2001 to 2005.

From the November 11 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:

FUND: Well, first of all, let's put this election in context. It was a very bad night for Republicans. But if they do get their act together, they can recover. The Democrats won New Jersey and Virginia four years ago for governor by bigger margins than they won this week. And within a year after the last time they lost, the Republicans came back and took the Senate. So they can recover, but they need a sense of direction, they need a sense of values, and they need to get their nerve back. These -- this budget vote was astonishing.

—R.M.