By David Swanson

As of about 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, 316,476 votes had been counted in Virginia's Fifth District congressional race between incumbent bigotted xenophobe Virgil Goode and challenger Tom Perriello, with 158,562 going to Perriello and 157,914 to Goode, for a difference of 648 votes or 0.2 percent of the total.

According to a report on Charlottesville's NBC-29:

By David Swanson

There is still hope that Virginia's Fifth District can be rid of Virgil Goode, but the final count has him in the lead. A recount is possible, and if there is any basis for it, I hope that Democratic candidate Tom Perriello will request it. Even if he loses a recount, Perriello would earn our respect as someone who stands up to see that every vote is counted, rather than someone who runs in fear of being called names like "sore loser."

By David Swanson

Congressman Virgil Goode recently responded to a statement I'd blogged about him. Here's what I wrote and his response:

By David Swanson

I have the distinct displeasure of being misrepresented in Congress by Virgil Goode, a man best known outside Virginia's Fifth District for having thrown a fit when Congressman Keith Ellison asked to be sworn in on a Koran instead of a Bible. Goode defeated a fine Democratic candidate, Al Weed, in the past two elections, with 64% of the vote four years ago and 59% two years ago. He did so in part by purchasing television ads accusing Weed of supporting "amnesty" for "illegal immigrants," and "socialized medicine," and by making false accusations against Weed.